1. Have the students read the Introduction and Quest of the WebQuest. Have students identify the Form, Audience, Topic and Purpose of the product they will produce for this task. 

 

2. As a whole class, discuss what it will take to be able to complete this challenging task. 
3. Have students create a list of questions that they might need to answer as they complete the WebQuest. 
4. Explain what will the students will be expected to do as individuals and as teams. 
5. Have students read the Grading  section of the WebQuest. Answer any questions they might have about what is expected of them. 
6. Post the essential question in a predominant place in the classroom. 

1. For homework, have students ask their caregiver about why they or their ancestors decided to live where they did. 
2. Have the students discuss their homework. 
3. Start a KWL (list of what students Know, Want to Know, and Learned) about geographic factors and post the KWL in the room. 
4. Have the students read Make Way for Ducklings by McCloskey pp1-4 to identify specific geographic features that influence the ducks' decision to settle in a specific location. 
5. Use think-pair-share strategy to have the class brainstorm a list of geographic features. 

1. For homework (over a week or weekend), have students play the license plate game. Have them find out:

• How many different states can you identify by looking at the plates? 
• What does the license plate tell you about each state? 
• Imagine why the cars from different states are here.

2. Or have the students go around their house and look at where different things come from. Examine the labels of the clothes they wear. Have think about:

• Where does your food come from? 
• Why do bananas come from Central America? 
• Why does milk come from the local diary? 
• How did the food get to your house?

3. As a whole class, use the think-pair-share strategy to discuss what they found out. 

1. Assign teams for the quest. The whole WebQuest is set up in a jigsaw format. Everyone is assigned to a particular city and a particular expert area (e.g., landforms, water, soil, vegetation, and climate). The work is done in groups. Sometimes students will be grouped by their city and at other times students will be grouped by their expert area. You may want to include stronger and weaker students in each team (by city and by expert area) so that the weaker students always have a stronger student to assist them.
2. With the whole class, model completing one the "Where is my city?" activity for a different city. As you work through your sample, have students recall prior knowledge about maps, and browsing the WWW.
3. Have students complete the "Where is my city?" activity for their specific city.

1. As a whole class, use the think-pair-share strategy to discuss what they learned. 
2. Update the KWL.

1. Have the children imagine what their classroom would be like with all the furniture removed. Ask them how this setup would affect their day. Ask them if they could set up the room anyway they that would help them learn, how would they do it? Why? Discuss how our surroundings affect what we can do and the advantages and disadvantages of different types of surroundings.

1. Group the students by expert area.
2. With the whole class, model completing "What characteristics of our surroundings influence where we choose to live?" activity for a sample geographic factor (e.g., water) but without supplying to many answers. As you model, demonstrate how to identify main ideas and take notes. If students will be filling out the graphic organizers online, give a quick mini-lesson on how to use the Inspiration software.
3. Have each team member complete the "What characteristics of our surroundings influence where we choose to live?" activity he/she is responsible for.

Blank copies of the graphic organizer for this activity and/or Inspiration software, floppy diskettes

1. Have students regroup by City and share their "Impact of our Surroundings" graphic organizers. Explain to them that a question and answer session will follow and that they need to be sure all team members can answer any question about any geographic factor (even the ones they did not research individually).
2. Then as a whole class, use the numbered heads collaborative learning strategy to have students to determine how well the experts have taught their other team members. 
3. Update the KWL..

1. Print out one or more simple maps from the web resources for the "What are the geographic features of my city" activity. Make copies for the students.
2. In pairs, have students 

• Find a place on the paper map. 
• Identify the color(s) of the variable for this place. 
• Refer to the legend to see what this color represents. 
• Compare the color of one place to another 
• Ask students to make an interpretation based on the comparison

3. As a whole class, use the think-pair-share strategy to discuss what they learned. 

1. Group the students by expert area.
2. With the whole class, model completing "What are the geographic features of my city" activity for a sample geographic factor (e.g., water) and a different city. As you model, explain what a variable is, what variables would be applicable in different situations, and emphasize the importance of including titles/legends on maps. 
3. The Geographical Information Systems (GIS) used for this activity are complex. Adult Scientists can use them for real work. Additional modeling and/or step by step directions may be necessary to get off to a good start. After the students get the hang of them, be sure to allow some time for discovery. These tools can be real fun, engaging, and educational.
4. Have each team member complete the "What are the s s geographic features of my city?" activity he/she is responsible for.

Blank copies of the graphic organizer for this activity and/or Inspiration software, floppy diskettes

1. Have students regroup by City and share their graphic organizers from the previous activity. 
2. Have the students merge (manually) the team member's graphic organizers into one sheet.
3. Then in pairs, have the students think of two nouns and two verbs. Have one partner write down the words. The words don't have to do anything with the WebQuest topics. Then have each partner take a turn completing:

• My city is like (a noun or verb from their list) because Ö

4. Update the KWL.

1. Group the students by city. 
2. Remind them about how brainstorming works. Model filling in the "Will people be likely to move to our city" diagram. Remind the students that their responses must be supported by what they know from the other activities in the WebQuest.
3. As a team, have them work on the "Will people be likely to move to my city?" activity. Have the students brainstorm ideas for the "Pros and Cons" chart. Then have the teams reach consensus about what to recommend and why. 
4. Then as a whole class, use the think-pair-share strategy to have students share generalizations about what they discovered. 
5. Update the KWL..

(Optional, to clarify concepts, if needed)

1. With the whole class, model writing a story for the following prompt:


Imagine that you and your family move to the city you have researched. Tell about what you find when you get there. Describe what see, hear, feel, and taste and whether you like them or not. Think about events that might really happen during your first year in the city. Remember what you have learned about landforms, waterways, soil, vegetation, and climate, so that the events that you pick could really happen. Remember that your story should have a beginning, middle, and an end.
 

2. Individually or in teams, have students respond to the above writing prompt.
3. (Optionally, have the students leave out their name and the name of the city in their story). Have students swap stories and try to guess where the story takes place.

1. Individually or in teams, have students prepare their final product. You decide on the form of products you will expect. The form of the product could be a poster, an essay, an electronic slide show, and/or oral report. This activity could also be coordinated with a related art activity, such as 3D relief maps. Meet with students about their products as they work on them. Oral presentations could be videotaped to share with parents or other students. 
2. After the students have completed their products, update the KWL.

1. Conduct mock presentations to the board of directors. Have each team take a turn being the presenters and the board of directors. Explain the roles and expectations during the mock trial.
2. Discuss what makes the recommendation believable or not. 
3. Update the KWL.

1. Invite parents or other classroom students in to view the final products and/or have students complete the Imaginary Land worksheet. For the worksheet, have students analyze the geographic features shown and identify an ideal location for a new city. Have students give support for their choices.

 

2. Discuss the progress as demonstrated by the KWL. 
3. Discuss how what they learned could be used in other situations and how people in the real world do work like they have done.

 

4. Formative assessment can be done through the KWL. The summative assessment would be scored based on the evaluation of the final product.