Michelle's fourth-graders developed a PowerPoint slide show to present the results of their Texas history research project, using the following process:

1. Students identified appropriate Texas history topics for research, with ideas for topics coming both from their textbook and from the video Texas History Time Line.
2. Working in the school's media center, they gathered informational materials from a variety of sources, both print and electronic.
3. They read selectively from their multiple sources and took notes.
4. They organized their research using the acrostic design shown below: writing a fact that begins with each letter of their topic. At the same time, they presented the facts in chronological order.
5. They took their handwritten drafts to the media center, where each student used PowerPoint to publish his or her work. They used word art, text boxes, and pictures in their slides, and they animated most of those elements.
6. When all the students had completed their work, they moved copies of their files into a fellow student's "Drop Box" on the school's Mac server and turned over their files to two students who organized all of the slides into one big presentation.
7. They presented their Texas History Acrostic Presentation to various school audiences.

The acrostic design (adapted by Michelle from Tammy Worcester's Fifty Quick and Easy PowerPoint Activities) produced a striking result: it challenged the children to cleverly state their researched information in their own words (instead of copying directly from their sources)–something that student researchers often find difficult to do. When you read Michelle's students' work below, you'll hear their voices and know that the writing is theirs.