Absolutely+Alabama

 Absolutely Alabama For four weeks the students have studied historical sites located in Alabama. Each of the sites the students researched have shaped our state, history, and people through the events that took place at these sites. The students began this unit by reading a picture book through an online resources tumblebooks, called Crazy for California by Aaron Zevy. As a class we discussed how we would like to use this book as a guide for what we wanted our end result of this study to be. We also titled our studied after our local television segment "Absolutely Alabama". The students met many social, historical, and technological objectives. At the close of this unit the students presented a powerpoint presentation that they researched, organized, inserted orginal photographs, and created together. In the end the students learned 1. The site name, 2. When the site became historical, 3. Where the site is located, 4. Why the site is considered historical, and 5. How the site is preserved. The sites that were reserched are 1. The Alabama Space and Rocket Center, 2. Vulcan Park, 3. Moundville, 4. Ivy Green, 5. Battle of Mobile Bay, and 6. Civil Rights Institute. Course of Study Objectives:   1. Identify significant historical sites in Alabama, including locations of civil rights activities 2.Collect information from a variety of digital sources 3. Produce digital works collaboratively. One part of the students research was to discover "how" the site was preserved. The students became quite interested in what they found on internet about preservation societies, or historical societies. After much discussion the students wanted to learn more about our local history. I contacted our local historical society and two members paid us a visit, bringing gifts and valuable knowledge. media type="custom" key="3534276"