2nd Grade--What It Means to be an American

I have done this assignment for several years with magazines. Students have created posters about what they think it means to be an American using pictures they cut out from magazines. However, after 10 years my magazine supply is dwindling and I am not getting as many magazines donated by parents as I used to (nor do I get magazine subscriptions in paper anymore).

This year I gave students a choice of completing the assignment as a paper poster or on the iPad. We looked through the Scholastic book I am American and brainstormed what it means to be an American. From there students were on their own to create. About 1/4 of the students completed the assignment on paper and the rest used Drawing Pad/Strip Design/Pic Collage as they saw fit. Students who worked on paper liked that they didn't have to draw or find photos from the photo library (they don't search the Internet) but sometimes they felt limited by what they could find in the magazines (and none of them wanted to draw on paper). Students who worked on the iPads either loved it or didn't think their drawings looked as good as magazine photos and they didn't always find what they wanted in the photo library.

Overall I'm glad I gave them choice this year, I'd do the same again. I liked how different each student's final product turned out. Unfortunately none of the work actually made it to Posterous so I don't have any samples to post.