Webquest

 

“Guess Who’s Coming to ….LUNCH?”

 

 

 

Introduction

 

Great news!  At the last meeting, the P.T.A. voted to donate $3,000 to have a children’s author or illustrator visit our school!  Your job is to decide which children’s author or illustrator would be the most interesting, entertaining and educational.  The person must be appealing to all grades.  Once you have completed your research and presented your findings to the class, we will vote on the most appropriate author/illustrator to invite. 

 

The Task

 

You will work in groups of three to:                                                        

 

¯    Research a children’s author or illustrator;                            

 

¯    Read some of his or her works (each member of the group must read at least two of the author’s/illustrator’s works);

 

¯    Plan his or her trip, including transportation, food and lodging;

 

¯    Investigate the possibility of sharing some of the costs with other schools, businesses or the author/illustrators publishing company; and finally

 

¯    Create a program for his or her visit  (Each member of the group must contribute to this assignment).

 

 

Once you have collected this information you will need to:

 

¯    Creatively present your ideas to the class.

 

¯    Write a letter to the author/illustrator persuading him or her to come to our school.

 

¯    Write a letter to at least one other school or business persuading them to participate in some way.

 

¯    Write a letter to the P.T.A. persuading them to fund the visit of your author.

 

 

When everyone has presented their information to the class, we will vote on the author/illustrator that we would most like to invite. 

 

Process

 

First things first…

 

Your group of three must decide on an author/illustrator to research.  The websites below will provide you with many choices.  Together, you must decide on the author/illustrator and it must not be one that another group is already studying.  When looking at these choices, learn enough about a person to be able to decide if you want to investigate them further, but don’t take too much time deciding whom you will study, or you won’t have enough time for the assignment.

 

Each member of the group must choose an area of research on which to focus.  There are three possibilities:

 

Biographer

 

Using the websites below, research the author’s/illustrator’s life.  Be prepared to answer questions like: 

 

Where did the person grow up?

What inspired them to become an author/illustrator?

What kind of books does the person create?

Where does the person live?                                                            

Does the person make visits to schools?

Does the person have a family?

Have they won any awards?

 

You will be the “expert” on the author/illustrator your group is studying.

 

Travel Agent

 

Your job is to make all of the travel arrangements for the author/illustrator that your group would like to invite.  Using the following websites, plan the following:

 

How will the person travel to our school?  (You may want to check with the Biographer on the person’s travel preferences.  Some people may not like to fly or others may be able to drive to the school on their own.)

 

If the person uses some form of public transportation (airplane, train, or bus) will they need a rental car to get from the airport/station to the school?  Can a responsible adult pick them up?

 

If the person must travel more than a few (two or three) hours, will they need lodging arrangements?  How will they get to their hotel at the end of their visit at our school?

 

When, where and what will the person have to eat?

 

You will be the “expert” on the trip’s details.

 

 

Public Affairs Specialist

 

While the other two members of the group are busy spending the $3,000, your job is to find ways to save money.  As you may soon find out, $3,000 may not go very far.  Try to come up with creative ways to save some of the money.

 

Check out other nearby schools, perhaps the two schools could share an author/illustrator for a day.

 

Find out if the local Barnes and Noble or Borders stores would be able to provide some of the author’s/ illustrator’s works for free.  See if they will donate them so that they can be autographed while the visitor is at school.  Can they provide one book for the Media Center, one for each classroom or enough for each child?

 

Research the author’s/illustrator’s publishing company.  You can get the information about the publisher from the biographer.  Many times the publisher is happy to provide promotional materials.

 

Some authors/illustrators will chat on-line with a school group.  This might be a fun and very inexpensive way to go.

 

You will be the “expert” on cost saving.                                                             

                                                                  

Resources

 

Here are the resources you will need to complete this Webquest:

 

Author Information:

 

·        Author Illustrator Source

·        http://www.author-illustr-source.com/

 

·        AuthorChat.com

·        http://www.authorchats.com/

 

·        Index to Internet Sits:  Children’s and Young Adult’s Authors and Illustrators

·        http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/biochildhome.htm

 

·        Yahoo ! Arts – Directory of Many Websites about Children’s Authors

·        http://dir.yahoo.com/Arts/Humanities/Literature/Authors/Children_s/

 

·        KidsClick! Authors Individual

·        http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/searchkids.pl?searchtype=all&keywords=authors+individual&title=Authors+Individual

 

 

Travel Information:

 

·        Trip.com

·        Picture of Roadhttp://www.trip.com/trs/trip/home/index_01.xsl

 

·        Avacation.com

·        http://www.avacation.com/airfares_wc.html?partner=whsalecks

 

 

Publicity:

 

·        Howard County Public Schools

·        http://www.howard.k12.md.us/

 

·        Barnes and Noble

·        http://www.barnesandnoble.com/index.asp?userid=52D82RG93X

 

·        Borders Bookstores

·        http://www.bordersstores.com/index.jsp

 

·         Children’s Book Council – Directory of Publishers

·        http://www.cbcbooks.org/html/mlist1.html

 

 

Rubric

 

 

Beginning
1

Developing
2

Accomplished
3

Exemplary
4

Score

Biographical Information

Shows little or no knowledge about the selected author/illustrator.

Shows inadequate knowledge about the selected author/illustrator.

Shows adequate knowledge about the selected author/illustrator.

Shows a great deal of knowledge about the selected author/illustrator.

 

Travel Information

Provides one aspect of  planning the author’s/illustrator’s trip.

Provides two aspects of planning the author’s/illustrator’s trip.

Provides adequate planning of the author’s/illustrator’s trip.

Provides careful and complete planning of the author’s/illustrator’s trip.

 

Public Affairs Information

Information collected from one other organization.

Information collected from two other organizations.

Information collected from three other organizations.

Information collected from four or more other organizations.

 

Class Presentation

Inadequate explanation of some research.

Adequate explanation of all research.

Complete explanation of all research.

Creative and complete explanation of all research.

 

Persuasive Letters

Poorly written and not persuasive.

Adequately written but not particularly persuasive.

Well written and somewhat persuasive.

Very well written and very persuasive.

 

 

 

 

 

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