Looking for an engaging end-of-the-year project for Middle School Social Studies? One option I love is a Plan a Road Trip Project. It is a great fit for the end of the school year when you and your students have summer on the brain, because road trips and summertime go hand in hand.
A great project for middle school
Here are the reasons a Plan a Road Trip Project works so well:
- It has real-world connections. When students plan their road trip, they will be selecting from actual locations. Who knows, the project might even inspire some of their future travels.
- Students are learning about Geography without even realizing it. This project brings in different aspects of Geography to help reinforce Geography skills that are important for students.
- It incorporates student choice. Each student you teach can create a different road trip for their project. This student choice will help create high levels of engagement for your students.
- You can make it cross-curricular. You can easily include things like mileage calculations, costs of gas and other travel-related expenses, and journal writing. These will make your Plan a Road Trip Project a cross-curricular learning experience for your students.
- Making historical connections is easy. If you’d like to tie the project into historical events, you can require students to visit sites with historical connections, such as lunch counters significant to the Civil Rights Movement or Revolutionary War battlefields.
Supporting Student Success
As with any Middle School Social Studies Project, three keys to success are scaffolding, chunking, and communication.
- Scaffolding – Provide students with the support they need to complete the tasks in their project. You know your students best. Some examples of scaffolding they might need for this project are: 1) a list of possible sites to visit or 2) an example of how to calculate their mileage.
- Chunking – Give students mini-deadlines along the way to keep them from putting off the project to the last minute. I find it helpful to give students an exact task or tasks I expect them to complete in a class period, and if they don’t finish that task in class, it becomes homework.
- Communication – It is always helpful to email parents when students are starting a project, even if you expect students will complete the project in class. I like to provide parents with information like the project description, deadlines, and the purpose of the project. I tell parents it is their student’s responsibility to complete the work, but they can help remind their student about the project and check to see that their child is keeping up with all the mini-deadlines.
A Done-for-You Plan a Road Trip Project
If you’d like to use a Plan a Road Trip Project with your students, but want to save yourself a lot of time, check out this no-prep, digital Plan a Road Trip Project. It’s ready to assign to your students today.
Here’s what teachers are saying about this Plan a Road Trip Project:
- “I have some students who are distance, hybrid and some who are in person. This was a great lesson to have them be able to work together and share their ideas. I loved that I was able to place this in our online classroom and they could work at their own pace. When they are all finished they are going to be sharing their trip ideas with all. There are so many extension pieces that could be added to this if a person wanted. Thank you for your work on this and your willingness to share. It has been a lifesaver!” – Amanda F.
- “I used this during distance learning to practice research skills. What a well thought out, organized project. Super simple to follow and my students seemed to really enjoy it!!” – Jennifer P.
- “This was a very engaging and fun project spanning multiple days with my middle schoolers. The kids got to have fun while applying the skills we were focusing on. Easy to follow and would recommend to others.” – Taryn S.
