Fishy Fun with Reading

A WebQuest for Kindergarten and First Grade Language Arts

Introduction:

Sometimes reading can be very difficult for a young child to understand and to get interested in. My goal in creating this webquest is to make reading fun for young children by allowing them to use the computer to read interactive books. The theme for these books is fish. Children of all ages enjoy looking at and learning about oceans and the creatures that live in them. Work with your student or child to read the books listed on this page.

The Tasks:

These are some things that you will be able to do after completing the interactive web activities.

Tell a story using information from the stories previously read.
Show proficiency in left to right reading orientation.
Recognize letters and sounds used in reading activities.
Summarize the stories read to the teacher or parent.
Follow directions for interacting with the computer to read the story.
Develop a story to tell the teacher or parent about the picture story created in "Ocean Commotion."
Determine the differences between fish and other water creatures.
Make your own fish book to read!

The Process:

Get ready to enter the wild world of fish! Begin with Step 1 and work all the way to Step 5. Remember to ask for help if you have any problems. Have a great time!

Step 1: Have you ever wondered how many different colors a fish can be? Let's go find out at Color Fish! Read the story to your teacher or parent and tell them the color of each fish you find.

Step 2: Have you ever been fishing and caught a fish? Let's see how many fish one little boy caught in our next reading activity. Do you think he caught One, Two, Three, Four, Five? Read the rebus poem to your teacher or parents.

Step 3: Can you think of a fish name that begins with the letter A? Let's find out about some different things that begin with each letter of the alphabet at A is for Angelfish. Read the story to your teacher or parents all the way from A to Z!

Step 4: Now we are going to create a story about fish using only pictures. Let's create our own Ocean Commotion. Get ready to tell your teacher the story you have created! Print out your picture and tell your teacher or parent about the story you have made.

Step 5: Finally, let's read about fish. You may choose between reading A Fishy Tale or Hilburt the Halibut. Read the story aloud to your teacher or parent. What was your favorite part?

The Evaluation:

	Beginning 1	Developing 2	Accomplished 3	Exemplary 4
Demonstrates knowledge of reading text on a page	Cannot read text on the page from left to right.	Reads text from left to right with assistance only.	Reads text from left to right with little assistance.	Reads the text from left to right with no assistance.
Recognizes letters and letter sounds.	Recognizes few or no letters and letter sounds.	Recognizes letters and sounds them out accordingly.	Blends the words on the pages with help from teacher.	Reads the words on the pages with little or no help from teacher.
Reading Comprehension.	Remembers very little about the story.	Can remember what the story was about with no details.	Can summarize the main ideas of the story.	Can summarize the stories read with most or all details.
Follows Directions.	Has a lot of trouble navigating the stories on the computer.	Navigates the stories on the computer with help only.	Navigates the stories on the computer with some help.	Navigates the stories on the computer with no help.

Conclusion:

By completing this webquest, you have found out some new and exciting things about fish and reading. You have gotten some great practice at reading simple stories and you have been very creative in developing your own fish story! Now, get ready to tell your teacher or parent all about what you have learned today!

Credits & References:

Thank you

for use of their graphics.

Teacher Advice:

Because this is a webquest designed for kindergarten students, it may be necessary for a teacher or an assistant teacher to help the child with the activities. Naturally most kindergarten students are not able to read very well, so the writing on this page means very little to them. However, the games and activities are meaningful and can be very beneficial to enhancing the student's reading ability, developing better computer skills, and just enjoying reading! After the child has been assisted with the page, he/she should be able to navigate the page on his/her own. Please remember that the main objective for this site is for the child to enjoy reading and to find out some interesting things about fish. Have fun!

Created for EDU 506 @ FHU School of Education by Tiffany Gaines on June 27, 2001.