Brainstorming Ideas for Webquest

I started thinking about what subject I want to do for my WebQuest (WQ) this weekend and came up with a few ideas.  First, I was thinking about integrating Language Arts and a novel we are planning to read in class.  To get some ideas, I decided to do a google search on webquests and found several on the books I am planning to do for the remainder of the year.  In fact, I found a great one on Charlotte's Web which my class will read later in the year.  Since I am not into "Reinventing the Wheel", and the WQ and all the links were functional and the content was appropriate, I will just use that one for Charlotte's Web.  I decided to pick a different topic that there isn't already a WQ for.  So I scratched the idea to do Language Arts... 

I feel like the subject I pick is very important because whatever I choose, it will replace what I would have normally done in my class.  I think that is the point of teaching with technology anyway: to do it instead of  (not in addition to) the regular curriculum. I like my hands on Science curriculum and don't want to take those labs away from the students, so that is out.  Then I turned my focus to Social Studies...

In third grade we study Local Government.  Our focus is on government at the city level.  This seems like a great opportunity to create a WQ that will take the students to many different online resources to collect information about the city of Irvine and the mayor, etc.  I googled my topic, and found a similar WQ for Chicago (a really good example) but none for Irvine!  So the topic is picked, and I am happy with my selection.  I will have about a month to get it ready to teach in class, which should correspond nicely with this class timeline.

I expect it will be a couple of weeks before I come back to this (busy with EDEL 594) but I am glad to have my topic picked and a few ideas rolling around in my head!