WebQuest

A Web Quest for 6^th Grade

Designed by

Brandi Lackey

Happy Halloween!!!!

Is Halloween just about dressing up and collecting candy?? Where did this idea come from? Every year we celebrate the fun & spooky holiday we call Halloween, but do you know what Halloween is really about? In this webquest we are going to study the history of Halloween, where it came from and some believes about this spooky day!! We are also going to learn about some of the famous scary legends and other customs that are popular on this day of the year.

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The Task

There will be several things you will do during while completely this webquest. Below is listed all assignments and projects that need to be done in order to complete the whole webquest:

· Each group will need to research their given topic

· Each group will do a short presentation on the information found on their topic. Be creative with these presentations; dress up, draw pictures, construct something related to assigned topic, and/or any other creative ways you can think of to present your findings.

· Everyone in the class will answer questions I have posted. Questions will be over all topics assigned.

· Each person will write his/her own Halloween/ghost story at the end of the lesson. Once again I’d like you to be as creative as you can when writing these stories.

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The Process

1. You will be divided into 3 groups. Each group will have their own special topic to research and several tasks to complete.

2. You will want to use the links I have provided to do your research on the topic that I have given your group. After your group has completed all their research I would like each group to give a short presentation on each topic. Be creative during this presentation; dress up, draw pictures or posters, or if your group has any other creative ideas as to how to present your topic just check with me first. I’m open to any ideas or suggestions, I just want everyone to be as creative as they can.

3. After the presentations you will need to answer the questions that I have posted about each topic presented. I will have these posted before each presentation, so please be sure to look at these before hand and include them in your presentation.

4. Now for the final step in this web quest…… each person will need to write his/her own ghost/Halloween story. You can choose whatever Halloween or ghost theme that you want, but be sure to be as creative as you can. I want this to be fun for each of you… so let your imaginations run wild and try to write a Halloween story everyone will enjoy.

5. After each person has turned in their Halloween story we will then compile all these stories into our new 6^th grade Halloween story book.

Group 1: you will be researching the Origin of Halloween

Websites group 1 will need:

http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/halloween/?page=origins

http://www.davisenterprise.com/articles/2005/11/13/news/061new0.txt

Group 2: you will be researching the traditions & customs of Halloween today; include trick or treating and other activities we do during Halloween.

Websites group 2 will need:

http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/halloween/?page=origins2

http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/halloween/?page=origins3

http://www.davisenterprise.com/articles/2005/11/13/news/061new0.txt

Group 3: You will be researching the history of the Jack-o-Lantern.

Websites group 3 will need:

http://www.jack-o-lantern.com/

http://www.pumpkincarving101.com/pumpkin_carving_history.html

http://www.pumpkin-patch.com/

Click here to view the worksheet questions!!

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Evaluation

Listed Below are the categories that you will be graded on, please carefully read through these so that you know what I am looking for as you complete this lesson.


CATEGORY	4	3	2	1
Plan for Organizing Information	Students have developed a clear plan for organizing the information as it is gathered and in the final research product. All students can independently explain the planned organization of the research findings.	Students have developed a clear plan for organizing the information in the final research product. All students can independently explain this plan.	Students have developed a clear plan for organizing the information as it is gathered. All students can independently explain most of this plan.	Students have no clear plan for organizing the information AND/OR students in the group cannot explain their organizational plan.
Delegation of Responsibility	Each student in the group can clearly explain what information is needed by the group, what information s/he is responsible for locating, and when the information is needed.	Each student in the group can clearly explain what information s/he is responsible for locating.	Each student in the group can, with minimal prompting from peers, clearly explain what information s/he is responsible for locating.	One or more students in the group cannot clearly explain what information they are responsible for locating.
Props	Group uses several props (could include costume) that show considerable work/creativity and which make the presentation better	Group uses 1 prop that shows considerable work/creativity and which make the presentation better.	Group uses 1 prop which makes the presentation better	The group uses no props OR the props chosen detract from the presentation.
Creativity	The story contains many creative details and/or descriptions that contribute to the reader's enjoyment. The author has really used his imagination	The story contains a few creative details and/or descriptions that contribute to the reader's enjoyment. The author has used his imagination.	The story contains a few creative details and/or descriptions, but they distract from the story. The author has tried to use his imagination.	There is little evidence of creativity in the story. The author does not seem to have used much imagination.

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Conclusion

YOU’VE DONE IT!!!! You have now successfully completed the lesson!! I hope this was a fun lesson for all of you, not only did you learn the history of the fun holiday we call Halloween, but hopefully you also had fun along the way!! You all did a great job with your creative presentations and SCARY ghost stories!! I hope you all have a great and safe Halloween!!

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Credits & References

http://www.pumpkincarving101.com/pumpkin_carving_history.html

http://www.pumpkin-patch.com/

http://www.thehistorychannel.com/

http://www.jack-o-lantern.com/

http://www.davisenterprise.com/articles/2005/11/13/news/061new0.txt/

www.flamingtext.com

http://office.microsoft.com/clipart/default.aspx?lc=en-us

http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php

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Last updated on August 15, 1999. Based on a template from The WebQuest Page