You are a travel agent in West Hartford and you are organizing a class trip to Japan. The students want more information before paying their money, so you are going to make a travel brochure or a poster to give them. Using the internet and books in your library, collect facts and make a beautiful brochure or poster!
Now go to the TASK.
Your travel brochure needs to have:
1. A map of the country
2. A picture and a fact about a famous place in Japan.
3. A picture and 3 facts about an animal that lives in Japan.
4. A picture and 3 facts about schools in Japan
5. A picture and 3 facts about houses in Japan.
6. A sentence saying why you think someone should visit Japan
Put all of these together to create a brochure or poster about Japan. The pictures can be drawings of pictures you find in books or on the internet.
Now, go to PROCESS.
First, print out the Check List. This will help you organize your work.
You will need to make a Japan folder to hold all of your work. Put your name on the folder and label it JAPAN FOLDER.
Click HERE to see your NOTES SHEET. Print it out and use it for writing your notes.
When you have checked off all of the boxes on your check list, you are ready to create your brochure or poster.
Now, look at RESOURCES.
Click on an idea below to find information about Japan. Don't forget to take notes on your NOTES SHEET and remember to print any pictures you need.
http://web-jpn.org/kidsweb/index.html
Kidsweb Japan: information on culture, schools, Japanese words and writing, nature…almost anything a kid would want to know about Japan!
http://www.amphi.com/~psteffen/fmf/
Culture, food, activities, daily life and other information. Teacher Peggy Steffens made this website after visiting Japan.
http://www.hokuriku.ne.jp/miyake-s/english/
Miyake Elementary School website -
education, sports,
art and a whole lot more!
http://www1.kcn.ne.jp/school/tawara-e/japan/japan_e.htm
Tawaraguchi Elementary School Home
page - great information
about school, nature, life in Japan and culture
http://www.us-japan.org/edomatsu/
Edo is the ancient name for Tokyo. This site is very good for elementary students as well as secondary. Learn all about the government, economy, and social life of ancient Tokyo through paintings and facts.
http://www2.lbm.go.jp/comparePhoto/E_map_biwa.htm
See a map of Lake Biwa, and a brief description of the biggest lake in Japan.
(Links Updated 05/11/2006)Now, go to EVALUATION.
Use this page to give yourself a grade for your work. Print this out before you start so you will know how the grading works. Click the picture to get the grade page.
Do you want to learn more about Japan? Go to the CONCLUSION.
I hope you have enjoyed learning new things about Japan. If you are interested in learning more, check out the web pages below by clicking on them...
Japanese Kimono's
http://web.mit.edu/jpnet/kimono/index.htmlJapanKids
http://www.kids-japan.com/JapanWeb
http://www.sover.net/~johnd/categories.htmlhttp://www.daisetsuzan.or.jp/e-index.html
Daisetsuzan National Park in Japan – beautiful pictures and information on Brown Bears.
http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0214080/
Japanese Art – things you can make and do!
http://www.niigata-inet.or.jp/ohno-e/e/
Another elementary school in Japan...
In using this webquest with younger students, or just to save time, I recommend copying the check list and notes page and fitting them onto 2 pages using a word processor. I am using this webquest with second graders and have found that they benefit from a hands-on lesson on using the internet: first I introduce the webquest and explain that the internet is a way for us to connect and get information from computers from all over the world. We go over using scroll bars, back and forward buttons and the frame menu on the left side of the screen. I let them know that we will be connecting to computers in Japan and will gather information on notes sheets. They will then take the notes and use them to create a poster or travel brochure.
This is my first attempt to use this lesson in class - as I modify the lesson, I will record any changes here. Please send any comments and/or suggestions! Thank you.
This WebQuest is based on Bernie Dodge's Model.
Web Design by David St.Germain
Bugbee Elementary School
West Hartford, CT
Last Updated March 12, 2001
Email at Dave_St.Germain@whps.org