This document provides guidance for teachers planning a 4-day instructional camp unit. It recommends choosing an engaging title, developing interactive daily activities rather than lectures, incorporating hands-on work each day toward a final product, and using attention-grabbing hooks like videos or facts to introduce lessons. Teachers should avoid cramming information on the first day or relying solely on internet research. The goal is to create an interactive learning experience for students throughout the camp.

2.  Think of a catchy title that really defines what
your unit is all about.
 Be creative – brainstorm several ideas with
your partner and choose the best (not the
first) idea.
 Pitch the idea to a couple of people – can
they tell what the unit will be about?

3.  Janet &Erin: "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?"
(a unit on Migration and Unemployment)
 Quinn & Kaitlin: “Hot Off the Press” (a unit on
the future of newspapers)
 Ellen & LeighAnn: “Water Water Everywhere”
(a unit on accessible drinking water)
 Karen & Janele: “The Last Water Dinosaur” (a
unit on sea turtles)

4.  Recall from last summer that you will need to
plan for 4 days of instruction at camp. These
four days included about 70 minutes of
instruction per day for
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
 Remember Thursday at camp is the day you
complete final preparations for the family
visits.

5.  The temptation is to do LOTS of lecture and
pack the kids’ heads full of information on
Monday since you are trying to build
background knowledge. AVOID THIS.
 The temptation might also be to “have kids
do research on the internet.” This is not an
active learning strategy and there is probably
a better, more interactive way to teach them.
 There should be interactive, interesting
activities planned for each day of camp.

6.  Another temptation is to try to do most of
the work on the product on the last day of
camp (Thursday). This is a mistake and you
will probably not end up with a high quality
product.
 Instead, schedule a little bit of time each day
for the students to work on their product
(i.e., one day they might write a
script, another day they might do a voice
over, another day they might add pictures to
a PSA).

7.  Do you remember learning about the ‘hook’
in your undergraduate education program?
This is the time at the beginning of the lesson
when you GRAB your students’ attention and
get them interested in what you are about to
teach.
 There are many interesting ways to ‘hook’
your students, including: sharing a very short
video clip, citing a piece of interesting factual
information, showing pictures, etc.

8. Building Bridges - teachers could show the
following clip of a group of goats crossing a
bridge prior to discussing the optimal design
for bridge building.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSBHpJmjk
9k&feature=player_detailpage

9. Architecture - teachers could show the
following clip to get students interested in
the study of architecture. Who built these
places, anyway?
http://youtu.be/Hw679ml4jfg

10.  For this Module, you will work with your partner to
create two overarching goals that will span the
content of your entire unit.
 These should not be the same as the goals/objectives
from the NC Standard Course of Study - we want you
to write your own. You may, however, want to use the
NCSCOS to guide you. If you use the NCSCOS as a
guide, be sure to look at the goals and objectives at
least two grade levels above the students that you will
be teaching (i.e., if you will be teaching 5th graders,
you can look at the content standards for 7th graders
or beyond). You do not have to use the NCSCOS.