Road to Independence the Nonlinguistic Way

This is 1 of 2 lessons that i used in my class this Spring from the Marzano book. I have enjoyed reviewing this book and refreshing some strategies that i incorporate as a 5th grade teacher. :) The first one that i used was a nonlinguistic model.
In studying the American Revolution i wanted my students to remember the causes and effects of those causes of the revolution, and for them to be able to draw some parallels to todays political situation. To accomplish this i would assign a four part nonlinguistic assignment called the"Road to Independence" . This would be independently done with each part being completed within a time line. Part I: Researching. As we read through our United States History textbook, i gave the students a gridded graphic organizer that had spaces for: Event, Date, Main Ideas of Event, People and asked them to come up with 12 different events that led to the American Revolution. Part II: Summarizing. Using the graphic organizer from Part I, the students now needed to select any 10 events and list them in sequential order complete with Event, Date, and a two sentence summary of the event including any people recorded. Part III: Designing. Using a 14'' x 20" piece of white paper the students literally design a wide road called the "Road to Independence". This road when finished will look similar to a game board complete with a colorful background, exits, turns, detours, road side rest stops etc. The road squares themselves are created with a Title (event), date, the students 2 sentence summary, and a small illustration of that event for each square. The events are placed in order ending with the Declaration of Independence. Part IV: Presenting. This part is exciting as the students present their "Road to Independence" to the class and we discuss the causes and the effects of the events they chose, and we draw any parallels to what is happening in the political world that they may have heard over the news or their family talking about. Finally, the students using a rubric evaluate their own work and hand it in for my final assessment. The varied "roads" end up on display for all to see and enjoy.