Trading Cards

[Barb]

My students completed their first and my first trial of trading cards. They loved it so much that when I offered extra credit several asked if they could do another trading card. I have a third grade class and was surprised at the indepth learning it provided. Trading cards will certainly be on my list for the beginning of the next school year. Wouldn't it be fun to have each student do several through out the year then bind them as a book for each kiddo?

[Liz Roberts]

So how do these trading cards work? Do they do them like book reports? Or do they write about themselves?

[Barb]

Hi Liz,
This project comes from a book called Wacky We-Research Reports written by Barry Lane. The kids write it on a person they want to know more about. The purpose is for them to generalize the information they have learned instead of reguritating then forgetting. The front is a drawn collage of items that represent the person where the back is the information. Go to Writingfix.com for wacky organizer and other information about this lesson. It was great. I hope I answered your question and let me know if I can help any more. Barb

Liz Roberts said:

So how do these trading cards work? Do they do them like book reports? Or do they write about themselves?

[Sally Ann Root]

What a coincidence! I happen to have Barry's book sitting right next to me. Thanks for the recommendation, I will check that activity out first.

[Cindy McIntyre]

I love that book. When I taught 8th grade U.S. history I had my students do trading cards on colonial leaders. They loved it and learned a lot in the process. Since they have to condense the info on the card, they had to choose what they thought were the most important or outstanding facts about each person. We also did them on each of the 13 colonies - sorta as if the colony was a person. These were used in a mock chamber of commerce meeting where each colony was trying to get more people to move there.

[Kim Kuruzovich]

Your comment on teaching 8th grade U.S. History caught my eye. I have just been assigned this topic to teach--with no book or resources. So I'll be building this up from the beginning. I've been looking for fun things to do with the students and this is a terrific idea! Thanks for sharing!

Cindy McIntyre said:

I love that book. When I taught 8th grade U.S. history I had my students do trading cards on colonial leaders. They loved it and learned a lot in the process. Since they have to condense the info on the card, they had to choose what they thought were the most important or outstanding facts about each person. We also did them on each of the 13 colonies - sorta as if the colony was a person. These were used in a mock chamber of commerce meeting where each colony was trying to get more people to move there.

[Sarah kruger]

I haven't seen the specifics of the lesson but do you think this idea would work as an introductory activity for back to school? Students could make a trading card about themselves to share with classmates.

[Laurie Katz]

I can't find the section on writing fix that describes the trading cards. Please lead the way for me more explicitly. Thanks

/body>