Create-a-World Firstly, this project is not my idea—another teacher gave it to me years ago on a crumpled bit of paper and so, like I hope others do with the materials on my website, I remodeled it and changed it to suit my purposes over the years. So thanks to whoever came up with the idea and I guess get in touch if you feel this steps on your toes in any way! The idea is that this is a semi-integrated unit of work, suitable for students from Middle Primary to Lower Secondary that you could spread across the term in English, Society and Environment and Technology lessons. Each activity can be done as a whole class or students could work at their own pace. I have found it useful to break up each task and say, do a couple of weeks of mapping skills with Task 1 being the culminating activity. The writing tasks also are culminating activities for in-class exploration of the Narrative, Description and Recount writing genres. During the unit, as students complete individual tasks, we spend several computer lessons per week putting together a web site in which to present the project as a whole. I have included a template pack that you can download and use with your students. During this part of the unit the students learn how to scan, modify and resize their artwork. Alternatively, you could present the final product as an interactive Power Point or even (*gulp*) trusty pencil and paper! Finally, for the initial mapping activity I tend to use Publisher despite all it’s limitations. I have made a tutorial for this here. To model the 3D island you will need a modeling program such as Terragen or the amazing Bryce—which is being given away for free these days! However I have even had kids modeling their islands in papier mache so there is another way you can modify the task. Enjoy :)
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