Eclectic Elementary: Titanic Learning: "I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic"

Can you survive the school year? Keep your students engaged with an "I Survived..." series book by Lauren Tarshis! These stories are very exciting to almost every student, and are terrific transitions into historical events.
My class started with "I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912". We began this story with a digital journey to explore various concepts from the ship's construction to how passengers survived the sinking, or succumbed to hypothermia in the icy Atlantic waters. Each boat crew was given a passenger card with basic information about a real passenger from the ill-fated voyage. Their task was to research various weblinks and use the info to create a survival plan to save their passenger. The students simultaneously worked on the I Survived book in "boat crews" (small groups). Each boat crew read and completed the novel study extensions together, while creating digital products. After we wrapped up the book, the crews presented what they learned to the class. The students evaluated themselves and their peers using project rubrics. Take a peek at my students engaging in this story and historical event.

This informational poster was created to share some general Titanic info with the class.

One boat crew made a poster to outline their plan to save their Titanic passenger!

Several crews created presentations using iPads and the Educreations app (It's free!) or the iMovie app
(This app isn't free, but the kids have created some REALLY cool presentations with it).
We can also share these on our class Edmodo page, in case students want to view the presentations again!

Other groups drew scale models of the famous ship.

Some groups tackled the technicalities of building the ship and some of the construction weaknesses that may have contributed to the sinking.

Still other crews created powerpoint presentations on the class laptops.
This group actually created two digital products: a powerpoint and an Educreations presentation!

Give your students the opportunity to dive into some non-fiction text with these DOGO News articles

Check out Chapters 1-4 for FREE!