Northern Berkshire Adult Basic Education Program
Distance Learning
Virtual Vacation Sweepstakes
The Great American Road Trip!
Opening Lines from Walt Whitman's Song of the Road
______________________________

 Afoot and light-hearted, I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me, leading wherever I choose

Congratulations! You are the winner of an all expenses paid virtual vacation to a destination of your choosing anywhere in the continental United States.


2 Letter State Code Abbreviations

In the coming weeks, you will be guided on your trip with the resources and activities listed below. For the final project, each student will contribute a page to an online class memory book.


Related Internet Links

Great American Road Trip
Writing and Activities Schedule
Notes:
1. Indicates a MSWord document and  indicates an Adobe Reader document.

2. Download and save each week's MSWord handouts to your floppy disk. Answer the questions in the writing box provided beneath each question. Save your completed work to your floppy disk before closing your document.

3. Other writing materials may be substituted for the Writing Skills Activities.
A
Writing Journal Activities
 Writing Skills Activities
TV411 Print Materials
 Enrichment
Week 1

 Introduction to the Project

 Plan Your Trip


 Writing Resource Packet
1. TV411 - Planning a Road Trip
_______________

2. Using seeamerica.org
Download and print this document to begin planning your virtual road trip.
 Summer Reading Packet (.pdf)
1. A Brief History of Road Maps
2. Are We There Yet?
3. Reading Questions
_______________

4. MSNBC "Driving Vacations Through the Ages"  Early Years
5. Questions for the Early Years
Week 2

Write a Traveler's Diary Entry and Save Related Photo--1st Entry
 Writing Resource Packet
1. TV411 - Using the 5 W's: Understanding a News Article
2. TV411 - Sentence Writing: Where do Periods Go?
 Summer Reading Packet
1. Traveler's Journal 2616
2. Reading Questions
_______________

3. New York Times 5 W's Activity
_______________

4. MSNBC "Driving Vacations Through the Ages"  The 1950s
5. Questions for the 1950's
Week 3

Write a Traveler's Diary Entry and Save Related Photo-- 2nd Entry
 Writing Resource Packet
1. TV411 - Paragraphs: Breaking Up is Easy to Do
2. What is a Paragraph?
 Summer Reading Packet
1. Travel Diaries
2. Reading Questions
_______________

3. MSNBC "Driving Vacations Through the Ages"  The 1960's
4. Questions for the 1960's
Week 4

Write a Traveler's Diary Entry and Save Related Photo -- 3rd Entry
 Writing Resource Packet
1. TV411 - Avoid Mushy Writing
2. TV411 - Words That Are Often Misspelled
 Summer Reading Packet
1. The Great North American Road Trip
2. Reading Questions
_______________

3. MSNBC "Driving Vacations Through the Ages"  The 1970s
4. Questions for the 1970's
Week 5

Revise Your Travel Story		 Writing Resource Packet
1. TV411 - Making Revisions
_______________

TV411 Online - Writing
2. How to Use an Editing Checklist
 Summer Reading Packet
1. Across Massachusetts
2. Reading Questions
_______________

3. MSNBC "Driving Vacations Through the Ages"  The 1980s
4. Questions for the 1980's
Week 6

Final Revision Travel Story		 Writing Resource Packet
1. TV411 - Making an Editing Checklist
_______________

TV411 Online - Writing
2. Grammar and Punctuation
 Summer Reading Packet
1. The Highway that Sings
2. Reading Questions
_______________

3. MSNBC "Driving Vacations Through the Ages"  The 1990s
4. Questions for the 1990's

Useful and Interesting Project Web Links

Planning Resources

  1. See America http://www.seeamerica.org/ (a list of states with information about each one)

  2. Road Trips USA http://www.roadtripusa.com/ (select one of eleven pre planned trips -- print out map route images)

  3. National Scenic Byways Online http://www.byways.org/

  4. Two Web sites that offer information about each of the 50 American states: The US 50 and  50 States

  5. The History Place Tourism Guide of History in the USA (historic attractions listed by state)

  6. Roadside America (online guide to offbeat tourist attractions)

  7. Get a map and driving directions for your road trip

Writing Resources

  1. TV411 Online http://www.tv411.org/

  2. Our program's Virtual Writing Lab http://abeged.com/ela-cf.html

Virtual Road Trip

1. Sit back and enjoy this overview of "Diving Vacations Through the Ages" narrated by Lester Holt of MSNBC.
2.
 Horatio's Drive: The first coast to coast automobile trip in the spring of 1903 (101 years ago!) from San Francisco, California to New York City.
3.
 Travel Channel Road Trips (select one of virtual theme travel trips here.
4.
 Postcards From America --  Postcard Gallery A state-by-state archive of the Capital Tour of America, arranged chronologically from the first day to the last day of this three year journey from 1997-2000. Above each postcard are links, such as Maps, Travel Tips, Stamps and Fun Facts that will connect you to more information about that state.
5.
 America on the Move from the National Museum of American History. Of special note:  (1)  Americans Adopt the Auto, (2) The People's Highway/Route 66, (3) Roadside Communities,  and (4) Family Camping.
6.
 Play interactive games online: Where's Everyone Going, Drive Through Time, and Be a Movie Director.
The Road in Music and Poetry

  1. Route 66 is a famous scenic American highway. Print out a map of Route 66 with lyrics to the song Route 66, a song that made this highway famous worldwide. Visit a Web site of Route 66 history. Enjoy reading some Route 66 postcards. Read about the television program of the 1960's, Route 66.

  2. Enjoy other travel songs: Songs such as On the Road Again by Willie Nelson and I've Been Everywhere by Johnny Cash. If you would like to read a copy of lyrics for these songs, go to Google (http://www.google.com/) and enter the word lyrics followed by the song's name (example: lyrics "on the road again").  If you would like to hear these songs, they are available on CDs, and may be available to loan from your local library.

  3. Poetry of the Open Road: A brief essay about what some poets have written about the significance of roads in our lives.

Return to Writing and Activities Schedule
TV411 Print Resources
Week
 Lesson
 Issue
 Pages
1
 Planning a Road Trip
 14
 6-7
2
 Using the 5 W's: Understand News Articles
 16
 8-9

Sentence Writing: Where do the Periods Go?
 8
 10

Sentence Writing: Where do the Periods Go? 9
 10
3 Paragraphs: Breaking Up is Easy to Do
 16
 10
4
 Avoid Mushy Writing: Be Specific
 17
 10

Words That Are Often Misspelled
 10
 10
5
 Make Revisions
 13
 4-5
6
 Make an Editing Checklist
 2
 4-5

Return to Writing and Activities Schedule

Curriculum created by Thelma Margulies and Carole Blair
Web Site Created and Maintained by Carole Blair
Northern Berkshire Adult Basic Education Program 
Distance Learning Project
[Home]  [ABE]  [GED]  [ESOL]  [Technology]  [Teacher]  [TA/Tutor]

[Workshops]  [Projects]  [Notices]  [Family]  [Computing]  [Community]

Updated October 2006