Online Scavenger Hunt

This activity provides the students with a chance to go on the Internet. It gets them acquainted with navigating the World Wide Web, as well as introducing them to some informative sites.

Materials

- Internet access

Lesson Intro

This lesson idea was adapted from previous materials. I added a traveling section to the end of the questionnaire.

Lesson Preparation

Go through the scavenger hunt close to the date of the class. The Internet is constantly changing. Some sites may have gone dead, and some others may have changed a bit. I did this with some students in the fall, and some in the spring who were not there in the fall. Even between the fall and spring, I noticed some of the pages changed their look, so I had to alter some of the specific instructions. You also will have to alter dates for the trip planning section.

Print out copies of the handouts.

Lesson Procedure

Distribute the handouts and walk through with them, visiting the sites as they do.

1 All About Me Scavenger Hunt

Use the Internet to answer the following questions about yourself.

1. The Day I Was Born Go to www.historychannel.com/today/ Enter your birthday and a category (such as General Interest, Entertainment, or Literary) in the “What Happened on my Birthday?” box.

Your birthday (month & day): ______

What happened on that day in history (also note the year)? ______

Go to www.biography.com and click on “search bios” in the top right corner. Then scroll down and choose the “Born on This Day” option (on the left side of the page). Search for your birthday. What famous people were born on your birthday, and in what year? ______

What is the description for the first person listed? ______

2 2. My First Name Go to www.babyzone.com/babynames/ and scroll down to “Baby Name Tools.” Under “Quick Search,” type in your first name. (Once you have done this, you can also do a search on your middle name.) What does your name mean? ______

3. My Last Name Go to people.yahoo.com and type in your last name. Select MA for the state and search for entries with your last name.

Are your phone number and address listed? ______

How many people have the same last name as you in MA? ______

4. My Name Statistics (for each, write out the name as well) Go to www.namestastics.com/index.php Search your first name for popularity. What does it say about your first name? ______

Search your last name for popularity. What does it say? ______

Search your middle name for popularity. What does it say?

3 ______

4 Traveling If you need help with choosing destinations for Questions 5 and 6, you can browse travel guides to help you choose a location.

For travel guides, you can go to travel.yahoo.com and click on the “Travel Guides” tab; you can go to www.fodors.com; or you can go to www.lonelyplanet.com and search what they have listed there for ideas.

5. My US Vacation If you could travel anywhere in the United States, where would you go? ______

Go to www.mapquest.com and find answers to these questions:

How far is it to your destination from Boston? ______mi How long would it take to drive there? ______

Go to www.expedia.com Search for leaving BOS on April 15, 2006 and returning from your destination on April 22, 2006.

What airline would you be flying (list the first option only)? ______How much would airline tickets to your vacation spot cost? ______How long would the flight be (what is the duration)? ______

5 Go to www.weather.com

What is the weather forecast for the area you will be visiting (list the weather forecast for the next 5 days)? ______

Find a photo of this location. To find photos, you can go to travel.yahoo.com, click on the “Travel Guides” tab (2nd tab), find your location. Click on “View Photo Album,” find a photo you like and save it. You also could go to www.exploitz.com Travel Adventure Guide and find photos there, or go to www.google.com and do a search under Images for your location. Save your photo(s) in your Desktop>Preparations folder and rename them to the name of the location (remember, right click on the photo and choose “Save Picture As…”).

6 6. My International Vacation If you could travel anywhere in the world (outside of the US), where would you go? ______

Go to www.indo.com/distance to answer the following questions:

How far is it from Boston, MA, USA (“as the bird flies”) to your destination? ______miles

What statistics does it give on Boston, MA and (if anything) on your international location (list the name of the county, population and elevation; don’t worry about the location)? ______

Go to www.expedia.com Search for leaving BOS on April 15, 2006 and returning from your destination on April 22, 2006.

What airline would you be flying (list the first option only)? ______How much would airline tickets to your vacation spot cost? ______How long would the flight be (what is the duration)? ______

7 Go to weather.yahoo.com and find your international city (you may need to browse through locations, such as Caribbean, Europe, Africa or Asia, and then browse by country).

What is the weather forecast for the area you will be visiting (list the weather forecast for the next 5 days)? ______

Explore travel guides about this site (and your US site, if you’d like) by going to www.lonelyplanet.com, www.fodors.com or travel.yahoo.com

List one or two things you’d like to visit or do while there. ______

Find a photo of this location. Again, to find photos, you can go to travel.yahoo.com, click on the “Travel Guides” tab (2nd tab), find your location. Click on “View Photo Album,” find a photo you like and save it. You also could go to www.exploitz.com Travel Adventure Guide and find photos there, or go to www.google.com and do a search under Images for your location.

Save your photo(s) in your Desktop>Preparations folder and rename them to the name of the location (remember, right click on the photo and choose “Save Picture As…”).