Revolutionary War Webquest

Introduction:

Instead of reading about the Revolutionary War in your textbook and taking a test on it, you will be learning about the events of the Revolutionary war by using the Internet and creating an ABC book that you will present to the other two 5^th grade classrooms. Imagine the possibilities! No two books will look alike!

Task:

You will be creating an ABC book, using the letters of the alphabet to explain the Revolutionary War in a manner that is factual, entertaining and attractive. Your job is to put this book together in an interesting way that will teach you classmates something they did not know.

Process:

You will be working with a partner. You must work with this person on the project because there is lot of information that needs to be looked at. You and your partner must decide with information you will include in you book. This webquest will take a lot of time and effort in order to have a good book.

PART 1: FINDING THE INFORMATION: Your first job will be to work with you partner and educate yourself about the Revolutionary War. I have provided, at the end of these requirements, a list of good websites that will help you in your research. There will be no need to look elsewhere for your information. There are plenty of sites provided so there is no need to waste time ≥surfing≤ the net.

You first need to find the following information on the websites provided:

¸ 2 causes of the war

¸ 3 major battles of the war

¸ 5 influential people

¸ 6 facts about the Declaration of Independence

¸ 2 famous US women of the war

¸ 3 effects of the Revolution on the United States

¸ 2 famous spies and their impact(s) on the war

¸ 4 items of your choice

You will need to write down your ideas for each letter on the alphabet worksheet I provide for you. You will need to use each letter of the alphabet. Write down the site when you decide what you are putting for each letter. Some letters will be harder than others to think of something for.

Divide the work up as evenly as possible. You will not only be graded on why you have for a final product, but also for the amount of work you yourself did.

PART II: MAPPING OUT YOUR BOOK: Before you start working on your final product, you need to map it out on paper first. Here are some hints to keep in mind:

ß Each page must contain one letter of the alphabet, in proper alphabetical order.

ß Each letter must be the same font and size throughout the book.

ß The font and size must be easy to see (jump out at the reader).

ß Each page must also contain one picture that is appropriate to what you are giving for information on that page. For example, if for letter ≥A≤ you write about John Adams and your picture is a flower, this would not be relevant to the information.

ß The information for the letter must be given in one to two sentences. These tow sentences must be in 5^th grade words!

ß You must provide a cover page and a blank back page.

ß You must provide a dedication page. (You must dedicate your book to someone important to you.)

ß You must include a page about the authors. (You and your partner)

PART III: CREATING THE FINAL PRODUCT: Once you have the paper copy of what you want to create, you will be ready to put your final product together. Here are some hints that will help you in putting your pages together.

ß Keep things simple.

ß Make it colorful.

ß Be consistent in your layout to avoid confusion and distraction.

ß Use clipartäbut donπt get carried away with looking for ≥just the right picture≤. I will show you how to copy and paste pictures into your book from the Internet.

Resources:

http://library.thinkquest.org/10966/doc.shtml

http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/revolution/revwar-75.htm

http://grid.let.rug.nl/~welling/usa/revolution.html

http://userpages.aug.com/captbarb/femvets.html (Women)

http://www.paulreverehouse.org (Paul Revere)

http://www.multied.com/Revolt/Townshend.html (Townshend Act)

http://www.multied.com/Revolt/Coercive.html (Coercive Act)

http://www.multied.com/Revolt/Battles.html (major events)

http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/index.html (game to help learn info)

http://www.si.umich.edu/spies/people.html (brief biographies)

http://www.si.umich.edu/spies/index.html (letters)

http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/B/index.htm (longer biographies)

http://militaryhistory.about.com/cs/revolutionwar/index.htm

http://earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/notable/philipsem/index.html

http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/warindep/frames.html (spies)

http://edtech.kennesaw.edu/web/amrevol.html

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/4393/rev_war.html#top

http://library.thinkguest.org/11683/High.html

http://www.lihistory.com/4/hs415a.htm#top (Washingtonπs spies)

http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/ (war info)

http://earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/index.html (primary sources/docs)

http://earlyamerica.com/series.html (biography movies)

http://georgeglazer.com/prints/illus/erwin.html (pictures)

http://whitehouse.gov/kids/dec_indep/quiz/ (quiz on Dec. of Independence)

http://kathimitchell.com/revolt.htm

http://socialstudiesforkids.com/subjects/revolutionarywar.htm

http://edtech.kennesaw.edu/web/amrevol.html

Evaluation:

	4	3	2	1	Score
Compilation	All 26 letters were given a picture and sentence and were clearly stated.	All 26 letters were given a picture and sentence but were not clearly stated.	Not all 26 letters were given a picture and sentence and were not clearly stated. (2 to 4)	More than 4 letters were not given a picture and sentence and/or were not clearly stated.
Journalism	All areas of the task were handled accurately. The plan followed by the partners demonstrated a great deal of thought.	At least one area of the task was not addressed. The plan followed by the partners demonstrated a great deal of thought.	At least two areas of the task were not addressed. The plan followed by the team demonstrated a moderate level of thought.	The task is incomplete and/or it is apparent that little effort went into the development of the task.
Collaboration	It is evident that mutual effort and agreement created the final product.	The partners worked well together but could have done better to use each otherπs skills.	The partners had problems working together. Little collaboration occurred.	The final product is not the result of a collaborative effort. The partners showed no evidence of collaboration.
Creative Products	The ideas expressed by the body of work demonstrated a high degree of originality.	The ideas expressed by the body of work are mostly original.	The ideas expressed by the body of work demonstrated a low degree of originality.	There were no original ideas expressed in this project.
Written Products	The final body of work was free of grammar, spelling, and formatting errors.	The final body of work had 1 error related to grammar, spelling, or formatting errors.	The final body of work had 3-5 grammar, spelling, and formatting errors.	The final body of work had major grammar, spelling, and formatting errors.
Oral Presentation	The partners presented the product loudly and clearly and used appropriate body language, grammar, and pronunciation.	All material was presented accurately but some of it was unclear.	It was presented in an awkward way and was hard to understand.	The presentation was unclear, awkward and was not complete.
				Total-

Conclusion:

By doing this project, you will develop many skills working with a partner and using technology. You will work together for creative problem solving, research skills and teamwork skills.

You and your partner will gain a better understanding of the way the Revolutionary War was fought, the effects the war had on our nation, and the important people and their roles played in working towards independence from Great Britain. A better understanding of why so many people made certain decisions about their government is going to be better understood.