Webquest
Introduction:

How would you like to host a Thanksgiving dinner party for your entire class? Everyone in your third grade class is wondering how Thanksgiving started. For your party, you will find the origin of Thanksgiving. You will also have to find how and why people in America celebrate Thanksgiving. You are responsible for bringing food, music, games, and a costume for each group member. Explore the Internet to find everything for your party, using the links provided.

The Tasks:

1. Find the origin of Thanksgiving and be able to explain it to your class. Find out how various countries celebrate Thanksgiving throughout the world.

2. Find different food for your party. You can look for Thanksgiving recipes or buy pre-made snacks.

3. Pick different songs for your party.

4. Choose popular Thanksgiving games played by children.

5. Select a costume for each member of the group representing different characters from the first Thanksgiving (ie: Pilgrims, Native Americans, the Mayflower, turkey, etc.)

 
 
 

The Process:

1. First find the origin of Thanksgiving as a group. Next, gather interesting facts to write about, so you can report it to the rest of the class. You can look here to find the origin of Thanksgiving:

www.historychannel.com/thanksgiving
www.2020tech.com/thanks
www.plimoth.org/Library/Thanksgiving/firstT.html
 

2. As a group find out how different countries in the world celebrate Thanksgiving. Each group is responsible for choosing a culture and creating a Thanksgiving collage, which will be displayed in class. You can look here to find information about other cultures:

www.holidays.net/thanksgiving


 
3. Collectively group members will vote on the person most suited for the jobs listed below:
 
 

JOB #1 The Chef
One person will be the chef of the party. The chef is responsible for supplying the food, deciding how much will be needed for the entire class and how much it will cost.  Here are some sites for recipe ideas:

www.thanksgivingrecipe.com
www.geocities.com/Heartland/Fields/8616/Thanksgiving/thanksrecipes.html
www.vegsource.com/thanks.html
  

JOB #2 The Story-Teller 
The second person in the group will be the storyteller.  He/she will need to pick appropriate fiction and non-fiction Thanksgiving stories for the party. Be creative and use the following sites to find some good tales.

http://Wilstar.com/holidays/thanksgv.htm
www.2020tech.com/thanks/temp.html
www.genealogyforum.rootsweb.com/gfaol/thanksgiving/myths.html


 
 
JOB #3 The Activity Planner


The third person in the group will be the activity planner. They will need to find group games, songs, and crafts that everyone will want to take part in. You can look at these websites to find some ideas:

www.mothers-home.com/activities/thanksact.htm
www.dltk-holidays.com/thanksgiving/songs.html
www.amazingmoms.com/htm/thanksgiving_games.htm
 


JOB #4 Fashion Designer
The fourth person in the group will be the fashion designer. The designer will select a costume for each person in the group. They will take measurements and find the right sizes for each person.  Gobble-gobble. Look here for some authentic costumes:

www.terra.com/specials/tksgiv/clothes.html
http://teacherlink.ed.usu.edu/trlresources/units/Byrnes_celebrations/Thanksgiving.html
http://pilgrims.net/plymouth/history/mayflower.html
 

Evaluation:
 

    Poor 1    Fair 2    Good 3    Excellent 4
Contribution to Group               
Research Information    Does not collect info    Contributes little info    Contributes relative info    Contributes a lot of relative info
Sharing information    Keeps info to self    Shares info with some members    Shares important info with group    Communicates and shares well with group
Cooperation within group               
Cooperates with group members    Never cooperates    Seldom cooperates    Usually cooperates    Always cooperates
Listens to group members     Never allows others to speak    Does not consider other members’ viewpoints    Usually considers all viewpoints    Team player
Responsibility to Group               
Shares responsibility    Expects others to complete work    Never does own work    Usually completes share of work    Always completes assigned work
Completes responsibility    Does not perform any duties    Performs very little    Performs nearly all duties    Performs all duties

Conclusion:
We decided to have a Thanksgiving party so that the class could understand the origin of Thanksgiving.  We first had children read and research certain books that had factual information.  Next, we had the children reproduce certain cultural displays that show how different people celebrate Thanksgiving.  This will help children understand the diversity in the world.  Then, we had certain kids pick out appropriate food, music, and games based on the theme of Thanksgiving.  There will also be a child in the group who will picks out and designs costumes – (we are integrating math in this because measurements must be taken).  Teachers will evaluate students based on their contribution and cooperation to the group.

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