e-WV Lesson Plan
Fairs and Festivals
in West Virginia
Objective: Students will compile lists of fairs and festivals that can
be attributed to the influence of various cultural groups who have
settled in the state. Students will learn about the heritage of fair and
festivals and their significance to the preservation of history.
GRADE LEVEL
Eighth Grade
TIME REQUIRED
Three days
GUIDING QUESTIONS
1. Why do the fairs/festivals exist?
2. What groups settled where the fairs/festivals are located?
3. Why would someone want to go to the fair/festival?
STRATEGIC VOCABULARY
fairs
festival
culture
preservation
LESSON ACTIVITIES
Day 1
1. Begin the lesson by posting and reviewing the guiding questions and strategic vocabulary. Each
student should have a laptop or be in a computer lab.
2. Allow students to develop an understanding of the vocabulary by finding the definition of the words
and how they are to use them.
3. Create a word wall with the strategic vocabulary.
4. Explain to the students that they are going to be creating a tourism brochure about fairs and festivals
around the state of West Virginia. (The title of the brochure is to be “Fairs and Festivals in
West Virginia.”)
5. Pass out the attached rubric so that students know how they are to be graded.
6. Pass out the examples of brochures that you have collected so students can see various formats they
might use. Templates of brochures are also available on Microsoft Word and Publisher.
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e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia
7. Have students access http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/ and search for fairs and festivals in
West Virginia. (Students may choose three fairs or festivals for their brochure.) Here are some of the
fairs and festivals included in e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia:
• Mountain State Art & Craft Fair: http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1449
• West Virginia State Folk Festival: http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1096
• State Fair of West Virginia: http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/563
• Vandalia Gathering: http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/858
• Stonewall Jackson Jubilee: http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/596
• Apple Butter Festival: http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/257
• Strawberry Festival: http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/604
• Italian Heritage Festival: http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/917
• Webster County Woodchopping Festival: http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/951
• West Virginia Water Festival: http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1131
• Mountain State Forest Festival: http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1514
• Preston County Buckwheat Festival: http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1916
8. Students may need to access other websites for pictures of some of the fairs or festivals.
Day 2
1. Begin the lesson by reviewing the guiding questions and strategic vocabulary. Each student should
have a laptop or be in a computer lab.
2. Direct students back to the rubric to ensure they are getting all the information into the brochure that
is required.
3. Allow students to continue working and complete the brochure.
4. Once students finish, they can print their brochures, or send them to you as an email attachment so
that you can print them.
Day 3
1. Begin the lesson by reviewing the guiding questions and strategic vocabulary.
2. Have students present their brochures to the class, turning in their brochures and rubrics once they
have finished.
3. Place/hang the brochures in the room for all to see.
4. Students can take the rest of class to look at other brochures and see if there are fairs/festivals they
would like to visit.
WEST VIRGINIA NEXT GENERATION
CONTENT STANDARDS AND OBJECTIVES
SOCIAL STUDIES
SS.8.H.CL7.1: Students will compile lists of fairs and festivals in West Virginia that can be attributed
to the influence of various cultural groups who have settled in the state, explaining the heritage
of the fair or festival and its significance to the preservation of West Virginia history.
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SS.8.C.1: Students will demonstrate patriotism through planning, participation and observance of
important anniversaries and remembrances (e.g.Pearl Harbor, Veterans Day, Constitution Day
and Patriot’s Day).
SS.8.E.4: Students will research and cite industries and products that are vital to the economy of the four
regions of West Virginia both past and present and categorize the related occupations (e.g.
tourism, coal, glass, timber, chemical, oil, natural gas, agriculture service industries and gaming).
SS.8.G.1: Students will label the four major physical regions, major rivers, landforms, natural/man-made
borders, points of interest and bordering states on selected maps.
SS.8.G.5: Students will analyze the geographic factors that led to development of agricultural, coal,
glass, chemical, metallurgic, and tourism industries in West Virginia (e.g. floods and coal
mining disasters).
SS.8.G.6: Students will interpret facts about West Virginia from various types of charts, graphs, maps,
pictures and models.
SS.8.G.8: Students will identify the nine distinct tourist regions in the state of West Virginia and analyze
which geographic factors influence each region.
LITERACY
SS.6-8.L.1: Students will cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary
sources, attending to such features as the date and origin of the information.
SS 6-8.L.2: Students will determine the central ideas or information of primary and secondary sources,
provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.
SS.6-8.L.4: Students will determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text,
including vocabulary specific to domains related to history/social studies.
SS.6-8.L.5: Students will describe how a text presents information (e.g. sequentially, comparatively and
causally).
SS.6-8.L.7: Students will integrate visual information (e.g. charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps)
with other information in print and digital texts.
SS.6-8.L.8: Students will distinguish among fact, opinion, and reasoned judgment in a text.
SS.6-8.L.10: Students will read and comprehend history/social studies texts at or above grade level text
complexity band independently and proficiently.
SS.6-8.L.13: Students will produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization
and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
SS.6-8.L.14: Students will, with some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and
strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach,
focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
SS.6-8.L.15: Students will use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and
present the relationships between information and ideas clearly and efficiently.
SS.6-8.L.16: Students will conduct short research projects to answer a question (including a
self-generated question), drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused
questions that allow for multiple avenues of exploration.
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SS.6-8.L.17: Students will gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using
search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or
paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard
format for citations.
SS.6-8.L.18: Students will draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and
research.
Lesson plan Created by Chris Lewis, Hamilton Middle School, [email protected].
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