Social Studies WebQuest

When I was in college I had to create a web-quest for a technology class.  I put a lot of time in to make it perfect.  Of course, I lost the website it was on when I graduated.  Luckily for me, I saved everything on a disk so I could easily transfer it.  I made a website on PBWorks and put all of the information from the web-quest on it.

I have used the web-quest in my 6th grade Social Studies classroom in the past.  I did modify it and didn't have the parent night like is mentioned in the web-quest.  I still think it would be an awesome addition, but it would involve more work on the part of the teacher and I didn't have the time available.

What Is It?

The web-quest is an imaginary situation where the students are employees of a tech company called Tech-World.  The CEO (teacher) asks the employees (students) to research a country and determine how a sizable donation from the company could be used to help the people of the country.  This puts a twist on the typical country research project.  The students not only find information about the country, they also have to think critically to determine some needs within the country.

Students will also need to research a well known philanthropist.  They need to know how that person was financially able to help and the charities or foundations they donate to.  There is a list of possible philanthropists to research on the web-quest.  If the students have another person they want to research it must be approved by the teacher first.

To top it off, students must also research a local need.  Students will brainstorm a community service project they can do as a group.  Each group will then make a presentation of their plan for the other students. Once all groups have presented they will vote on which project to do as a class.  One year, our students were working on the web-quest close to Christmas.  They decided to do a toy campaign for Toys for Tots as their community service project.  They really got into it since they had ownership of the project.  They contacted everyone in order to get permission and spoke with the principals at the elementary and high schools.  The students also created posters to help advertise in the buildings, wrote information for the daily announcements and contacted the local newspaper.

This Social Studies project teaches about geography as well as philanthropy.  Check it out here.

A teacher doesn't have the summer off!

I spend a fair amount of time looking at Pinterest for inspiration. Okay, who am I kidding?  I spend a lot of time on Pinterest, especially in the summer.

As I was scouting my Pinterest homepage yesterday I came upon something too good not to share, well if you are a science teacher.  On the TPT site my new hero, Nitty Gritty Science, has created so many really useful products.  My wishlist is filled with her products. On the top of my list is the NGSS Expectations Ladder.  She has created one for Earth Science (my main area), Physical Science and Life Science. I am also in love with the Complete Earth Science Interactive Notebook bundle. I have attempted Science Notebooking since I started teaching 6 years ago with minimal success.  I'm hoping that this bundle will put me over the top on the notebooking organization.

NGSS Expectations Ladder for Earth Science from TPT Nitty Gritty Science

Earth Science Interactive Notebook Bundle from TPT Nitty Gritty Science

Another TPT product that looks interesting to me is from The Science Penguin. It is a Hands-On Science Vocabulary Instruction packet.  I believe, especially in Science, that vocabulary instruction is essential.  If the students don't truly know the meaning of the science vocabulary they are expected to use, they aren't able to understand the big idea or concept. 

 Hands-On Science Vocabulary Instruction from TPT The Science Penguin

I haven't actually purchased or used these yet, but I do plan to.  I'll do a post after school starts to let you know how they work.