Kid Stuff

My 10-year-old is working on his 4th grade project- a presentation on the Battle of Antietam. He visited this Civil War battle site, learned about it, took pictures, and did research on the Internet and at the Library.

Last night he practiced his draft presentation. He created a PowerPoint presentation with words sweeping in from all angles (kids love that!), a lot of random facts, and no context or story. I've actually seen similar presentations in business settings, minus the flying text!

We talked about it. What is the main thing you want your class to know? (Answer: it was America's bloodiest day). Are there things the class would know about that you could compare the number of casualties to? (Answer: D-Day, 9/11). Can you incorporate your visit to the battlefield to make your presentation more like an interesting and relevant story? (Answer: we dipped our feet in Antietam Creek, which ran red with blood the day of the battle)

I hope he learned something about delivering information and public speaking. The presentation is a little bit better and I think it will be more fun for him and his classmates.

You're never too young to learn to get your message across to the audience.