Here is my web quest! Thanks!

Comic Life

I would use this in my classroom for different lessons. If I were to teach third grade science and we were talking about plants I would have the students go out and take pictures of different plants. The standard that would be used for this topic is Standard two in third grade science. It says students will understand that organisms depend on living and nonliving things within their environment. This would be a fun activity for the students to do. It is easy to use and fast. 

In the future I would love to teach upper elementary grades. Fourth-sixth grade is what I am thinking. Looking through the websites I found some really great things that could be used it teaching. While I was looking at the websites I found this site, http://www.mbgnet.net/bioplants/, It is about plants and it is quite interesting. The standard for it would be Standard 5 in the science for fifth graders. It states Students will understand that traits are passed from the parent organisms to their offspring, and that sometimes the offspring may possess variations of these traits that may help or hinder survival in a given environment.

This website is easy to understand and to navigate. It has really good graphics that can help the understanding of a student. 

The next thing that I found was a tour through a volcano lesson. The standard would be number 2 it states,Students will understand that volcanoes, earthquakes, uplift, weathering, and erosion reshape Earth's surface. 

The site is http://www.tramline.com/tours/sci/volcano/_tourlaunch1.htm. 

This website is awesome for learning about volcanoes. It goes through what kind of volcanoes there are, hazards of volcanoes, volcanoes on other planets and stuff like that. This is a graphic website with a lot of helpful pictures. It is east to understand because it takes your right through the tour. 

WebQuest Info

Standard:

Students will understand that volcanoes, earthquakes, uplift, weathering, and erosion reshape Earth's surface.

Objective:

How volcanic eruptions can affect the earths surface.

Task:

The task that I will have the students imagine that they are moving to Hawaii. Their family has to find a place to live that would be safe and out of harms way of a volcano. The students will navigate through the IA to figure out where they would build a house.

Grade: Fifth

Website Evaluations

An elementary school web site

          http://www.ccsdut.org/Providence.cfm?subpage=24

         A web site that provides lesson ideas for teachers

         http://www.pecentral.org/

An informational web site that gives basic information about an elementary level topic

http://urbanext.illinois.edu/gpe/index.html

An interactive web site that allows students to practice a specific skill or knowledge concerning an elementary level topic.

http://www.kidsgeo.com/geography-games/usa-capitals-map-game.php

 

This is the evaluation of my choice.

http://www.madison.k12.wi.us/tnl/detectives/eval_form.htm

I really like www.bv229.k12.ks.us website for the evaluation. It was helpful to go through the form and click on the stuff that applied to the website. The forms that I used were helpful because I was able to go through and look at specific things. With the websites that I picked I didn’t find anything that was hidden. I am sure with other sites there could be hidden secrets but the websites that I picked were .edu, .org or a game website which is for kids. The value of using the web site evaluation is finding the difference between a good site or a bad site. I was able to go through and find out what to look for with the form. I really like the evaluation because I now know what I can do personally to find a good web site. I now have the knowledge of teaching my students how to find web sites with honest information. I feel that there are times that a formal evaluation wouldn’t be needed. I think it wouldn’t be needed for some web games but they would have to be looked at by me first before the students can play them. As far as information goes I feel that the web site needs to be evaluated. 

Spreadsheets

I think that spreadsheets are awesome. Once a person knows how to use the spreadsheet they are very handy. They would be great in a fifth grade class for figuring percentages, averages and general math. It can be used for making charts and even advertising. I think that using spreadsheets in google docs is really useful because you can communicate with people through the computer, not even at the same time. There can be several people involved in a spreadsheet at the same time. We learned how to do surveys Friday in class through google docs and they are awesome. They would be good in a fifth grade class because the students could do personal projects with the help of their fellow students.

Collaborative Writing

I think that collaborative writing is awesome. I think that google doc is something that everyone can use. As soon as I familiar with the program I could work it easily. I feel that elementary students would be able to use it as well. The younger ones might struggle, but the fourth and fifth grades could do it. I want to teach fourth or fifth grade and they could use it in different ways. They could use it to write stories like we did today. They could use it for group projects, sharing information or as a study tool for the project. There are so many ways this could be used and having access to it would be great. It is something that the students would be able to use for the rest of their lives. I just barely learned it but I will use it in the future for sure.