At the fifth-grade level, students enjoy looking at pictures and watching short video clips. Students can put together a multimedia presentation on something visual in history. For example, students can focus on subjects such as architecture, dress and vehicles such as cars, airplanes and trains. Students can use Internet research to obtain pictures of the various important events throughout history and put together a multimedia slideshow and explain each picture. A more advanced project could include short video clips.
Timelines use important historical dates about an event or historical figure from start to finish. Students can use important dates in the life of an historical figure, a war (conflict or even a battle), religion, invention or development of a country. Students can use library and Internet research skills to determine the most and the best information and present it to the class on either poster board or using a computer. Timelines also teach students about good organizational skills, how to recognize important information and working with numbers.
Students learning about history can do presentations on the local places they learning about as they relate larger historical issues. For example, for students learning about the Civil War, they can talk about field trips to Gettysburg. If they live in or near Texas, they can talk about a trip to Alamo in San Antonio. Students studying the Boston Tea Party can address the landmarks in Massachusetts related to the historic event. Students could use Internet research skills to find activities, tours and sights to see in each city and tell fellow students what to expect in a trip. For students who already experienced these cities, they can relay information on what they found. Students should not rule out local historical areas and tours.
Fifth graders can take a historical figure they learn about in class and by doing some research; "become" that person in a dramatic interpretation of the character. For example, students can research any of the U.S. presidents or other historical figures such as Abraham Lincoln, Betsy Ross, Benjamin Franklin or Walt Disney and create a presentation of them "in character." Students can show how Abraham Lincoln decided to end the Civil War, why Betsy Ross chose to sew the American flag the way she did, explain an invention of Benjamin Franklin's or the story behind Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse character. These types of presentations give students oral presentation skills and help them focus on one particular person or thing, rather than become scattered about a topic.