Could it be true??

A Webquest for second grade

Eedaly01@aol.com , Mtd1083@uga.edu , Khead@ugaedu , Alpark@uga.edu , Steed@uga.edu

Introduction

Help!! Winter has come, and the birds are in route to warmer climate areas. A "birdcopter" is transporting these delicate birds and during their travels the birds have manage to escape the "birdcopter". Now the birds have completely lost their way. The only documentations that were not destroyed was a brief description of the bird and a few facts. This is your mission if you choose to accept it.

Task

We are so thankful that you decided to accept this job. These birds are in desperate need of hard working friends.

indentify what bird is described
indentify what state or region is home to the bird
write a paragraph describing the home environment of the bird
Choose two of your favorite birds from the information and create a Venn-diagram to compare and contrast the birds to one another

The final project is to choose one of the remaining three birds and create a brochure that presents information and a picture of this type of bird for all of bird lovers.

Process

Thank you for choosing to accept this mission. You will be assigned into teams of two bird catchers. You will report directly to the teacher. We have worked day and night and all we managed to come up with is a physical description and one extra fact about each missing bird.

First choose your partner wisely... Be sure this is someone you can trust with this information
Once you have chosen your partner, analyze each packet of information be sure you are very familar with this information before you proceed any further.
Study the list of birds to be able to match each description with a bird from the list.

1.) Here is the descriptions we managed to find we searched high and low and found all ten. Be careful with this information and show no one. These are the only clues to finding out which birds were on the flight. Good luck!

The first bird description was discovered deep within the rainforest:

This bird is an intelligent bird and easy to recognize by it's upright posture. It has bright vivid colors, a large head and a heavy beak. It is usually found in tropical climate.

The second bird decrsiption was discovered near lake Michigan:

This bird is large and heavy. Males have gray bodies, white collars, green heads and yellow bills. Females are mottled brown and black with light brown heads and yellow bills. They also have a black stripe running horizontally through each eye. They spend the bulk of their time near water.

The third bird description was discovered near Washington D.C:

Benjamin Franklin wanted to make this bird a national symbol. It is a very quick runner, with sharp eyes and a regal stance. The size of the males is up to 48 inches and females up to 36 inches. This bird is medium brown with golden or copper feathers, a bald head and neck, but have red wattles.

The fourth bird description was discovered near the woods:

This bird has a light-colored heart shaped face and is nocturnal. It hunts for small rodents, and its vision is adapted to search for prey during the night time. Also, this bird has an incredible sense of hearing to help it hunt at night. This species of birds does not make true nests, but scatters debris in hollow trees, haystacks, or old buildings.

The fifth bird description was discovered in the vineyards out west:

This bird is known for hardiness and adaptability. It is a plump, gray-colored bird, and smaller than a pigeon. There is a downward curving black plume on the top of its head and black bib with white stripe under the beak. This bird flocks in numbers of a few to 60 in the fall or winter, but in the spring they break into twos. They nest in the ground.

The sixth bird description was discovered in the lava lands:

This is a land bird that has adapted its life style to the harsh lava lands. They can handel this incredible heat by transforming their webbed feet into claws and modifying the shape of its wing structure for shorter flights.

The seventh bird description was discovered in neighborhood trees:

This is the smallest bird. They spend 80% of their time sitting and resting on twigs and leaves. They love to bathe themselves, and fly about 60 miles per hour through the air and can instanly stop.

The eight bird description was discovered in our nation's capital:

This bird is the national symbol and has been endangered before. It is about three feet tall. It has a white head, yellow beak and black body. They build huge nest near rivers and lakes and usually lay two to three eggs once a year.

The ninth bird description was discovered in the oak tree by your house:

This is a popular bird well known in America. It is 10 inches tall with a red-orange belly with small black spots and a black and gray back. The babies are born with no feathers. The color of their feathers get brighter in the spring.

The tenth bird description was discovered in the swamps:

This is the tallest bird in North America. They are almost five feet tall with very long legs. They are very elegant birds. Adult birds are white with a red patch on their head and a dark beak. Their wings have black feathers on the end. Their wings have a span of six to seven feet when streched out.

2.) Here are the list of possible birds on the flight:

-Barn owl
-Emu
-Quail
-Pelican
-Robin
-Blue jay
-Roadrunner
-Gold finch
-Mallard duck
-Woodpecker
-Turkeys
-Brown thrasher
-Mockingbird
-Flamingo
-Nene
-Bald Eagle
-Peguin
-Humming Bird
-Canada Goose
-Dove
-Parrot

3.)Here are some useful websites for finding information and helping you to figure out which birds were on the flight.

www.birdweb.org/birdweb/
www.theaviary.com/topicsub-type.shtml
www.50states.com/bird/

Evaluation

Here is a description on how I am grading your preformance on this project.

	Beginning 1	Accomplished 2	Exemplary 3
Correct identification of birds	Correct identification of 4 birds	Correct identification of 7 birds	Correct identification of all 10 birds
Correct region or state identification	Correct region or state for 4 birds	Correct region or state for 7 birds	Correct region or state for all 10 birds
Thorough and descriptive paragragh	Paragraph could better describe bird and lacks important information	Paragraph is somewhat informative	Paragragh is both descriptive and thorough that includes at least a few facts
Use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast two brids	Diagram has 1-2 comparison facts and 0-1 contrasting facts	Diagram has 2-3 comparison facts and 2-4 contrasting facts	Diagram has 3-4 comparison facts and 3-5 contrasting facts
Make a brochure that presents information on missing birds	Names the bird, lists 0-1 facts about the bird, and no pictures	Names the bird, lists 2-3 facts, black and white pitcures	Names the bird, lists 4-5 facts, and has several colored pictures

Conclusion

After completing this assignment you will have a vast knowledge of many different species of birds. However, there are other things that you learned in addition. Not only did you learn how to cooperate with a partner, but also how to research a particular subject and obtain facts that lead to your findings. And most importantly, you learned life long computer skills. We hope you enjoyed our webquest! Have a great day!

Just think, next time you see a bird flying in the sky you'll probably be able to identify it! You are so lucky!

Credits & References

www.birdweb.org/birdweb/
www.theaviary.com/topicsub-type.shtml
www.50states.com/bird/

"We all benefit by being generous with our work. Permission is hereby granted for other educators to copy this WebQuest, update or otherwise modify it, and post it elsewhere provided that the original author's name is retained along with a link back to the original URL of this WebQuest. On the line after the original author's name, you may add Modified by your name on date modified. If you do modify it, please let me know and provide the new URL."

Last updated on December 2, 2003. Based on a template from The WebQuest Page