Vacation Anyone?

Created by

Rodger Robbins, August 1999

Modified by

Christy Finch

Mobile County Public School

 

When is the last time your parents let you decide where you were going on family vacation? Would you like to go on a vacation without any adults? How about a vacation where you and your friends visit the places you want? Are you ready to leave the adults behind and have some real fun? You and your friends have worked hard all year. Now it is time to take a little vacation and get away from it all. Your group can go anywhere they want. However, like everything in life, there are a few catches. Click on the headings below to find out more.

 

 

                                                               Teacher Resource

 

Criteria

 

Your group must decide where you want to go and what you want to do once you get there. You will travel on your vacation via the Internet. You will research the routes, cities, places, and even the prices of the places you want to visit. Even though there are no adults on your trip, there are still rules you have to follow. Listed below is the criteria each group has to follow. There are also standard prices listed. These are the same for everyone in the class.

1.) Your trip will last 7 days, this includes driving days as well. The final destination must be at least 750 miles away from your school. You may spend time at places along the way.

2.) Each member of your group will have $900.00 to spend. If you run out of money, you will not be able to finish the assignment.

3.) You must drive. You may pick the car you want to travel in, it is provided free. Your average speed limit is 60 mph. This will help you figure out how long it will take you to reach your destinations. Do not forget to stop for gas. Your car gets 20 miles per gallon and has a 15-gallon tank. Your gas price is $1.42 per gallon.

4.) You must describe or display the route you took to arrive at your destination.

5.) You must spend the night every night in a motel. We do not want you falling asleep at the wheel! You may use a motor home, but you have to stay in a RV Park. It will cost each person $30.00 a night for lodging, no matter where you stay.

6.) You must buy breakfast ($4.00), lunch ($6.00), and dinner ($9.00) each day.

7.) Each person in the group is required to keep a ledger. This ledger will keep track of individual expenses as each of you spends the money you were given. There are no extra points for returning with money, so spend it all!

8.) Each person in your group will be expected to perform a particular job. Visit the Responsibilities Page to determine what your job will be.

9.) To understand how you will display and share your vacation, as well as how you will be evaluated visit the Evaluation Page.

 

 

Criteria       Responsibilities      Resources     Evaluation

 

Responsibilities

The ideal number of people in a group is 3 or 4. Since you are working with a group, it is important that each person has a particular job. It is also important that each person perform his or her job. If someone is not working up to expectations, it could hurt the entire group's grade. Each of you must keep a ledger with an ongoing total of how you spent your money. Each person needs to pick a job they feel comfortable with. You may want to switch jobs each day so each person is exposed to a particular job. Below is a description of the jobs that your group will have.

Map Researcher - Your job is to visit map websites and determine what highways you need to take to reach your destination. You should only record major highways.

Location Researcher - Your job is to find out the important information on the places you are going to visit. For example, what is there to do in the city you are visiting or how much does it cost to go to a particular amusement park?

Journal Recorder - Your job is to record the events of the day. For example, where did your group go and what did they do?

 

 

 

 

Criteria       Responsibilities      Resources     Evaluation

 

 

Resources

The best part about picking the site for your vacation is that your group gets to choose! Your group must decide as a whole where they are going. I cannot give a specific site, because everyone is going to a different place. Most cities have a homepage that lists attractions that they have to offer. The websites below will help you get started finding a destination and discovering what to do when you get there.

 

Search for information on your destination at:

Ask Jeeves for Kids

Yahooligans

State tourist attractions

Tourism Offices Worldwide Directory

The Family Travel Files

 

Map sites for driving directions to your vacation spot:

MapBlast

MapQuest

 

 

Criteria       Responsibilities      Resources     Evaluation

 

 

 

Evaluation

 

You now have to present your vacation to the class using presentation software, such as PowerPoint and Hyper Studio, or creating visual displays. Your project will be graded using the following scoring guide.

 

Name(s) of presenter(s): _________________________

 

Category	Exemplary 4	Accomplished 3	Developing 2	Beginning 1	Score
Content	Covers topic in depth and very elaborate. Subject knowledge is excellent.	Includes essential information. Subject knowledge is evident in most of the presentation.	Fulfills minimal requirements. Some subject knowledge is evident, however it is confusing.	No subject knowledge is evident. Information is missing or wrong.	____
Mechanics	Presentation has no misspellings or grammatical errors.	Presentation has 3 or fewer misspellings or grammatical errors.	Presentation has 4 misspellings or grammatical errors.	Presentation has 5 or more misspellings and grammatical errors.	____
Oral Presentation	Highly organized and well rehearsed. Very smooth in delivery.	Interesting and in logical order. A fluid delivery was used.	Spoke clear and understandable. Used appropriate language, but limited in delivery.	No logical sequence of events.	____
Originality	Product shows a large amount of original thought. Ideas are creative and inventive.	Product shows some original thought. Work shows new ideas and insights.	Uses a large collection of other people’s ideas. There is no new thought.	Work is minimal collection of other people's ideas.	____
Teamwork	The workload was divided and shared equally by all team members.	Most team members contributed their fair share of the work.	The workload amounts varied between a few members.	The workload was not divided equally and only one or two people did the work.	____

 

 

 

Criteria       Responsibilities      Resources     Evaluation

 

Teacher Resource

This WebQuest is modified for third grade and above.

Here are some tips that will make this WebQuest go smoother:

To give them gas prices.

 It is important that you stress the math aspect of the project. For example:

• The students must accurately figure out how far they can go on a tank of gas.
• Calculate how much a tank of gas will cost.
• Budget their money wisely. Remind them that they have to have enough money to get back home.

Make sure they keep an accurate record of how they spent their money. They could use a spreadsheet, word processing program, or notebook paper.

 

 

Alabama Course of Study Objectives for third grade.

 

Math

4              Use skills associated with estimation to solve problems.

5              Demonstrate proficiency in adding and subtracting two-digit numbers with and without regrouping.

7           Develop vocabulary associated with operations.

8           Demonstrate an understanding of multiplication.

13           Demonstrate the operations needed to solve problems.

15      Solve non-routine problems using a variety of strategies.

21           Use decimal points in money values.

22          Add money values.

23          Rounding money to the nearest dollar.

37      Read scale of length.

43         Explain vocabulary associated with time.

46     Identify and determine elapsed time.

53    Analyze information collected from real-life situations.

 

 

Reading

   

4              Use a wide range of strategies and skills, including retelling information, using general context clues, and making inferences to identify the main idea, to comprehend third-grade functional and textual informational reading material.

 

Language

 

Language Mechanics

• Distinguish correct capitalization- proper nouns and the first word of the sentence. (COS 21/ SAT 10)
• Distinguish correct punctuation- period, question mark, exclamation mark, commas, and quotation marks (COS 21/ SAT 10)
• Identify correctly applied grammar- nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives (COS 21/ SAT 10)

 

Language Expressions

• Identify correctly and effectively written sentences (COS 26,27/ SAT 10)
• Determine purpose for writing (COS 20, 24, 25/ SAT 10)
• Determine topic relevance (COS 20, 24, 25/ SAT 10)
• Determine an appropriate topic sentence (COS 25/ SAT 10)
• Determine appropriate supporting details (COS 25/ SAT 10)
• Organize Information (COS 20, 25/ SAT 10)

 

Spelling

• Recognize the correct spelling of sight words (COS 28/ SAT 10)
• Apply phonetic principles to recognize incorrect spelling of phonemes within words (COS 28/ SAT 10)
• Identify misspelled words in which the incorrect spelling reflects errors in applying structural principles (COS 28/ SAT 10)
• Recognize correctly spelled words (COS 28/ SAT 10)

 

Social Studies

• Recognize symbols on a map.
• Identify and apply cardinal direction.
• Analyze a map
• Analyze a chart.
• Interpret a graph
• Analyze reasons for saving money.