2nd Grade Zoo Quest

ZooQuest Adventure

A WebQuest for Second Grade Students

By Mrs. Morton

|Introduction|Task|Process|Resources|Evaluation|Conclusion

INTRODUCTION

Pretend you are a member of a zoology team who has to do research on certain animals and their habitats. You have to collect information on your assigned animal, which is being rescued from dangerous living conditions. The animals you and your team are researching will be brought together to create a new zoo.

For this activity, your job is to look up information on your assigned animal and use it to fill in your Animal Fact Sheet. Be sure to identify your animal’s physical description, eating habits/diet, natural habitat/biome, and any other interesting facts.

You will use the information you find to design an appropriate zoo exhibit habitat for your assigned animal. You will have a fact sheet to fill in as you do your research. The fact sheet has questions that you have to answer and this will help you think about what your animal will need upon its’ arrival at the new zoo. At the end of your research you will write 3-5 paragraphs describing your animal’s zoo exhibit.

When you really visit the Bronx Zoo, you will compare your exhibit description to the one you actually see and determine how close you came to determining your animal’s needs and habitat.

TASK

Your assignment is to design an appropriate zoo exhibit habitat for your assigned animal.
You will learn about your animal by visiting many websites and databases where you will find lots of information.
The information you learn about your animal will be used to help you design and describe a zoo exhibit for your animal.
Hopefully your exhibit will be similar to the real exhibit you see when you visit the Bronx Zoo in June.

PROCESS

• See your teacher to find out what your assigned animal is.
• Print a copy of the Zoo Quest Animal Fact sheet to record the facts you find out about your animal. Click here to see and print your fact sheet.
• Use the websites in the Resource section to find information about your animal and answer the questions on your date sheet. Visit at least THREE websites.
• Show your fact sheet to the teacher when you are done.
• Open Student Writing Center and type at least 3 paragraphs using the following as a guide:

Paragraph 1 should tell what your animal is, what it looks like, and what it eats. How big is your animal? Does it have hair, fur, or a shell? What color is it? Is it a carnivore or herbivore? What else?

Paragraph 2 should tell about your animal’s habitat. What biome does it live in? Does it need much space? Does it need warm weather or cold weather? Does it need water to live? Anything else?

Paragraph 3 should describe your zoo exhibit. It should tell what type of environment your animal will need to be happy and healthy. How big should it be? Does it need trees, rocks, or water? What else? What kinds of food will the zoo need to have ready to feed your animal? How much food will it need every day? Does it like company or prefer to be alone?

• Save your work and raise your hand when you are ready to print. You may put a clip art or copy and paste a picture of your animal on your paper if you’d like.
• Print your project and staple it to your data sheet.
• Share your project and zoo exhibit description with the class when your teacher asks you to.
• Review your project the morning of your field trip and be prepared to compare your exhibit to that of the actual Bronx Zoo exhibit.
• Write an entry in your morning journal the next day that tells how closely you came to correctly describing your assigned animal’s actual zoo environment.

RESOURCES
(Choose at least 3 of the following.)

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/default.cfm
Use the “Animals Etc.” link or photo links in center of page to locate information on your animal.

http://www.sandiegozoo.org/
Select the “Kids” tab and then “meet the critters” to locate information on your animal.

http://www.bronxzoo.com/
Select the “About the Animals” menu and then click on the “by exhibit” tab to search for information on your animal.

http://www.saczoo.com/3_kids/kids.htm
Select “Zoo Animals” and locate information on your animal.

http://www.zoo.org/
Select the “animal facts” tab at top for alphabetical listing and then locate your animal and information about it.

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/search?vid=1&hid=15&sid=600732dd-2f43-40fd-bc13-0684a738e2bb%40sessionmgr2
Type in the name of your animal to find articles and photos about it.

http://school.eb.com/elementary
Use the elementary school link to type in the name of your animal in the search box.

http://cerfinfo.com/cerf/
Select the K-5 box and then type your animal’s name into the search box to locate information about it.

http://web.ebscohost.com/sas/themes?vid=2&hid=21&sid=07ef073d-9fce-4e0b-92d0-da53a4292f3b%40SRCSM1
Click in the “find” box and type your animal’s name to locate information about it.

EVALUATION

WebQuest Rubric	4	3	2	1
Information on Data Sheet	At least 5 correct facts are recorded.	4 correct facts are recorded.	3 correct facts are recorded.	2 or fewer correct facts are recorded.
Information Displayed in Project	The project includes all required information plus something more.	The project includes all of the required information.	The project includes all but one of the pieces of information.	The project is missing 2 or more pieces of information.
Use of Class Time	Focused on getting the task done.	Focused most of the time.	Focused some of the time.	Did not focus on project.
Sharing Time	You always spoke slowly, loudly, and clearly.	You mostly spoke slowly, loudly, and clearly.	Sometimes you spoke slowly, loudly, and clearly.	You rarely spoke slowly, loudly, and clearly.
Work Quality	Work shows your best efforts. You listed at least three things needed for your animal’s care in the zoo exhibit.	Work shows a strong effort from you. You listed at least two things needed for your animal’s care in the zoo exhibit.	Work shows some effort from you. You listed one thing needed for your animal’s care in the zoo exhibit.	Work reflects little effort from you. You listed nothing needed for your animal’s care in the zoo exhibit.

CONCLUSION

Understanding the needs of animals is important to all people. Once we learn about the diet and habitat that animals need to survive, we can help protect them. Animals that are brought to live in zoos should be well cared for, with every effort made to have exhibits be as much like their natural wild habitat as possible.

I hope you liked working on this WebQuest. You have learned how to use the Internet to locate information about your assigned animal. Your computer skills have increased as you’ve become more confident searching for facts that helped you design a zoo exhibit for your animal. You’ve learned that it is important for a zoo keeper to understand the needs of the animals in his care at a zoo. When you visit the Bronx Zoo in June you will look for your animal’s exhibit and see how close you came to describing an ideal exhibit.

If you want to learn more about animals, or just visit some fun animal websites, click on any of the links below.

http://blackdog4kids.com/zoo/
Great on-line zoo animal learning games at this site.

http://www.colszoo.org/KIDSATPLAY/postcard/index.html
Click here for zoo games, coloring, and other activities.

http://www.dltk-kids.com/animals/index.html
Get ideas for many different animal crafts.