Dear Limby,
There are many topics you can choose, that would be suitable for
presentations. The "easiest" thing probably is to let them find a
place and describe the life in this place. This includes:
- How does this place looks like (geography)
- How do people earn their living (economics/social scienes)
- What is their language, culture (social sciences)
- What is their (political) regime, what was it before (social
science/politics/history)
- book review on book(s) about children from this region, or by an
author of this land.
If you're looking for a binding theme, it might be the changing faces
of Europe. Europe changes from nations states, in which the population
was homogeneous, to multi-cultural society. At the same time, it is
uniting politically and economically. This raises all kinds of
problems, like the question of the relationships between minorities
and majority groups; "what is a citizen", etc.
These can be pretty "adult" issues, but for example, your students can
pick a member of a minority group (a Roma in the Ukraine, a member of
the Nordic native peoples in the Scandinavian countries, a Turk in
Germany, a North African Jew in France and a Welsh in Britain). They
can describe their very different lives (the lives of a Welsh and a
Sikh in Britain - both minorities, are of course completely
different). This also connects to European history (Jews, Roma/Sinti
etc.), and to the future (immigration, united Europe, nationalism).
Since the curriculum recommends that 6th graders would be able to link
the issues to themselves and their lives, it may be helpful if they
chose something that is related to their heritage. Any possible group
is probably represented today in Europe, including African or Asian
immigrants (and of course, Native peoples).
So the possible question could be :
- Examine characteristics of various societies in Europe and trace
their development; include (and these are the sub questions you
needed) places, peoples, environment, politics, businesses.
Further Sites:
A web-site full of wonderful resources -
http://www.usoe.k12.ut.us/curr/soc.st/elemntary/6th_eu_today.html -
USOE Social Studies - 6th Grade Resources (notice in particular the
issue of immigration and multiculturalism).
See what others have done:
http://www.granite.k12.ut.us/CalvinS/6th/europe/europe.htm - Europe -
6th Grade Interconnections (from Granite District Schools Website).
Another nice project is "Bread Around the World", which combines
history, geography and ecology. You can find it at the OKLAHOMA CITY
PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Web-site http://www.prof-dev.okcps.k12.ok.us/coreunits/6bread.htm
These kids went to ask Danes the answers in a newsgroup. They got no
answer, but you can get more ideas from the descriptions of the
questions their teacher asked them: Denmark Questions During WWII
<http://groups.google.com/groups?q=%226th+grade%22+europe&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&selm=parkview.1108958807A%40tigger.jvnc.net&rnum=4>,
from the soc.culture.europe newsgroup
<http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&group=soc.culture.europe>.
Finally, http://teachers.net/ - Teacher's Net has boards where you can
share your problems and ideas with others.
You can also use my search method, which was to search for "6th grade"
and "europe" with or without the word "curriculum".
I think that answered your question. However, if you need any
clarifications let me know. I'll be pleased to answer any
clarifications before you rate the answer. Good luck with the kiddos! |
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