"Finding the Good Stuff" Internet Scavenger Hunt
Locating Resources for Online Activities

This scavenger hunt is designed to acquaint teachers with resources that are available for creating and using online activities as a means of integrating technology. This is a very tiny tip of the iceberg. Hopefully each site noted will inspire further investigation

Before starting, check out these quick tips about searching for resources.

1. Visit the Internet Search Engines site and describe the "Open Directory Project". (Hint: about dmoz)

A human edited directory of the web constructed and maintained by volunteers

2. Using the Internet Search Engines site, answer the following:

a. Dogpile, Fazzle, Mamma, and Kartoo are examples of what type of search engines?

Meta search Engines

b. How does Kartoo differ from the others? It displays information in a graphical format

3. Internet Subject Directories are a good source for locating a number of links on a related topic. Two popular directories are the Librarian's Index to the Internet and the Internet Public Library (Note: IPL has a KidSpace, and TeenSpace .)

a. Using KidSpace, find a link to information about Thanksgiving. (Hint: Culture Quest> North America) Write the link (URL) below:

 http://www.holidays.net/thanksgiving/

4. Check out these Search Tools for Kids .

a. Use KidsClick to find more information about Thanksgiving (Hint: Search: "Thanksgiving". Write down a link (URL) to information about The History of Thanksgiving.

 http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/thanksgiving/main.html

5. Visit Scholastic's Online Activity Center and locate the First Thanksgiving online activity.

a. Who was the ship's cooper aboard the Mayflower? John Alden

b. What is a cooper? Makes casks and barrels that are water tight to hold things.

6. Visit Internet Hunt Activities. Look at the "October Internet Hunt" and tell why leaves change colors.

The days get shorter which triggers the trees to shut down their chlorophyll (green) food making factories -- because during winter, there is not enough light or water for photosynthesis

7. Visit Mrs. Mitchell's Virtual School to locate Revolutionary War web links for kids.

a. What happened first, the Boston Tea Party or the Declaration of Independence? Boston Tea Party

6. View the video from the Independence Road Trip .

a. Who was the "red haired wonder"? Thomas Jefferson

b. What are "broadsides"? Need more information? Try this page: Colonial Broadsides and the American Revolution  They are posters, fliers

7. Visit Scholastic's Our America Online Activities: Revolutionary War  pages. Name a good book for students to read regarding this historical time period.

The Journal of William Thomas Emerson: A Revolutionary War Patriot, Boston, Mass., 1774 from the Dear America Series

8. Visit SCORE CyberGuides. Under CyberGuides for grade 4 and five, locate the CyberGuide for the book "My Brother Sam is Dead". Investigate Student Activity Five: Oral Presentation.

a. What is the last line in Patrick Henry's famous "Give Me Liberty or Give me Death" speech? Give Me Liberty or Give me Death

9. Visit the NARA Educators and Students page to learn more about the Declaration of Independence .

a. Sign the Declaration of Independence

b. Who was the oldest signer of the Declaration of Independence?

c. Look at The Great Depression and World War II    documents. Find the document rough draft of "A Date Which Will Live in Infamy" speech. What important word was revised and not in his original draft? Infamy

10. Visit Book Talks Plain and Simple. Locate one, two or more books (Subject: Historical Fiction - that would coincide with a unit on the American Revolution. Write the information below:

Responses will vary

11. What was the Raid on Deerfield? This was an attack on a civilian village by various factions of allied raiding parties -- each contingent had its own reasons for destroying this northwestern-most New England settlement. This was a spill over into the colonies from the War of the Spanish Succession

12. Visit Bernie Poole's Scavenger Hunts page. List one hunt that you would use with your class.

Responses will vary

13. Visit Teaching with the Web . How is this site organized?  By grade levels and then themes or subjects

14. Visit  the Techssentials website

a. Scroll through the list of Tech Integration Resources and choose one or two sites you have never seen before to investigate. Responses will vary

b. Look at WebQuests and Scavenger Hunts to locate a WebQuest that you might consider using with your class. Responses will vary

c. Visit NYLearns. Search for standards by Grade Level, Subject. Browse the Educational Resources section. (Hint: click tab at top). Search for resources on the American Revolution or Thanksgiving. List one useful resource you discovered. Responses will vary

15. Compare using a search engine, subject directory or web portal link collections.

a. Use Librarian's Index to the Internet to search for American Revolution resources. What are the advantages, disadvantages? Annotations, good quality resources but many over the heads of younger students, finding things of use can be a little cumbersome

b. Use a search engine to search for American Revolution resources. What are the advantages, disadvantages? Quick, all resources not appropriate, some with commercial orientation, don't always get a selected list

c. Use a web portal link collection to search for American Revolution resources (i.e., Teaching with the Web, Mrs. Mitchell's Virtual School , Techssentials , Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators, NEC EdLinks, etc.). What are the advantages, disadvantages? They have been selected and reviewed for use with students, they are collected by topics that coincide with curriculum, sometimes dead links, can be time consuming to check though the sites

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J. Black Fall 2005

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