Students used the Internet to research the history and process of making maple syrup.  A favorite activity was finding recipes for yummy treats with maple syrup as an ingredient.  Students then developed Powerpoint presentations to document their new knowledge.  Here are just a few examples.

Kelly Meola's 7th grade Media and Study Skills class learned about legends and oral histories by studying Native American and historical maple syrup lore.  Students then wrote their own creative legends and stories.  The stories were published using the schools new laptop lab and word processing.  Students drew illustrations and created cover pages.  Finally, the creative writing pieces were scanned into a PDF file using the HP Printer Scanner Copier.

A couple of students used the HP Tablets to record their stories using Audacity software to create Podcasts.  One even developed illustrations using the Tablet drawing pen and Alias Sketchbook Pro.  When complete, the audio and drawings were integrated into an Illustrated PodCast using PhotoStory 3 for Windows.

Students and teachers had their first experience with Weblogs (Blogging) as a part of this project.  The teachers posted questions and documents for the students to review and use to guide their studies.  Students, in turn, posted comments both to their teachers and to each other.