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I Packed a Suitcase to Missouri

Formative Assessment:

· Why has Missouri become such a popular state for tourists?

· What are your favorite places to visit in Missouri?

· Where would you like to travel in Missouri?

Instructional Strategies or Activities:

Gather tourist guides and brochures from local visitors’ centers or from your state’s department of tourism for the students to use as reference materials. Tell students that each of them should research three areas in Missouri that attract tourists. Explain that they will design a suitcase with three “compartments” that contain items a tourist would need to pack when visiting each site.

1. First, have students brainstorm a list of items a tourist might need when visiting each tourist site. Students can use creative license. For instance, if a tourist were to go white-water rafting, he or she might pack a rubber boat and paddles (even though these would not logically be packed in a suitcase).

2. Give each student one large and three small sheets of construction paper. Students should fold the three smaller sheets in half horizontally. These three sheets represent the three compartments of the suitcase.

3. Next, students draw and cut out different articles of clothing, accessories, and items needed when visiting the site. (For example, if the tourist were visiting Aspen, Colorado, he or she might pack a hat, sweater, ski pants, ski poles, ski boots, and lift passes.) These items should be glued around the inside of the folded piece of construction paper.

4. Next to each item, students should write a description of the item and explain why each item is needed.

5. Students should repeat steps 3 and 4 for the other sites.

6. When the three compartments are finished, tell students to use a glue stick to attach the bottom of one compartment to the top side of the next, until the three pages are joined and turn like the pages in a book. (Use a glue stick instead of regular glue so the paper doesn’t buckle.)

7. The large sheet of construction paper should be wrapped around the three compartments, cut to fit, and then glued around them.

8. Ask students to create a “sticker” that reads, “I Packed a Suitcase to Missouri” and glue it to the suitcase cover. Students should then create smaller stickers that feature the names of the tourist attractions.

9. Finally, students should fold a small rectangle of construction paper in half and cut out a handle for the suitcase. The bottom four tabs of the handle should be glued around the fold of the suitcase’s covering.

Summative Assessment:

Give students a teacher-created checklist to self-assess the contents and cover of the suitcase. Invite students to share their suitcase with the class.