It was the perfect way to kick off a couple of units:
- Prehistoric Missouri: Mississippian People, AKA the Moundbuilders
- Rocks and Minerals
- 72 rocks (six sets of 12)
- 6 artifact photos from the Cahokia Moundbuilders site
- 3 golden tickets cut in half
| Some observations should be made about the three main mounds of sand:
These are the three shapes of the mounds found across the Illinois border on the prehistoric Cahokia site. These would be similar to the mounds now destroyed in the St. Louis area (See the video at right.). | |
The projects are starting are centered in history (prehistory), geology, archaeology, writing, and reading, but our unique reveal of these items was done with logic and math. Students, in their teams, had to correctly solve a series of logic problems using colored paper clips, each of which would earn a scoop into the mounds. Almost every scoop brought a new specimen for a group's collection. If a duplicate was found, they were required to donate it to another group. Plus, if the two matching halves of a golden ticket were dug up by the same group, all the members of that group would receive an extra positive point.
After the initial logic activity is completed, we will begin a deeper study about the rocks and minerals. We will also conduct an artifact analysis based on the paper pictures of real artifacts from the mounds near St. Louis. And all of this will lead us straight into the depths of a quaint little hole in the ground that we like to call Hoggatt Cave.
Maybe I just like to torture myself. Days like these often result in a teacher pulling out his own hair. The room is louder than usual. Kids are all over the place. Kid's forget the procedures for both the classroom and for the current activity. The bottom line is this: I desperately seek creative ways to present the same old information and lessons to my students. This is the first time for this particular activity, so I'm going to reevaluate this one for next year. Is there anything I need to do differently? Was it too complicated? Too convoluted? Too time-consuming? Was it less exciting than it should have been? What could be done to tweak the wow factor?
Maybe I just like to torture myself. Days like these often result in a teacher pulling out his own hair. The room is louder than usual. Kids are all over the place. Kid's forget the procedures for both the classroom and for the current activity. The bottom line is this: I desperately seek creative ways to present the same old information and lessons to my students. This is the first time for this particular activity, so I'm going to reevaluate this one for next year. Is there anything I need to do differently? Was it too complicated? Too convoluted? Too time-consuming? Was it less exciting than it should have been? What could be done to tweak the wow factor?
