1. The Solar System Shawna Younglove Edu 505 Dr. Yang A webquest for 3-5 grade students

2. Introduction Today you get to be a space explorer and researcher! You are going to choose one of the eight planets and research information about that planet.

3. Task You will research facts about one of the planets. You must include… 1. 1. The name of the planet 2. 2. What or who the planet is named after 3. 3. The size of the planet (diameter) 4. 4. The average distance from the sun (in miles)

4. Task continued 5. 5. The time needed to revolve around the sun (length of the year) 6. 6. The time needed to rotate on its axis (length of the day) 7. 7. Facts about the planets surface 8. 8. Facts about the planets moon 9. 9. Any other interesting facts Phew… that seems like a lot of work, but you can do it! Just take it one step at a time.

5. Task completed when… When you are finished researching you will write a research report explaining all of the information you gathered You must write your research paper neatly and in the proper format You will be graded on neatness, how well you researched the facts about your planet, and how you put the facts together in the paper. Good luck!

6. Resources for Information about the planets Mercury http://kids.nineplanets.org/m ercury.htm http://www.kidsastronomy.c om/mercury.htm Venus http://www.windows.ucar.ed u/tour/link=/venus/venus. html http://kids.nineplanets.org/v enus.htm

7. More resources about the planets Earth http://kids.nineplanets.org/e arth.htm http://www.kidsastronomy.c om/earth.htm Mars http://www.windows.ucar.ed u/tour/link=/mars/mars.ht ml http://kids.nineplanets.org/m ars.htm

8. More resources about the planets Jupiter http://kids.nineplanets.org/jupiter.htm http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tou r/link=/jupiter/jupiter.html Saturn http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tou r/link=/saturn/saturn.html http://www.frontiernet.net/~kidpo wer/saturn.html

9. More resources about the planets Uranus http://kids.nineplanets.org/ur anus.htm http://www.windows.ucar.ed u/tour/link=/uranus/uranu s.html Neptune http://www.frontiernet.net/~k idpower/neptune.html http://kids.nineplanets.org/n eptune.htm

10. Students will be evaluated using this rubric Planet Research Report Rubric Quality 4321 Organization of Ideas You did an outstanding job planning your report. You developed an excellent beginning, middle, and ending. You needed very little help You have a topic sentence. You developed and organized your details. You followed the webquest with little help. You needed help with a topic sentence, or the topic sentence is missing. Your information is difficult to follow You need a clear plan of organization Content You included many excellent details. You were able to find facts independently, and add extra facts You included good details and information. You needed some help finding some facts in the webquest. You included simple basic details. You needed lots of help finding facts, and added no extra information. Details and facts are inaccurate or missing. You were unable to do independent research Sentence Knowledge You showed skillful use of sentence variety. You used complete sentences all of the time. You restated facts in your own words. You used complete sentences most of the time. Most facts are in your own words You used complete sentences some of the time. You needed help restating sentences in your own words, or some sentences are copied. You need to use complete sentences. Sentences need to be in your own words. Language/ Vocabulary You used very good adjectives and vivid language You used some adjectives and basic vocabulary. You used satisfactory words. You need to add adjectives and use age appropriate vocabulary. Mechanics You consistently used capital letters, correct punctuation, proper paragraph form, and correct spelling without help. Most of the time you used capital letters, correct punctuation, proper paragraph form and correct spelling. You needed help to correct your paragraph form, spelling, capital letters, and punctuation. You need to use proper paragraph form, punctuation, capital letters and correct spelling.

11. Conclusion You did it! You have become an expert about one of the planets. When you are finished writing your report, you may be asked to share it with a classmate or even your entire class! Congratulations on completing the webquest and becoming such a great researcher about one of the planets in our solar system.