The project for the first nine weeks involves the themes of geography that we have studied in class. Each team of students will create a poster board to illustrate one of these themes:  location; place; region; movement; and human/environment interaction.

1)    Use only a full-size sheet of poster board.
2)    Put the names of the team members and the class period on the back of the poster board.
3)    At the top of the poster board, put which theme the project features.  This may be done by            hand, stencil, or computer printout.  However, be sure that it is neat and accurately spelled.
4)    Near the theme, put its definition.  Again be sure of accuracy, spelling, and neatness.
5)    Clip a newspaper article that includes a reference to the theme.
6)    Highlight the part of the article that includes a reference to the theme.
7)    Glue that article to the poster board.  Again, be neat!
8)    Next to the article, write an explanation of how the story is tied to the theme.
       (For example, if the newspaper article is about a hurricane and the theme is human/enivronment        interaction, the student may write about how people sometimes build homes to withstand                severe weather.  Others may choose to live in an area where hurricanes don't occur.)
9)    Make sure to use the majority of the poster board.

Grading:  1)  Relevance to theme: 70%
              2)  Accuracy: 10%
              3)  Spelling and Grammar: 10%
              4)  Neatness:  10%

The students choose from a list of topics related to the Middle East.  Examples include an overview of Israel, a biography of George W. Bush, or a survey question such as "Should we try to stop Iran from developing a nuclear bomb?"  Students also choose whether to do an essay, poster, or PowerPoint.

The ultimate finished product will be a letter expressing the student’s thoughts, backed up by research, on a particular subject, and to be sent to an appropriate person based on the content. 

1)  Each student labels an index card with his or her name and then writes the topic he or she has chosen for this project.  The topic is one of the major “things going on in the world” now.  Examples include: nuclear weapons, diseases in the world; terrorism, war, global warming, etc.  When this card is accepted, the student earns five points toward the project grade.

2)  The index cards will be passed back out to the students, at which time they are to narrow the focus of their topic.  For example, if the topic was global warming, a more focused topic would be automobile emissions.  If the topic was diseases in the world, a more focused topic would be AIDS in Africa.  When the card is again accepted, the student has earned a second five points toward the project grade.

3)  Each student will need to take a stance on the topic and choose someone to whom the letter will be sent.  For example, if a student has chosen auto emissions as the topic, the finished letter could go to the Environmental Protection Agency, an automobile manufacturer, or a member of Congress.  Another possibility would be to write a letter to the editor that would attempt to convince the readers to agree with the student’s viewpoint on his or her topic.  Turning in this information will      also earn a third five points toward the final project grade. 

4)  Each student will need to research the topic to determine factual information that can support his or her position.  Some computer lab time will be made available for this effort.  This will result in the fourth five points for the final project grade.

5)  The final product, the letter, will be worth 80 points.  Some of the points will be earned through grammar, the others from content.  A first draft will be accepted and comments made on it, if a student so chooses, before turning in the final version.