Tour the USA

Tour the USA

Introduction

Your adventure is about to begin! You are going to travel around the United States, visiting 10 landmarks. This task has three parts:

1. Plan your trip
2. Take your trip
3. Tell us about your trip

You will work with a partner or a small group for Part 1 of the trip.
You will work by yourself for Part 2 and Part 3.

Enjoy your trip!

The Task

Your task is to research 10 United States landmarks and then plan a trip to visit those landmarks. You will use the Internet, your social studies book, a travel packet provided by your teacher, and your brain to learn about the landmarks. You need to determine if each landmark is a historical or natural landmark, where it is located, and why it is an important U.S. landmark. Once you have done that, you will design your trip around the country. The challenge is, you only have 14 days to complete your travels and you can only drive 600 miles each day. While you are on your trip you will write in your travel journal about the sights you have seen. When you return from your trip, you will create a slide show to share your trip with your friends and family.

Get ready... Get set.... Go!

Resources

Click on the word "Resources" to find a Hotlist that will help you do your research.

The Process

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

All page numbers refer to pages in your travel packet.

Part 1: Plan your trip

You are planning a trip to see 10 United States landmarks.

1. Research each landmark. Use the Internet to find out where the landmark is, whether it is a historic or natural landmark, and a description of the landmark. Follow the links in the Resources section of this page. Read and discuss the information with your partner. Record what you learn on pages 6-9 of your travel packet.

2. Put a letter on the map (page 11) to show where each landmark is located. (See page 10 for the letters that go with each landmark.)

3. Look at your map and decide the order in which you would like to visit the landmarks. Remember, you must start and end your trip in Mountain Home. You are trying to decide the best route for your trip. You don’t want to waste time and gasoline traveling back and forth across the country. Choose the fastest route. Record the order you will visit the landmarks on page 12.

4. Find the distance between landmarks by using the website, How Far Is It ? Record the distances on page 13.

5. You have two weeks to travel around the United States and visit these landmarks. Meet with your teacher to review what you have planned so far and to discuss how much traveling you will do for each of the 14 days. Your teacher will help you set up your Travel Journal.

Part 2: Take your trip

Now you are ready to take your trip!

Each day, for the next two weeks, you will write in your travel journal about where you have been that day. Imagine you are really driving around the country!
Each day be sure to include the following items:

The date
Your starting point
Your ending point
Number of miles driven
The direction traveled
States you traveled through and their capitals
Descriptions of any landmarks you visit
Interesting things that happen during your trip

Part 3: Tell us about your trip

Make a Power Point presentation about your trip!
Imagine that when you returned from your trip, your family and friends were all excited to hear about where you went. In your presentation, be sure to include:

descriptions of the landmarks you visited
sections from your travel journal
pictures of the landmarks that you found on web pages

Your presentation should be informative and entertaining.

Evaluation

Your grade will be determined as follows:

Part 1	25 points
Part 2	25 points
Part 3	25 points
Work Habits	25 points
Total	100 points

Each part of this task will be evaluated using a rubric.
Part 1 Rubric
Part 2 Rubric
Part 3 Rubric

Conclusion

You have completed your USA adventure! You now have a detailed map showing the route you took in your trek across the country. You also have a journal full of interesting facts about the wonder ful historic and natural landmarks you visited. In addition you learned a lot of state capitals along the way and picked up some interesting travel stories! Now that your journey has ended you should be able to answer these questions:

Were you able to visit all 10 of the sights on your trip? Why or why not?

If not, why did you choose the ones you did? What facts helped you decide?

Do you think you would like to visit some of them in person some day? Why or why not?

Perhaps you can plan a vacation for your family to visit some of these places!

Teachers

Here are the forms I created for my students to record their data on. These forms, put together, make up the " travel packet ".

Last updated 04/03/02