Collaborative Reports

I had a group assignment for a class this week to present a workshop lecture on a specific language arts component.  Our group researched and presented on collaborative reports.  I thought I would share our findings for other teachers/educators to use.  

Using the umbrella topic of Alabama counties, we had the children break into groups to research the counties (history, geography, etc.) of local counties.  They would research via books in the library, videos, or approved websites.  After finding all of their needed information, they would write a rough draft of the information in their findings.  Things they wrote about included population size, geographic information, famous people, attractions, and natural findings (such as parks).  They would work together then using the writing process. They would edit the paper together.  Then using a publishing program such as Microsoft Word, they would type it into a document on the computer.  After editing it a second time, they would cite their sources and add a picture or make some artwork for it.  The students would turn in their final documents. As a class we made them into a class shape book (in the shape of Alabama)  and publish copies for all of the students to have.