The first Webquest I looked at is “ABC Zoo Book” which is for kindergarten through second grade. For this Webquest, after doing research and reading a few books, the students will make their own book in which they will choose an animal to represent each letter of the alphabet. The Webquest starts out by reading 3 books as a class. The students will then begin to work by themselves. There are 5 links on the Webquest in which the student will click on and explore. The links include animal A-Z songs, videos and an index. While exploring the links, the students will take notes. The next step requires the student to begin writing the book by narrowing it down to one animal for each letter. There are then steps on how to begin creating their book. There are questions for the students to consider when making their book as well. I like this Webquest because it incorporates both animals and the alphabet. There are so many animals, but many times I would say children focus on about 10 animals, so this Webquest allows the children to expand their knowledge of animals. It also urges the child to be creative and think out of the box, because not every letter is going to be easy. http://questgarden.com/204/52/2/191207202954/process.htm
The second Webquest I looked at is “Learning Basic Shapes” which is also for kindergarten through second grade. This Webquest starts out by listening to a song about shapes. There is then a worksheet that the students will complete in which they will trace the shapes. After the worksheet, the teacher will read two books to the students and the students will have to draw the shapes that they saw in the story. The students will then cut out the shapes that they drew and use them to either make a shape book or a shape person. I like this Webquest because the students are not just reading a book and moving on. This activity makes the students use their memory to draw the shapes that they saw while reading a book. The children will have to look carefully to point out the shapes on the page. I also like that the students then have to expand on the first activity by making their own book or person out of the shapes that they saw. This will help the students realize how many different things a shape can be used for. For example, a circle can be a baseball or a human head, which might be hard for children to understand at first. This activity will help the children realize that and use their imagination with each shape. http://questgarden.com/179/30/2/150303074138/process.htm
The third Webquest I found is “Who and What I Love” which is also for kindergarten through second grade. For this Webquest, the students will be in groups of 4. In their groups, they will be given scissors, glue, magazines and a blank heart template. The students will then go through the magazines, cut out the things that they love and glue it on to the heart. I love this activity because it gives children a chance to think and reflect on themselves. This activity allows them to find the things that they love and gives the children free range to complete the activity how they prefer. It allows the children to be creative, which is so important. This would be great to complete around Valentine’s Day.
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