Senior Time Capsule

A Language Arts Lesson for the 7th Grade.

 

 

Introduction

Many of us have wonderful memories of our lives and

we all have an idea of what our future will look like. 

No matter how old we are we all have goals for our

future and an idea of our legacy (how others will

remember us). In this lesson you and your teammate

will be constructing a time capsule.  A time capsule is

a container that holds objects to represent a certain

time period or era. Your

team will be responsible

for creating a time capsule

that will be opened after

you graduate from high school. 

How will you remember, and be remembered?

The TaskYour team will be responsible for

producing the following products. 

Information that represents you, your community and your world.

A time capsule that can survive underground for at least 5 years.

You will organize all your ideas and information to formulate and create items that are representative of you, your community and your world.

You will be using the Internet to gain global perspective and find information outside your community that represents your world at large.  Your use of the Internet will be focused to finding relevant information on current events, entertainment, society, culture and various other aspects of life that reflect local, national, and international culture.    

The ProcessThese are the steps you must take in order to

complete the goals of your project. 

This project will be broken up into 2 separate parts.  In part 1 you will be collecting and organizing all the information that will go into your time capsule.  In part 2 your team will actually construct the time capsule that will be opened at

the time of your high school graduation. I have provided a CHECKLIST to insure that you have completed each part of the project.  

Part 1Answer the following questions with a partnerUse a separate sheet of paper to record your

answers!

Topic- ENTERTAINMENT

Who won the World Series this year? Who won the Super Bowl this year?

What was the top grossing movie of this year?

What were the best selling fiction and non-fiction books this year?

Use the following links to help find your answers for this topic. 

http://www.yahoo.com/

http://www.eonline.com/

http://imdb.com/

 http://www.sportingnews.com/

Topic- POLITICS

Who are the current Presidents of the United States and the Dominican Republic this year?

Name the senators from your city.

Is the United States in a state of war with any other country this year?  If so which country?

Who is the major for your city this year?

Use the following links to help find your answers for this topic. 

http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/

http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/

http://www.senado.gov.do/senadores.html

Topic-CURRENT EVENTS

List at least 3 major events that have changed your community.  Example: Immokalee won the state football championship.

List at least 3 major events that have changed your country. Example: The war on terrorism.

List at least 3 major events that have changed your world.  Example: The AIDS epidemic in Africa. 

Use the following links to help find your answers for this topic.

 http://www.nytimes.com/

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/

http://www.naplesnews.com/

The London Times

http://www.onlinenewspapers.com/

Topic-FUN FACTS

Find what the price was for the following 5 items in the year 2009.  List the price and the website where you found the information.

1. A gallon of milk 2. A pair of jeans 3. A gallon of gas 4. A Big Mac from McDonalds 5. A loaf of bread

Find the exchange rate between dollars, Dominican pesos, euros.

Find the 10 richest people in the world.

Explain what the Newberry Medal is and which books have received this prestigious honor in the last 5 years?  HINT- Some of these books should be very familiar. 

Find out what the average income is for a high school dropout.

Find out what the average income is for a high school graduate.

Find out what the average income is for a college graduate.

Choose your favorite athlete and tell me where they were born and how did they achieve their goals.

Go to realtor.com and find your dream home.  List 3 things you MUST do in order to live in your home of choice. 

Go to http://www.howstuffworks.com/index.htm and pick one thing and tell me what you learned about how it works.

Go to http://www.endangeredspecie.com/ and define what endangered specie is and list 10 endangered animals and 10 endangered plants in the Dominican Republic. 

Use the following links to help find your answers for this topic.

Forbes: www.forbes.com

Newberry Award Winners: www.ala.org

Google: www.google.com

 

Answer the following questions individually. 

Use a separate sheet of paper to record your answers!

1. Find 5 things that you think will be more valuable in 5 years.  You must support your reasoning as to why you think it will be more valuable.

2. List 3 goals that you would like to accomplish in the next 5 years.

3. Write a 2-page letter to yourself that will be read 5 years from now.  Your paper should focus on goals for the future and how you hope to succeed.  Your paper also needs to contain a daily diary or what a typical day is like for you.  The framing idea for your paper should be “Where are you now and where do you think you will be in 5 years?”

4. The final part of this assignment will be to RE-SEAL the time capsule after you graduate from high school for a much longer period of time (to be determined at the time we open the time capsule).  You will be writing a letter at that time to put in the time capsule for future generations to view and examine. 

 

*Special Note- I am fully aware that I will be unable to give you a grade in five years on whether you write a brief journal to future generations; however I am hoping that you will all be motivated to share aspects of your life with those to come.  Remember the main idea of this project, “How will I remember and be remembered?” I encourage you all to

keep that in mind five years from now so that you will be remembered 100 years from now.

Last but not Least

1.    Collect actual items that you want to place in your time capsule.

2.    Your items MUST represent your community, your country and your world.

3.    Your time capsule must contain at least one picture of yourself.

4.    Your time capsule must contain at least 5 of the following items!

Diaries

Games/video games

Fads (pokemon, hi5, fairly oddparents, spongebob, bob the builder, etc.)

Music (CDs)

Clothing

Friendship bracelets

Collectibles (stamps, coins, baseball cards, comic books, etc.)

Drawings

Maps

Newspapers

Stories or legends

Videos (CDs, DVDs, etc.)

Part 2This is the part of the project where you will be creating the actual time capsule to store your information and materials.

Ideas to get you started!

You may want to use the following materials for a time capsule: Coffee Can, a metal lock box, a heavy-duty Rubbermaid box.

Think of ways to seal your time capsule to keep it dry. 

Think of a safe and secure way to seal your time capsule to keep insects and soil from eroding the contents of your time capsule. 

Your time capsule MUST meet the following list of criteria!

Your capsule must be constructed to withstand nearly any weather occurrence over the next five years.

You may not place any perishable items (food, animals, etc.) in your capsule

Your capsule MUST be environmentally safe which means you may not place chemicals of any type in your capsule.  

Be as creative as possible! 

You may paint your capsule or decorate it in any fashion you want.  You may also use any combination

of materials to create your capsule.  Try to think of things that will endure weather and time well, for

example: metal is much better than paper and try to

think of a way to seal your capsule to keep it safe and dry! 

ChecklistAfter completing each task

place a check next to each task in the blank column and . 

Tasks that need to be finished

Teacher’s Signature /

Date accomplished

TASK

Finish all the group questions under Part 1 of the “Process” page.Topics: Entertainment / Politics

Topic: Current Events

Topic: Fun Facts

Finish the individual activities under Part 1 of the “Process” page.Activity 1: More valuable things

Activities 2-3: Goals / Letter

After finishing both individual and group questions please collect materials that will be placed in your capsule using directions on Part 1 of the “Process” page.Using Part 2 of the “Process” page as a guideline to create your time capsule. 

Prepare to present your time capsule to your fellow classmates. 

Student’s Name: