Utah or Bust

Fifth grade.  The milestone year of advanced at-home projects which require creativity, knowledge, and skill.  I still remember my 5th grade state report.  I don't recall why I picked Kentucky, but I know it had nothing to do with fried chicken.  Back in the early 80's there were no computers in homes (unless you were well off) and certainly no internet for research.  I did my project the old fashioned way; research at the library, a #2 pencil and College Ruled paper for writing, and colored pencils to draw pictures.  I still remember bundling it all up in a red folder with a 3 hole punch.  Fast Forward to 2013.  The 5th Grade State report has evolved much like our access to information.  Instead of the handwritten report, my son was assigned a 4 part project:

1. Complete a 10 page Q&A "report" on detailed information on your state
2. Design a personalized license plate for your state
3. Create a Power Point presentation to present in class
4. Create a "Float" to display in the classroom

"Are you kidding me?"  Those were the exact words that I uttered when I saw the assignment posted on the classroom website.  I have a difficult enough time getting Joshua to complete basic homework, how was I going to motivate him to complete this project?  I don't think I even used PowerPoint until I was working for AT&T.  The good news is we got a head start on the work.  I researched the information so I would be an expert so when Joshua worked on his report he could refer to my outline for help.  We were lucky enough to be assigned Utah (Joshua's 3rd choice after Hawaii and Texas) so both Josh and I were familiar with most of the information.  The first part was done in no time.

I quickly went to work on the PowerPoint presentation so that it would look clean and neat and reviewed the information again with Joshua.  The license plate was a breeze.  Joshua quickly knew he wanted to personalize a plate that had something to do with snowboarding so he went with LV2BORD and colored in the snowboarder we added.  Last and certainly not least was the state float.  The assignment required you to design a float with a minimum of 10 elements about your state and present in 3-D.  I'd say we did that and more. Notice that we event included the "fringe" around the exterior to cover the wheels!

This side shows the following (from left to right):
1. Industry - Milk products, hay, copper, beef cattle
2. Mormon church with Brigham Young, Book of Mormon, and  the Temple
3. Centerpiece with the state bird, and state tree, along with a beehive with bees representing "the Beehive State"
4. Major employers unique to Utah; Intermountain Healthcare, BYU, and University of Utah
5. Utah Flag (in background to right)
6. Depiction of city of Moab representing 4X4ing, the beautiful rock formations and Hot Air Ballooning

This side shows the following:
1. Depiction of city of Park City representing trout fishing in the river
2. State Flag
3. Centerpiece with State Flower  and State Animal
4. Depiction of city of Salt Lake City representing the state capital, Snowboarding, and the 2002  Olympics

The front plate is a Jell-o box

The back plate is the one Josh created