Henrico Hometown Heroes – 4527

Summary

Henrico Hometown Heroes is a project in which the fifth grade students investigated the businesses, community/service groups, local leaders, and Henrico citizens who make Henrico such a wonderful place to live and work. This unit enhances their understanding and commitment to Henrico County. The students are challenged to find and research businesses, community/service groups, local leaders, and Henrico citizens who make Henrico County a great place to live and work. The students work in cooperative groups, comprised of students from each of our four classrooms, to identify and select the businesses and people that they are researching. Students used their research to create a multi-media presentation to inform the other students about our Henrico Hometown Heroes. The groups identified a total of twenty-four Hometown Heroes. The fifth graders conducted interviews with a representative of each business, community group, or Hometown Hero to ask about their service to Henrico County. Interpersonal skills were developed through modeling of proper interview etiquette, techniques, and behavior. The students utilized their writing skills to compose interview questions and to write thank you notes upon completion of the interview. Each group designed and constructed a trophy to give to the business, community/service group, or person that they researched. The students presented these to our Henrico Hometown Heroes. In addition, the students created a page on the Hometown Heroes Blog to highlight and honor their nominee.

TIPC Ratings

This lesson falls in the Ideal/Target range for Research & Information Fluency. The students worked as a team to research a Henrico Hometown Hero of their choice. Students used a variety of appropriate websites, books, magazine articles, newspaper articles, and interviews to gather information on their topic. The students generated their own questions for the interviews based on information obtained in their research. The students organized their information into a multi-media presentation and created a page on the Hometown Heroes Blog to showcase their nominee.

This lesson falls in the Ideal/Target range for Communication and Collaboration. The students conducted interviews with the Henrico Hometown Heroes in real time either at school, over the phone, or via Skype. The students and their parents answered a survey on our class blog to share information on local businesses who are contributing to Henrico County. Students displayed their research findings on the Hometown Heroes Blog as a way to honor and promote the work of their nominee.

This lesson falls in the Ideal/Target range for Criticial Thinking and Problem Solving. The students employed critical thinking skills when analyzing their research, creating relevant questions for their interviews, and identifying the motivation of those who contribute to Henrico County. They used problem solving to discover ways to work effectively as a team, to compromise, and to create a successful presentation and award.

This lesson falls in the Ideal/Target range for Creativity and Innovation. The students used a variety of computer applications to create their presentations, blog page, and awards. The students were creative in their distribution of work, accounting for the talents and abilities of individual group members. They used innovation to constantly reevaluate their projects as they went along in order to make improvements.