Creating a project takes a lot of time and effort, but it can be done!
Here are the steps that to take when starting to create a project:
Think of the topic that you want to create a project about. For the sake of this article we're going to use the example of animal adaptations (mostly because I think this is the next project I'm going to create :-).
Look up content standards that have to do with animal adaptations according to your students grade level (s). For the animal project, I would look up content standards that are for Kindergarten through Second Grade for animal adaptations. If you don't follow standards that's totally fine; just pick a goal or objective of what you want your children to learn. If you want them to learn about animal adaptations and where the animals live, that would be your goal.
Based on the standards, you would then come up with an essential question. The essential question is something that by the end of the project they create, build, research, and/or come up with a solution. The project should guide students through a bunch of activities to research this topic so that they can answer this essential question at the end.
Go through and think about what the activities and steps that need to be done in order to answer that essential question. I personally create information sheets about the main topic which is more of a guide for parents. It’s always beneficial to include videos in lessons, so I’ll include a few videos in the project. Then I include activities to help them build up their knowledge along the way, such as some cut and paste activities, filling in the blanks or a journal. Of course this is dependent on the grade level. These suggestions are for primary grade levels. For upper, I would do more journaling, writing essays, more research-based activities and complex art projects.
Gather Resources: I always like to gather several books for my children because it helps get them excited about the project and they immerse them in the topic. It’s always a fun idea to go to the library and have them pick about books about the topic.
There you have it! This is a raw skeleton of how I go through creating a project. If you have any questions about these steps, I’d be happy to answer them! Email me at nancy@buildaproject.net.