Expedition to Mexico:

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Expedition to Mexico

• Learning about what is south of the border
•  
• A unit of discovery for 6th graders.
•  
• Designed by
• Denise Vodola
• Stephanie Kleissler

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Introduction

• Have you ever wondered what it was like in
  Mexico? Well, here's your chance to find out!
  With the help of your teacher, you and three of
  your classmates will get to explore Mexico. There
  are a lot of great things to find out so you will
  have to work together. One of you must be the
  Travel Agent and set up the tour. Someone else
  will have to become the Interpreter so you can
  ask the people who live there where to get
  something to eat or where the bathroom is
  located. Someone else has to be the Activities
  Director and look for all the cool things to see
  and do in Mexico. Then there will need to be a
  Desert Explorer who will find out all about the
  plants and animals in Mexico. GOOD LUCK! And have
  fun.

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What will I do?

• Decide who your partners will be.
• Choose who you will be.
• Click on your choice to find out what you will
  have to do.
• Travel agent
• Interpreter
• Activities director
• Desert explorer

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Travel Agent

• You have just been hired by Acme Tours to be a
  travel agent for a group trip to Mexico. Since
  this is your first assignment you will be looking
  up this information for the very first time. As a
  travel agent you will be responsible for getting
  your group to where they want to go. It will be
  your job to plan the trip and come up with the
  cost.
• By the end of this assignment, you will do the
  following
• Find out hotel prices and make hotel reservations
  for each city.
• Come up with the mileage between each
  destination.

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Travel AgentPlanning the trip.

• As the Travel Agent you must find out where in
  Mexico the Activities Director wants to go.
  Include at least 1 river visit for rafting,
  swimming, or fishing 1 mountain range to
  explore average daily temperature for proper
  packing what to expect for meals and any other
  bits of information to make this an enjoyable
  visit.
• You will fly to the nearest city and take a bus
  from there to the other cities. Decide how far
  you must travel each day and then add them up to
  get the total miles your group will travel.
• Find out hotel prices and make hotel reservations
  for each city (figure on 2 people per room).
• Calculate total bus cost (bus prices will be 50
  dollars per person, per trip).
• Resources
• Virtual Mexico
• World Atlas
• Map of Mexico
• MexOnline
• Plane ticket prices
• Motel Prices (Click on a city then find a motel)

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Mexico AdventureInterpreter

• As the Interpreter, you will be asked to
  translate a select group of words for the group.
  You will be translating from English to Spanish
  and from Spanish to English.
• This translation process consists of three
  distinct steps
• Retrieve your lists of words

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Mexican ExpeditionYou can print this page out
and use the tables to record your
translations.English to Spanish Word List

• Ticket
• Airplane
• Hotel
• People
• Food
• Hello
• Goodbye
• Please
• Thank You
• Bathroom
• How Much?
• Where?

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Spanish to English Word List

• Bienvenidos
• Como estas?
• Aqui
• Hoy
• Manana
• cuarto
• Mercado
• carro
• Agua
• comida

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InterpreterLearning Spanish

• Translate these two lists of words at the
  "translator" site. You can link to the site by
  clicking on the sombrero.

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Quiz

• You can test your knowledge of your translations
  by playing "concentration" at the Quia web site.
  You can reach this game by clicking on the
  pyramids.

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Activities Director

• Your group is depending on you to make this a
  really cool trip. There are some great things to
  see and you need to find them. There are some
  great places to visit in Mexico so have fun as
  you find out about the past and present of this
  great nation. You might want to visit the
  pyramids (not the ones in Egypt!) or the desert
  or even Mexico city. Take a look! When you
  decide, write down where you would like to go.
  You must visit at least 6 places. Then, get
  together with the Travel Agent and plan your trip
  out.

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Activities Director

• The best of Mexico
• There are many places to visit in Mexico. Here
  are some places on the Internet to look for cool
  things to see and fun things to do.
• Map of Mexico
• Virtual Mexico
• Featured Destinations
• History and Culture
• Activities
• Mexican Culture and History

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Activities Director

• After you have visited these sites decide which 4
  places in Mexico you would like to take your tour
  group. When you have written them down, make a
  brochure and include all of the places you will
  go see. Include a two paragraph summary for each
  of the sites. Then write about what you think is
  the most interesting part of Mexican history.
  Present this to your group for their approval.

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Desert Explorer

• As the desert explorer, you will be responsible
  for researching the animals and plants of the
  Sonora Desert.
• The Sonora Desert is a very rare and exotic
  habitat. You are asked to go to two specific
  sites to find out some interesting facts about
  the inhabitants of the Sonora Desert.

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Desert ExplorerDesert animals

• The first site specializes in the unique animals
  (fauna) of the desert. You are asked to visit the
  site and research at least one animal from each
  of the three categories listed
• Mammals
• Birds Fish
• Reptiles Amphibians

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Desert Explorer Desert Animals

• Plan to share at least three facts about each
  animal that you research. These facts can be
  presented on notecards . Sketches or drawings
  done in any artistic medium will add extra credit
  to your overall score!
• You can reach this exciting desert animal site by
  clicking on the lizard.

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Desert ExplorerDesert Animals

• The Second site focuses on the unique Plants
  (flora) of the desert. At this site, you should
  find at least one desert plant under the category
  Cactus and Succulents that you are not already
  familiar with. Be prepared to present to the
  class a sketch or drawing of this plant, along
  with a brief description of its unique
  characteristics.
• This desert flora site can be reached by clicking
  on the cactus.

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Explorer

• Land and Sea
• Cool sites to Visit
• Mexican Geography
• Library of Congress

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What next?An overview of your project.

• When each of you have completed your individual
  tasks then you will need to come together for a
  group project. Here is how you will finish
• Create a display that uses all of the information
  you have gathered (be sure that everyone in your
  group adds something).
• You will participate in a panel discussion at the
  end of the expedition.
• Write a 20 question test for your other
  classmates with 5 questions from each group
  member.

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How Well Did You Do?

• Refer to this table to get a good idea of how you
  will be graded on your
• Expedition to Mexico !

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How Well Did You Do? Refer to this table to get a
good idea of how you will be graded on your
Expedition to Mexico !

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• This project is a multidisciplinary unit designed
  to incorporate Math, Science, Social Studies,
  Language Arts and Foreign language. The following
  pages are presented to give you, the teacher,
  hints and suggestions in order to utilize this
  project. Of course, everything is at your
  discretion as to how you would like to adapt this
  to your specific class. The designers of this
  Internet project wish to help you engage your
  students in learning. Project-based learning,
  although more taxing on the teacher, seems to
  produce enthusiasm in students. The parameters of
  the project are left open ended on purpose,
  hopefully encouraging students to dig and be
  creative.

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Curriculum Standards

• The goal of this unit is for students to learn in
  several disciplines
• Math
• To develop an understanding of basic math skills
  by using travel terminology. The student will
  need to work with prices and discover why money
  is valued differently in different places.
• To gain real life experience using math. Here we
  answer the question, "When will I ever need to
  know this?"

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Science

• To learn environmental science.
• To learn basic biology.
• To learn basic botany.
• The study of the Sonoran Desert will help engage
  students in this unit.

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Social Studies

• To learn about a different culture.
• To learn about Mexican history.

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Language Arts

• To develop writing and communication skills.
• To develop group skills.

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Foreign Language

• To learn about another language.
• To gain a minimal vocabulary in Spanish.

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Life Skills

• In addition to the core disciplines listed it is
  our goal that students will learn to work
  together and begin to develop higher order
  thinking skills. It is also our desire that each
  student will find that learning is fun.

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Resources

• This unit of discovery uses many resources from
  the internet. However, library and textbook use
  is also something that can easily be added and
  adapted to this project. In any case, the
  following are some suggestions as to what you,
  the teacher, will need.
• Internet access for several sessions.
• Poster board and art supplies for final projects.
• Classroom time for groups to meet and discuss
  their project.
• There may be need for you to assess the Internet
  navigation skills of your students. Be sure
  someone who knows how to navigate is in each
  group of four.
• The rubric for this class is listed in the "How
  well did I do?" page.

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Conclusion

• I hope you enjoy using this tool. It is our
  desire that students become engaged in the
  learning process. I believe that the
  interdisciplinary nature of this project can be
  greatly beneficial to students.