Process

Pond Life WebQuest Activities

created and copyrighted by A. Meyerhorn April 2002

Introduction

Task

Process

Resources

Conclusion

Evaluation

Results

.. Oh, the exciting learning that is ahead of us!
Scroll down to see the list of activities you will complete.
Ask your classmates and teachers to help you when you need it as you do your work.

Always check your work before deciding you are done.

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Seek information about pond animals and learn all you can. Select books from the classroom collection, study the charts in the room, visit the web sites on the resources page, and watch the video about pond life. Work alone, with a partner, or in a small group. Share what you are learning with your classmates.

Choose an animal to add to the class bulletin board display of life at the pond. Use construction paper and any craft items that you think would help you best represent the animal. Include details.

Add information about the animal to the chart the class is creating. It is named "Pond Life Chart" and is in the Shared Documents folder.

Name

Type of Animal

Appearance

Food

Interesting Fact

In KidPix Deluxe, make an illustration showing a pond habitat. Write a sentence or more telling something you know about life in and around a pond.

Write a riddle poem about one of the pond animals. Include 5 lines, each starting with "I".

                1. The first line will describe the animal.
                2. One will tell how it moves or something else interesting.
                3. Two will tell more details that are interesting or important.
                4. One line will tell what it eats.
                5. End with a line that tells what it is and what it used to be.
                    It will have the format of "I am a ______, but I used to be a ______."
                    (Example: I am a frog, but I used to be a tadpole.)

Illustrate a classmate's riddle poem. Show details that are important about the animal. Work with the author of the riddle poem to see that you have included everything you need in the picture.

Write a line for the class poem about a pond active with life. The class will work together to make lists of animals to include and of verbs that tell how they move. Choose descriptive words so your line "paints a picture". Tell the name of the animal, use a verb, and add a descriptive phrase to create a sentence. Find the document named Pond Life Poem in the Group Shared Folder and add your line to the poem.

With the class, think about whether organisms (small animals) in ponds all over the United States and the world are the same or different. Listen to your classmates and together, make a hypothesis telling what you think. Explain why you made the hypothesis you did.
Collect a bucket of pond water. Examine it to see what animals are living in it. Write down what animals you found and how many there were of each animal. As a class, we will send the results of our discovery to Bucket Buddies.
Look at results from studies other school children made around the world. Determine whether our hypothesis was correct.

(Optional) Select an animal that would be found at a pond and write a report about it. Include information from the class chart and any other information that you think is interesting and that will help us to know your animal. Read your report to the classmates and answer any questions they might ask about your animal in your report.
(Optional) Create a diorama or crayon resist painting or model of a pond animal.
(Optional) Write and illustrate a story about a fictional event at the pond. Present a problem and a solution. Read your story to the class.