Planning the visit makes a great whole group activity. Writing assignments can then be distributed to groups of students. One group can describe the trip through the natural history museum while another writes about the exploration of geological features of the coastline. A well-planned visit balances informative and recreational activities. These travel guides and trip itineraries are collected by the sponsoring classroom in a travel section of the Journal of Places and Perspectives.
Students can send accompanying illustrations in the mail.
The goal of this project is to have students learn about history by becoming local historians. This project encourages students to talk to grandparents and other senior citizens to learn the history of their region. These personal histories, unlike what is preserved in history books, are rich with details about how people lived without the many inventions and tools that students take for granted. These people can be a rich source of information that often is lost because no one takes the time to write down their stories. Students can provide a valuable service to their community by collecting and writing down these local legends so that others will be able to enjoy this rich chronicle of history.