Y OU CAN JUST SIT AROUND AND WATCH … AND FEEL BAD FOR PEOPLE … or

GET UP! GET OUT! DO SOMETHING! Second Trimester Interest Project

W HAT DO YOU CARE ABOUT ? What problems do you notice in your neighborhood? Our city? Our state? Our country? What do you want to see get better around us?

Your job this trimester is to work on something that you care about. Come up with a driving question that relates to a problem that you see in school, in your community, city, state, or even the country. Then you must create a strategy to do something about it. Your interest project this trimester is going to show what you found out and how you made an effort to fix the problem.

E XAMPLE OF A DRIVING QUESTION : How can we reduce the amount of trash our school throws out?

W HAT WILL I HAVE TO DO ? A little bit of Writing… Part 1. Write a proposal for your project design. (Due December 10) Part 2. You may need to write letters to others who can help you, interview experts, create posters, do Power Point presentations, or pamphlets about your project. ( Milestone #2 & 3) Part 3. Show the results of your project and write a reflection on the results of your “do something” project. (Present at Exhibition)

W HAT WILL I HAVE TO DO ? A little bit of Reading… Read about the problem that you have observed in the newspaper, online, in magazines, and in books. (Milestone #1- December 19)

W HAT WILL I HAVE TO DO ? A little bit of Word Study… Find words that relate to your problem that you need to understand (Milestone #2-January 23)

W HAT WILL I HAVE TO DO ? A little bit of Math… Include statistics about the problem (Milestone #2-January 23) Statistics are numbers that will help convince people that your driving question is really a problem You will also need to tell what the statistics mean.

W HAT WILL I HAVE TO DO ? A lot of ACTION! Don’ t just write Don’t just plan, DO SOMETHING!