Globe Trotting With Duck

Project Overview

This project is a lot of fun for students learning the geography of the United States. They will embark on a quacktastic adventure starting with the classic tale of the famous Mallard ducks of Boston, Robert McCloskey's award winning book, Make Way for Ducklings.

The Process

Students will be required to collect pictures from regions of the United States by using Google Images or personal pictures. Students must collect at least 2 pictures from each region. Each picture must represent a different theme of Geography. For the full lesson plan, see Resources.

Social Studies

The Five Themes of Geography will be introduced through the duck's eye view of their Boston adventure.
Students will explore Google Earth and Google maps to familiarize themselves with longitude and latitude, finding locations of the continents, oceans, regions of the United States and more.

Art

Get the Art Teacher in on the duck fun! Have students create a 3-D duck. Paint the duck to be 'hidden' in an artwork depicting a particular region of the United States. Glue the duck onto the artwork of the region. It should be blending in with its background.

School Guidance

Don't count out guidance! They will discuss character traits and team building and how this winning combination will help students through this project. It's all about teamwork and we'd like a joint effort to make this authentic, meaningful and above all a fun learning experience!

Language Arts

Written in 1941, the book lends itself to some lively discussions, from gender roles to duck migration. Integrating all curricular into this project is a goal shared by classroom teachers and specialists. Mrs. Siegel, our librarian, will introduce the lesson by reading Make Way for Ducklings to each class.

P.E. - Optional

How could we look at the streets of Boston without mentioning the Boston Marathon? To support our wellness initiative, we are putting in the works a fun competition between students to see who can finish the Boston Marathon. From October through the end of our Spring Break, students will try to run twenty-six miles! See project sheet for more information.