Webquest

This week, we have created our Webquest using Google Sites.  Majority of the Webquest has been completed.  We just need to fine tune some of the pages, such as the "task" and "process" page and create a rubric. We are well on our way to being almost done!

Hook

After much research about each of the colonies, we decided that the new group of pilgrims coming to America will be traditional Puritans.  Through research, students should be able to narrow the colonies down to the New England colonies.  Hopefully, the students will also realize that the most traditional Puritans lived in Massachusetts as the other NE colonies were founded by individuals that either left or were expelled from Massachusetts because they did not agreed with the teachings of the Puritan leaders in Massachusetts.


Our hook will look something like this:

A group of pilgrims are about to make their way to America to look for new economic and religious opportunities.  They have heard a lot of exciting as well as terrifying stories from their friends in the New land. Unable to decide where they should settle down, these group of pilgrims have decided to hire a team of researchers to help them decide on an ideal location.

Researchers, please be are aware that these people are no ordinary group of individuals.  They have a very particular lifestyle that they are accustomed to and have very strict beliefs.  Based on the following descriptions, please help these pilgrims find a new home in America.

-Very traditional Christians that want to make the religion more "pure."

-They live a very simple, but strict lifestyle.

-They believed that anyone that misses church or speak out in dissent should be harshly punished.

-All decisions are made by their community leaders.  

-These people have close family units and live in small towns to maintain a sense of community.

-These people have farming and fishing skills.

Hong and I also decided that we will create our webquest using google sites. 

websites

This week, Hong and I started our search for informative websites.  There's a lot of information out there, but we wanted to find a site that is student friendly.  Some sites can be a bit overwhelming as the information are not presented in an organized and easy to follow manner.  Below is a list of sites that I found.

www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/ushistory/13colonieslife.htm

(The information provided in this site is sorted by colonies.  Students can click on the link of each individual colony to find information about the year they were founded, major industry, etc.  This site also provides information about daily life during colonial times, such as religion, education, food, and agriculture.  This site would be particular helpful for students to find information about the lifestyles of each colony in order for them to make an informed decision on which colony to settle in.)

www.timepage.org/spl/13colony.html#connect

www.cybrary.org/colonial.htm

www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/perspectives_daily.html

Next week, Hong and I will review each other's sites and hopefully narrow down the list of sites we want to use for our webquest. We will also be discussing where we want to host our webquest.  

Here is  another interesting site that I came across that I thought I would share:

www.mayflowerhistory.com/Passengers/passengers.php

This site provides a complete list of  names of all the passengers on the Mayflower and their genealogy.  It was interesting to find how many famous people descended from  Mayflower passengers.