Marco...Polo...!

All students also participated in a "Marco Polo" activity, in which they chose a trade item from a country in the East to describe using similes and imagery.  They chose an item in a baggie off of the white board map to observe closely--its appearance, smell, texture, taste, etc.  Then, in a message board on ThinkQuest.org, students wrote as Marco Polo describing their items to people in Marco Polo's hometown of Venice, Italy as if these people had never seen, felt, smelt this item from along the Silk Road before.  Some students even used Google Translate to really get into character!  What a great blend of Language Arts and World Geography standards and the students had a blast!