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^{Be a Reporter on a Voyage of Exploration}
A WebQuest for 5th Grade Social Studies

Designed by
Peter Barnes
barnes.246@osu.edu

Introduction | Task | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion | Credits

Introduction

You and your partner are newspaper reporters for Time Travel News.You have been asked to write a story about one of the famous explorers.  You will travel back to the time of an explorer's life and join him on one of his voyages of discovery.
You will write a newspaper story about what you see and hear on the trip.  You will interview the explorer and his crew and find out as much as you can about why he is so important to history.
Have fun and good luck!

The Task

To complete this project you will need to:
Choose an explorer from the following:
     Christopher Columbus
        Vasco da Gama
        Ferdinand Magellan
        Leif Erickson
        Sir Francis Drake
Research the explorer's life and his voyages using the web sites listed below.
Write a story about your journey with the explorer and his crew.  Describe the ship or ships,  what you see on the voyage, and what life is like at sea.
Find a map of the voyage, a picture of your explorer, and any other interesting pictures that will look good on your display.
Create a poster that includes your newspaper story, your map and pictures, and anything else you want to display about your trip.
        Use Kid Pix to create any extra pictures for your poster or draw pictures of your own.

The Process

First you and your partner need to choose an explorer.  Don't spend too much time doing this or you will run out of time for the rest of your project.  If you can't decide just by looking at the names, spend a few minutes looking at web sites about the explorers.  Just make sure you and your partner agree on the same person and then get started with your reporting.

Next you need to research and find out as much as you can about the explorer you are working on.  Use the web sites in the web site section below.  You can use the sites that relate directly to your explorer or any other sites that look interesting.  Use the note-taking worksheet to keep your notes organized.  Try to find out as much information as you can about the following topics:

What was your explorer like? (Where did he come from?  What did he do before he started exploring?  What did he look like?  What was his personality like?)
What was the voyage like?  (How long did it take?  Where were they going?  What did they find along the way?  Did they make it back safely?)
What was the ship or ships like?
What was it like to be a crew member? (Was the food good?  Did some of them get sick?  Where did they sleep?)
Anything else that might be interesting to the readers of your newspaper story.

Find a map of the voyage.  Many of the web sites listed below have maps.  Try to find the map of your trip.  If you get stuck, look in the books we have in the classroom about the explorers.  Print out the map and save it for your poster.  If you find the map in a book, mark it for me and I will make a copy for you.  You may want to color the map to make it look more interesting on the poster.

Find a picture of your explorer.  Many of these are on the web sites listed below.  If you can't find a picture of your explorer, look in the classroom books.  Print out a copy of the picture or ask the teacher to copy the picture from a book.

Use your research notes to help you write the newspaper story.  Pretend that you have interviewed the explorer or one of the crew members.  Include some things they said to you in your story.  The story should describe some of the following things:
What the voyage is like
What the ship is like
What you see and do on the voyage
What the explorer is like
How you liked being at sea

Create a poster of all the information you have collected.  Write out your newspaper story on colored paper and paste it on the poster.  Put your map, your picture of the explorer, and anything else you want to display on the poster as well.

Before you turn in your project, make sure you have completed everything on the checklist:

• We wrote down our research in an organized and readable manner.
• We wrote a clear newspaper story that describes our voyage with one of the famous explorers.  Our story includes an interview and has lots of good details about the explorer and the voyage.
• We edited our story so that it has few or no spelling and grammar mistakes. The story made sense when we read it again.
• We found or made a map of the voyage.
• We found or made a picture of our explorer.
• We found or made a picture of one of the ships used on the voyage.
• We made a colorful and neat poster that shows all of the things from our project.

Web sites
Here are some web sites you can use for your research.  I have divided them into groups by explorer.  After you are finished with a site, hit the back button until you get back to this site.

Sites about ships, food, and sailors
Is your explorer in the Explorer Hall of Fame?
What diseases did the explorers catch?
How did sailors stay healthy on board the ship?
Learn how to make sea biscuits- YUM!
Did your explorer die on a voyage?  Check this site
Food on the voyages
This site can be used for Columbus, da Gama, or Magellan.
Here are cool sailing words to use in your story
 

Sites about Christopher Columbus
  Brief summary about Columbus and a map
   Columbus's Ships
    Columbus's Crew
    Columbus and his voyages
    Myths and facts about Columbus
 More information about Columbus and his voyages
  How did Columbus tell where he was going?
   An eigth grader's report about Columbus

Sites about Leif Erickson

    All about Leif Erickson
    Carmen Sandiego's Leif Erickson site
    An eighth grader's report about Leif Erickson
    An encyclopedia article about Leif Erickson
A more detailed article about Leif Erickson
    What were the Viking crews like?
Did the Vikings know where they were going?
What were Viking ships like?

Sites about Ferdinand Magellan
A brief summary and a map of Magellan's voyage
Pictures and information about Magellan
Lots of detailed information about Magellan
Some small maps and lots of info
A sixth grader's web site about Magellan
 

Sites about Sir Francis Drake
A very brief summary of Drake's voyage
A short site about Drake
Information and some pictures of Drake and his ships
Information and a map of Drake's voyages
Details about Drake's voyages
A fifth grader's report about Drake

Sites about Vasco da Gama
Brief summary and a map about da Gama
Information and maps of da Gama's voyage
Detailed information about da Gama
More cool stuff about da Gama
Pictures, maps, and info about da Gama
A fifth grader's report about da Gama
How did da Gama know where he was going?

Evaluation

Your final project will be evaluated on a four point rubric.  You and your partner will be evaluated together and will receive the same grade for what you turn in.  Here is the rubric I will be following when I evaluate your poster:

^{Four Points}

• ^{Poster is well organized and looks very good.}
• ^{Poster includes a picture of the explorer, picture of the ship, map of the voyage, and other interesting visual displays.}
• ^{Newspaper story is written neatly and displayed on the poster.}
• ^{Newspaper story is well organized.}
• ^{Newspaper story includes few spelling errors and has good, detailed sentences.}
• ^{Newspaper story has proper punctuation.}
• ^{Newspaper story tells about the voyage, describes what was seen and heard on the voyage, and includes an interview of at least one person on the voyage.}

Three points

• Poster is fairly well organized and looks good.
• Poster includes most of the required pictures and a map of the voyage.
• Newspaper story is fairly neat and is displayed on the poster.
• Newspaper story is somewhat organized.
• Newspaper story includes some spelling errors and has some good detailed sentences.
• Newspaper story has mostly proper punctuation.
• Newspaper story tells about some parts of the voyage, describes some things seen and heard, and includes an interview with someone on the voyage.

Two points

• Poster is not organized and looks okay.
• Poster does not have all the required pictures.
• Newspaper story is not neat.
• Newspaper story is not well organized.
• Newspaper story includes many spelling errors and poor punctuation.
• Newspaper story tells little about the voyage.

One point

• Poster is not complete.
• Poster has few or no pictures.
• Newspaper story is not complete or has not followed the assignment.
• Newspaper story has many spelling and punctuation errors.
• Newspaper story tells little about the voyage.

Conclusion
I hope you and your partner enjoyed your trip through time.  I am sure your project turned out great.  If you have extra time you might want to go back and look at some other sites about explorers to learn more.  You can also check out general information about explorers at the following websites:
www.yahooligans.com
The Mariner's Museum
Hunt for Famous Explorers Game
4th and 5th grade explorer resources
Webquest about Henry Hudson
Mrs. Cumpston's 5th grade class reports
 

Credits & References

Thanks very much to ITSCO for helping with the design and execution of this website.  Check out their workshops and resources-- they're great!
 
 

Last updated on August 15, 1999. Based on a template from The WebQuest Page