ED 218/219 Spring 2010 - Onuora

Teacher Page

Teacher Candidate: Priyanka Patel                                                        Grade Level: 3rd

Content Area: Social Studies, English, and Arts                         Topic: American States

Title of Web Quest: Come visit our State

Description of Web Quest

Students will explore various states of United States to find out key points such as capital, state bird, animal, major cities and attraction. Then, students will make a brochure and present it to the class to attract visitors to their perspective state. The students will work in pairs and communicate with each other clearly along with sharing ideas and duties of the task.

Illinois Learning Standards

STATE GOAL 17:  Understand world geography and the effects of geography on society, with an emphasis on the United States.

17.A.1a   Identify physical characteristics of places, both local and global (e.g., locations, roads, regions, bodies of water). 

STATE GOAL 3:  Write to communicate for a variety of purposes.

3.A.2  Write paragraphs that include a variety of sentence types; appropriate use of the eight parts of speech; and accurate spelling, capitalization and punctuation.

3.B.2a  Generate and organize ideas using a variety of planning strategies (e.g., mapping, outlining, drafting).

3.B.2b  Establish central idea, organization, elaboration and unity in relation to purpose and audience.

STATE GOAL 26:  Through creating and performing, understand how works of art are produced.

26.B.2d Visual Arts:  Demonstrate knowledge and skills to create works of visual art using  problem solving, observing, designing, sketching and constructing.

Introduction

You have a chance to win a FREE trip  to one of the states listed below for one whole week! Everything will be paid for including flight fairs, hotel, food, and tour of attractions of that state.  In order to WIN this FREE exciting TRIP, please complete the following task and you will be judged by your fellow classmates. Once everyone is finished presenting, the class will vote on the state that they would most like to visit.  Therefore make it attractive and convincing for your fellow peers.

Task

All students will be participating in learning about the some of the states in the U.S.  This should be a fun activity to learn about states and its attractions.  The main goal is to learn quick facts of various states in the U.S., and also make a creative presentation to convince you fellow classmates to visit that state.

Process

1.      We will have four days to prepare before your final presentation on the fifth day.

2.      You will be provided with fact sheet, books, internet resources, and brochure materials such as papers, color pencils, and markers.

3.      You will be assigned partners.

4.      I will draw name of a state from the jar that you will be assigned to research.

5.      Each group will be given the fact sheet that will need to be filled out as you research. This fact sheet includes, capital city, population, state bird, state flower, state animal, major cities and attractions, and few interesting facts about the state.

6.      Your group can find appropriate books for your state and research all you can while looking for answers to the fact sheet. Remember that you also have a computer day to research what you cannot find in the books.

7.      The second day, you will have time to go to the computer room. Each group will have assigned computers since I have saved few websites of your state that can help with your research. You job will be to complete the fact sheet if you have not completed yet with book research. You can also research for few interesting facts if you have not found them in the books.

8.      The third day, you will be given time to work on making your creative brochure for your assigned state. Keep in mind that you have to include the followings: Name of the state, attractive logo (saying), capital of the state, at least five attractions of the state that people should definitely come visit, few interesting facts, and contact information for visitors to contact if they have questions or to book trips in your state.

9.      On the fourth day, you and your partner will do final touch ups including finishing the brochure with colors, finishing the fact sheet if it has not been done, and practicing how you are going to convince your audience(classmates) to come your state.

10.  On the last day of this project, I will have a chart on the board with each group’s state name.

11.   Each group will present their brochure to the classmates and convince them to go visit their state.

12.  After every group has presented, the class will vote on which state they would most like to visit based on the presentation.

13.  I will ask state by state and have students raise their hand on the state they would like to visit the most. I will make sure that each person only votes once.

14.  Once every one has voted, the state with the most votes wins a free trip to their assigned states.

Internet & other Resources

Fact Sheet

Book Resources for Research

Quick Facts about the U.S.A

By:  Nancy Hartley

Fabulous Facts about the 50 States

By: Wilma S. Ross

A Picture Book of the U.S.A

By:  Beth Goodman

Internet Resources for Research

Note

Each of the state has two websites as resource. First website for each state is of fact sheet  from info.please.com. You are able to get basic facts of your perspective state from this site. The second website includes some of the attractions that the state has to offer along with tours and tips for that specific state.

Illinois

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0108209.html

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/location/il

California

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0108187.html

http://www.ca.gov/Tourism.html

Colorado

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0108189.html

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/location/co

New York

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0108252.html

http://gonyc.about.com/od/attractions/Things_to_Do_In_New_York_City.htm

Florida

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0108198.html

http://www.thingstodo.com/states/FL/cn.htm

Mississippi

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0108232.html

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g28945-Activities-Mississippi.html

Texas

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0108277.html

http://www.fun-things-texas.com/

Alaska

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0108178.html

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g28923-Activities-Alaska.html

Hawaii

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0108204.html

http://www.101thingstodo.com/

South Carolina

http://www.infoplease.com/us.html

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g28961-Activities-South_Carolina.html

Washington

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0108286.html

http://www.thingstodo.com/

Rhode Island

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0108266.html

http://www.visitri.com/current_category.2506/companies_list.html

What guidance are you providing for students who complete your Web Quest?

·         Handout (fact sheet)

·         Books

·         Internet Resources

·         Art materials to make brochures

·         Prize for the winning group

Evaluation

Conclusion

Congratulations to the WINNER!!! You all have worked hard in completing this task. You all now have more knowledge of some of the states in our country of the U.S.A. You have learned various animals, birds, flowers, capital city and attractions of states that you might like to go visit some day.