Time to Dig Up Some Research- Artifact Bag Fun!

One of Dr. Smirnova's Artifact Bags

This past week we as a class participated in a hands-on activity of working with artifact bags. Earlier in the week we discussed the importance of teaching students about cultures and history. It is important that students not only learn about their past but also be able to make connections to their present-day life. Students should have opportunities in the classroom to research their past. On Wednesday, we split up into groups and worked together as researchers. Dr. Smirnova provided each group with their own artifact bag. All the bags had different objects in them and as a group we had to work together researching and identifying the meanings behind the items. We were also told to see how all the items in each bag were connected in some way. We created a chart using who, what, when, where, and why to identify our artifacts. I liked researching a culture different from my own. I learned new facts about Dr. Smirnova with this activity.

My group's artifacts

On Friday, it was our turn to create some artifact bags. My artifact bag related to my unit plan and Bizmovie.  My partners from fieldwork worked in a group with me and we all guessed what movies we had chosen based on our artifacts. I chose Casper the Friendly Ghost movie as the theme to my artifact bag. This movie was released in May of 1995. The artifacts I placed in my bag were a movie poster, an old movie ticket from the showing of the film and a personal photograph of me dressed up as Casper. Melodie chose Disney's Alice in Wonderland, Caitlin chose the Mighty Ducks, and Megan chose Bambi and Mr. Ed. I enjoyed learning new things about these movies with this fun project.

Investigating Native Americans

Tlingit Native American

In class last week we got to utilize a new method of learning. This project was useful and fun. We used the jigsaw method for implementing this lesson. This meaning that we split into groups and each got a Native American tribe to research. Then we split these groups into experts groups. I enjoyed working with my partners. I think its helpful to use cooperative learning in the classroom. By using methods like jigsaw I feel that it involves all the students and at the same time allows them to improve their social skills. With this project we got the opportunity to learn about many different tribes. We researched and learned about the history, geography, culture, food, and habitat of our individual tribes. By using this method of learning we were able to learn about more tribes in a short amount of time then we would have been able to do if we researched the tribes on our own. My tribe for this activity was the Tlingit tribe. I enjoyed looking into a different culture. It's amazing to see how their are many other cultures that are so different from my own. I feel like this would be a great activity to do with elementary students, that way everyone in the classroom has their own responsibilities and a chance to get involved.