Introduction
You are going to take a road trip with some friends through one part of the United States. You only have about a week, so you must decide on which region of the U.S. you want to see! Do you want to see the West, such as California, Arizona, and Colorado? Or maybe you want to head East and see states like Georgia, Maryland, and New York. Perhaphs you prefer to head South to Texas, Flordia, or Oklahoma. Some of you may decide to go North and see Minnesota, Ohio, or North Dakota! Get your camera ready!
Task
Your task is to create a scrapbook of your adventure to one of the regions in the United States! In your scrapbook I will see pictures of places you saw or visited, read journal entries you wrote while traveling, see maps you used to navigate your way, see souvenirs you brought back from famous tourists attractions, and read about the highlights of the trip! Feel free to be as creative as possible when creating your book! I would also like to read about why you liked or didn't like the region you visited.
Here is an example of one page of a scrapbook featuring the South.
Process
1. Teacher will put students into groups of four. Groups will decide on one region to travel to! (No more than two groups per region.)
Helpful Links:
States in the West: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_the_states_in_the_West_Region
States in the East: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_all_the_East_Coast_States
States in the South: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_states_belonged_to_the_south_during_the_…;
States in the North: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/418524/the-North
2. You will have 2 days in the computer lab to research the region. You may need to work on this at home.
3. Your group will have 3 days in class to create a scrapbook of your road trip! You will incorporate things like pictures, souvenirs, journals about what you saw or any problems you encountered, maps you took on your road trip, etc.
Evaluation
Your scrapbook will graded using the following rubric:
100 -- All information is correct. Scrapbook has no spelling or grammar errors. It is creative, colorful, and uses a variety of mediums to describe the region.
90 -- All information is correct. Scrapbook has some spelling or grammarical errors. It is creative and colorful.
80 -- Most information is correct. Scrapbook has some spelling or grammarical errors.
70 -- Most information is correct. Scrapbook has lots of spelling or grammarical errors.
60 -- Some information is correct. Scrapbook has lots of spelling or grammarical errors.
0 -- Students did not complete a scrapbook.
Conclusion
At the end of the activity, you and should be able to tell me multiple things about the region you chose. Which states fall in that region? What the weather is like in the region? What are some historical or tourist spots to visit? The information is endless!
Teacher Page
This WebQuest was created By Sarah Buenafe-Brennan for students in 4th and 5th grade. It meets the following California standards:
Social Studies 5.9 Students know the location of the current 50 states and the names of their capitals.
Chronological and Spatial Thinking 4. Students use map and globe skills to determine the absolute locations of places and interpret information available through a map's or globe's legend, scale, and symbolic representations.
Historical Interpretation: 2. Students identify the human and physical characteristics of the places they are studying and explain how those features form the unique character of those places.
CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION (2011). A Look at 5th grade in the California Public School. http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/cr/cf/documents/glc5thgradecurriculum.pdf