Fantasy Vacation

Grade Levels: 3 - 5

Objectives

• Students will obtain information using both the Internet and traditional sources.
• Students will make decisions about the accuracy of online information.
• Students will list their sources in a bibliography.
• Students will incorporate their research into a descriptive travel brochure.

Materials

• Travel brochures (as examples)
• Internet access
• Guide to Citing Internet Resources

Procedures

1. Talk about different vacation spots that students are familiar with.
2. Ask students to describe why each place is appealing.
3. Ask each student to choose a location for a fantasy vacation.
4. Discuss where students can look for information about their vacation destinations (travel books, travel brochures, magazines, encyclopedias, Internet).
5. Have students determine what they would like to know about their vacation spot.
6. Help them create questions that express what they want to find out.
7. Consider having students ask classmates to describe their vacation experiences in order to get ideas for their questions.
8. Tell students to use both traditional and online sources for their research.
9. Remind them that they will be expected to write a bibliography.
10. Distribute the Guide to Citing Internet Resources.
11. Have students use the information they obtained to help them create a travel brochure.
12. Ask students to write a bibliography to document the sources of their information.
13. As students prepare their travel brochures, remind them to use words and pictures that appeal to the senses.
14. Have students share their brochures.

Standards Correlations

National Education Technology Standards
Students:
• develop positive attitudes toward technology uses that support lifelong learning, collaboration, personal pursuits, and productivity.
• use technology to locate, evaluate, and collect information from a variety of sources.
• demonstrate a sound understanding of the nature and operation of technology systems.

  The National Council of Teachers of English
  Students:

• use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.
• conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and nonprint texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.

Assessment

Use the following rubric for evaluating students' ability to complete this lesson.

4 – Exemplary

Student:

• finds valuable Internet sources with ease.
• makes educated judgments about the accuracy of Internet sites.
• produces a descriptive, colorful, and well-written travel brochure.

3 – Competent

Student:

• finds good Internet sources with very few problems.
• evaluates online information with few problems.
• produces a travel brochure that is accurate, but not thorough.

2 – Developing

Student:

• can navigate within a site, once a specific site is reached.
• needs guidance to evaluate online information.
• produces a travel brochure that is short on descriptive details or has some inaccurate statements.

1 – Emerging

Student:

• navigates the Internet with guidance.
• needs assistance to evaluate Internet sites.
• has difficulty producing a travel brochure independently.