So, You Want to be a Wizard?

A WebQuest for 5^th through 8^th grade after reading

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

Introduction

You are going to be a first year student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You will develop a character and write a chapter about your first week at Hogwarts with a partner. Be creative and have fun!

The Task

Your task will be to develop a character that will fit into the chapter you will write with a partner about your first week at Hogwarts.

The Process

1. First you need to develop your character. Your character needs to be unique and interesting.

The following is a list of things that you will want to develop about your character:

-Name

-Male/female

-Age

-Family background (parents, siblings, etc)

-Where you are from and whom do you live with?

-Are you a Muggle, half-blood, or Wizard, etc.?

-Personality type

-Your appearance

-Favorite foods

-What house at Hogwarts were you sorted into?

-What kind of wand, broomstick, pet, etc. do you have?

*You may also include other characteristics if you like!

Use this site as a checklist of things that you need to decide on about your character.

http://kidswriting.about.com/teens/kidswriting/library/weekly/aa022898.htm

2. You get to enroll at Hogwarts! Go to the following site and enroll with the character name you have developed. Here the sorting hat will sort you so you will know the house you belong to.

http://harrypotter.warnerbros.com/web/hogwarts/index.jsp?hpCookieStatus=2&HatSel=off

3. Now you will pick a partner. Your partner and you will write a chapter about your first week at Hogwarts. You both will write this chapter using the characters that you each developed. The chapter needs top be between 6 and 8 pages. Type your chapter in Microsoft Word, using a 12-point font in Times New Roman and double space. You can use this graphic organizer as a guide to help you develop your story.

Resources

What’s in a Name? http://www.mikids.com/harrypotter/Name.htm

Hogwarts Houses

http://www.mikids.com/harrypotter/Gryffindor.htm
http://www.mikids.com/harrypotter/Hufflepuff.htm
http://www.mikids.com/harrypotter/Ravenclaw.htm
http://www.mikids.com/harrypotter/Slytherin.htm

Settings

http://www.mikids.com/harrypotter/settings.html

The Muggle World

http://www.i2k.com/~svderark/lexicon/muggle.html

The Wizard World

Interior spaces at Hogwarts http://www.i2k.com/~svderark/lexicon/hogwarts_inside.html

Hogwarts: Floor by floor http://www.i2k.com/~svderark/lexicon/hogwarts_floors.html

The Grounds

http://www.i2k.com/~svderark/lexicon/hogwarts_outside.html

Classes offered at Hogwarts

http://www.i2k.com/~svderark/lexicon/classes.html

Textbooks

http://www.i2k.com/~svderark/lexicon/textbooks.html

Routines, Schedules, and Detentions

http://www.i2k.com/~svderark/lexicon/hogwarts_schedules.html

Magical Items

http://www.i2k.com/~svderark/lexicon/w_items.html

Creatures

http://www.i2k.com/~svderark/lexicon/beastiary.html

Food & drink

http://www.i2k.com/~svderark/lexicon/w_food.html

Learning Advice

The resources are there to help you with your quest. You do not have to visit every site if you do not want to. Just visit the ones that you feel might help you to develop your story. You can come back to the sites at another time if you would like to visit them just for fun.

Conclusion

After your chapter has been written and turned in, you and your partner will put a hard copy of your chapter into a binder. The binder will be put on a special bookshelf in the classroom so that other students can read what you wrote. You can add a picture that goes along with your chapter, to the beginning of the story or print something off of one of the sites that you visited.

Assessment

You will be graded with the following criteria:

Individual Grade

1. Did you come up with a creative and unique character? 10 points

2. Did you fully develop your character? 20 points

Group Grade

1. Did you and your partner incorporate your characters into your chapter? 20 points

2. Was the paper typed in Times New Roman with a 12 point font and did you double space? 5 points

3. Was your chapter neatly organized and easy to follow? 20 points

4. Was your chapter creative and interesting? 25 points

5. Did you use correct grammar and punctuation? 20 points

Partner Evaluation

1. Did your partner share equally in the work for this project? 30 points (This grade will be considered in light of what I see during class work time)

Total Points= 150

Additional Sites

Build a Medieval Castle http://www.yourchildlearns.com/castle.htm

Jigsaw Puzzles http://www.mikids.com/harrypotter/jigsaw.htm

Ghosts in the Castle http://www.nationalgeographic.com/features/97/castles/enter.html

Broomsticks - a fun interactive Quidditch game

But wait! Learn the rules of Quidditch before you start playing!

Rules: http://www.charliesharrypotter.homestead.com/files/harry.html

Game: http://brighton.ncsa.uiuc.edu/~prajlich/broomsticks/

-Click on the start button for the demo version.

Instructions on how to make your favorite Harry Potter T-shirt!

http://dumbledore.homestead.com/teeshirts.html

How to make your own Harry Potter Monopoly game

http://dumbledore.homestead.com/Monopoly.html

Find the Golden Snitch http://www.geocities.com/EnchantedForest/Mountain/5101/snitch.html

Make a Harry Potter Fortune Teller

http://www.geocities.com/EnchantedForest/Mountain/5101/misc/hp_fortune_teller.pdf

Who Said It? http://kidsbooks.about.com/kids/kidsbooks/library/blwhosaidit.htm

Hooked on Harry? Read these books while you’re waiting for the next Harry Potter book to come out! http://www.monroe.lib.in.us/childrens/potterbib.html

Credits and References

We would like to thank the following site for clipart:

http://www.cliphoto.com/potter/potterpage.htm

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