What is a Family?

by Cherrol McGheeand Jane Carr

Introduction · Question · Background Info · Individual Roles · Group Process
Rubric · Conclusion · Teacher's Guide

Teacher's Notes

This WebQuest has been designed for a multi-age class: year 1 to 3.
The older children could also be involved in discussion and activities about community and rules. 

WebQuest Walk-Through  & Extension Activities

 Extension Activities

World War II: An American Scrapbook  
http://tqjunior.advanced.org/4616/ 
Created by a team of fifth-graders at McRoberts Elementary School in Texas, this ThinkQuest Jr. Web site features students telling family stories about World War II. Learn about Guadalcanal, rationing, what is was like on a destroyer, and much more. Included are three lesson plans to use with the stories and great links to other WWII sites.

In Search of Stellaluna's Family 
http://projects.edtech.sandi.net/chavez/batquest/batquest.html 
In this WebQuest, third graders research bats and write a letter to Stellaluna telling her why she is so special. 3rd Grade teacher Danice Von Feldt developed this WebQuest in both Spanish and English, and the site includes a simple evaluation rubric and extension activities.

Happy Families
http://www.happyfamilies.com/familypages.html
Children choose another family and answer their group's questions.
Students can also use this site to write a story about their family's holidays, funny stories etc.

The Lacombes  
http://cpcug.org/user/jlacombe/index.html  
This family has used the Internet to meet all Lacombs around the world. Read with your students how each family differs. This web resource is intended for you Lacombes, LaCombes and LaCombs out there, wherever you may be. It is intended as a resource base for those of you wishing to reach out to others in our family. Enjoy and laissez les bon temps rouler!

 

 

WebQuest Walk-Through

NB:- Books, videos, invited guests, magazines and other resources also contain important information. Make your classroom information rich.

Introduction
WebQuests should involve open ended questions that lead students to think about different issues and hopefully develop fresh ideas. WebQuests should perturb students while scaffolding their thinking. Before thinking deeply about the question, students need to have a good understanding of the topic. This is the main purpose of the Introduction and Background Activities.

The Question and Task
What is a family?
Scaffold the children's thinking so that they discover that all families are different yet share common ground. Use the 'Transformative Tasks' as a guide to their learning and developing their own ideas.

Encourage the students to ask questions all the way through the WebQuest.
Write their good questions on a board for all to think about and consider.

Group Process
As a team, students choose the family they would like to join and research their website to learn more about their family. Groups could also email their family and ask further questions. It is important that they decide what questions they need to answer for their talk. If the answers are unavailable, then they could work out some better questions given the information they have available to them.

Value student questions, their research and their ideas. Display all their work in the classroom and other places - eg website, intranet, class newsletter, local paper.

Conclusion 
The wall mural should be a culmination of all their findings. Make it texturally and pictorially rich. The problems to discuss should be undertaken as a whole class group facilitated by the teacher. There are some sensitive issues asked, so prior knowledge of children's backgrounds and experiences will help make this a challenging yet rewarding discussion. If possible smaller groups could discuss each issue - use other staff members eg Deputies, Principal and or teacher aides.
Then come together as a whole to share their ideas.

At the end of the Webquest, the class should come to some consensus as to the definition of a family.