Going on a Whale Watch

a Web Quest for First and Second Grade Students
by Mrs. Grens
Fulton School, Tinley Park,  IL
Introduction | Task | Resources | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion

Introduction
    You have been learning about whales, but have you ever seen a real whale?  Would you like to see one?  We can go on a whale watch!

The Task
    You will pretend that you are going on a whale watch.  You will be a reporter. You will write a paragraph about what you saw.  You will tell where you are, what kind of whale you saw, and you will give facts about the whale.  You will also tell about your feelings when you saw the whale!  You can find a picture of the whale on the internet and put the picture in your paper.  If you want, you can work with your teacher to put this information on a web page.  See separate directions to do that.
    You can find information about whale watching by clicking on the web sites that are listed.  You can also use the books about whales that we have.

To find information about whales:

Books
Biggest Animal Ever by Allan Fowler
The Blue Whale by Kazue Mizumura
Blue Whales  by Sarah Palmer
Davy's Dream by Paul Owen Lewis
Fin Whales by Sarah Palmer
Going on a Whale Watch by Bruce McMillan
Gray Whales by Sarah Palmer
The Great Whales  by Sarah Palmer
Great Whales  by Patricia Lauber
Humpback Whales  by Sarah Palmer
I Wonder if I'll See a Whale by Ted Lewin
Killer Whales  by Sarah Palmer
Whales by Seymour Simon
Whales  by Gail Gibbons
Whales:  the Gentle Giants by Joyce Milton
Whales of the World by June Behrens

Internet sites

To get whale information
http://www.enchantedlearning.com

http://www.ALFY.com/teachers/teach/thematic_units/Oceanography/OCN_1.asp

http://whales.ot.com/cetacean/home.html

To see whale pictures
http://flzhgn.home.mindspring.com/whale.htm

To hear whale sounds
http://newport.pmel.noaa.gov/whales/bluecall.html#nepac_blue_call

http://apl.discovery.com/animalpages/wad-99/name.html

To go whale watching http://www.homestead.com/graywhale/graywhale1.html

http://whale.wheelock.edu/whalenet-stuff/whalewatchsmyth.html

http://whale.wheelock.edu/whalenet-stuff/slide_shows/whalewatch/
 

2.  Help your teacher to chart the information.  Group the information under headings such as "Baleen whales", "Toothed whales", and "Habitat".  You may need to look at this information later!

3.  Go on the internet to find information about whales.  Check out the following sites:

http://www.enchantedlearning.com

http://www.ALFY.com/teachers/teach/thematic_units/Oceanography/OCN_1.asp

http://flzhgn.home.mindspring.com/whale.htm

http://whales.ot.com/cetacean/home.html

To see whale pictures
http://flzhgn.home.mindspring.com/whale.htm

To hear whale sounds
http://newport.pmel.noaa.gov/whales/bluecall.html#nepac_blue_call

http://apl.discovery.com/animalpages/wad-99/name.html

You can add information to your chart.

4.  Find a picture of a whale.  Help your teacher to scan it and insert it into a Word document; or find one on the internet and print it.

Use the resources books in your room or the following site:
http://flzhgn.home.mindspring.com/whale.htm

5.  Listen to your teacher read the following books:
Davy's Dream by Paul Owen Lewis
I Wonder if I'll See a Whale by Ted Lewin
Going on a Whale Watch by Bruce McMillan

6.  Talk about what it would be like to see a real whale.  List some words you might use to write about your feelings when you would see a whale.

7.  Go on a virtual whale watch.  Use these sites:
http://www.homestead.com/graywhale/graywhale1.html

http://whale.wheelock.edu/whalenet-stuff/whalewatchsmyth.html

http://whale.wheelock.edu/whalenet-stuff/slide_shows/whalewatch/
 

8.  With your classmates and teachers write about the whale watch.  You may need the information from the chart you made in #1.  You also may need some of the words that were on the list in #6.

Be sure that

• your sentences begin with a capital letter
• your telling sentences end with a period
• you have told where you saw the whale
• you have told what kind of whale you saw
• you have told some facts about the whale
• you have what it was like when you saw the whale
• you have told what it felt like to see the whale

Click to get to a worksheet (that can be printed) to report how well you did!