New Years Around the World

A Web Quest for 3rd Grade (Social Studies, Computer/Technology Skills, Information Skills)

Designed by

Karen Blackwelder, Magee Morrison, Laura Golding, Andrea Hedrick
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

 
 

Introduction | Task | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion | Credits | Teacher Page


Introduction 

The people of every country celebrate the New Year in their own way.  The New Year is an exciting time because it is full of change and possibility.  Imagine that you and your family have just moved to a new country.  It is almost New Years and you want to celebrate with your new friends in their traditional way.  In groups, you will research a country and present your findings to the class in a unique and creative way.  Are you ready to discover your new traditions and pass them on to others from different backgrounds?
 
 
 
 


The Task 

Each group will choose a country from the list of links provided. The country you chose is your family's new home. Your job is to:

  • Research your specific country's New Years celebration activities so that your family can participate in the festivities with your new friends. 
  • When you have finished the research, your group will create a brochure describing the information you found.  This brochure will be placed at a station in the classroom to be viewed by the class.
  • Finally your group will create a game in which you use the information in your brochure. The rules for your game must be typed on a word processor.
  • Each brochure and game will be displayed at a station for your classmates to view and play.


The Process 

In order to celebrate the New Year in the traditional way of your new home, you must research your country and complete the following steps:

 StepOne

 StepTwo

 StepThree
 
 

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Evaluation 

Your performance on these activities will be evaluated (graded) based on several different things.  The different criteria are outlined in the chart, which you can get to by clicking on the link below.  You will be given a group grade for this assignment.

Click on the link below to view the evaluation chart:

EvaluationChart
 


Conclusion 
Living in the United States, you come in contact with many different groups and cultures. There are many similarities and differences between the American culture and that of other countries. You should now be familiar with the New Year’s celebrations of the country your group studied, as well as the celebrations that take place in your classmates’ countries. You were only responsible for learning the similarities and differences of one holiday among many countries. If the same holiday can have so many variations, imagine the many other differences in cultural traditions.

Congradulations!  You have completed the three steps to this activity.  By now your group should have:
-researched your new home country. 
-organized the information you found in a brochure of that country to be displayed in the classroom.
-created an entertaining game using the information you found about your country for your classmates to play.
 
 


Credits & References 

123 Greetings. Online. Available <http://www.123greetings.com>. 25 Oct. 2001.

Arg! Cartoon Animation. Online.Available <http://toons.artie.com/20010301/arg-dancing-new-year-sm-url.html>. 31 Oct. 2001.

Britannicaonline. Online. Available <http://www.britannica.com>. 20 Oct. 2001.

Fg-a.com. Online. Available <http://www.fg-a.com/flags.htm>. 22 Oct 2001.

"New Years". Gograph.com. Online. Available <http://www.gograph.com/fusion/EN/result01.cfm?>. 31 Oct. 2001.

Music by Moi. Online.Available <http://users.sedona.net/~imboo/mymusic.html>. 29 Oct. 2001.
 

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