Introduction
Introduction
Did you know an average of 145 babies are born every minute, and about 130 million per year? That means every day is someone's birthday. This also means that every historical event has happened on someone's birthday. Do you ever wonder what else happened on the day you were born?
Task
This webquest will help you explore the history behind your birthday and behind birthday traditions. You will research several fun facts about why we do certain things to celebrate birthdays and how these came to be. In lesson 1, you will complete a crossword puzzle to help you research these facts. Next, you will discover a variety of events that have previously happened on the day you were born. In lesson 2, you will visit a website to help you research your special day in history and answer a few questions based on this information. Finally, in lesson 3, you will find 15 of your own fun facts about birthdays.
Process
Lesson 1:
| ACROSS | |||
| 1 | The song___________ was written by Mildred Hill and Dr. Patty hill for the Kindergarten schools. Later on,the lyrics changed to “Happy Birthday” after it gained immense popularity | ||
| 3 | Average number of birthday cards sent every year | ||
| 5 | In the US, more people are born on this day than any other | ||
| 8 | In this country, everyone's supposed birthday is January first. | ||
| 10 | ________ died on his 56th birthday, April 23, 1616 | ||
| 11 | World's most famous diary was given to her as her 13th birthday present | ||
| 12 | __________'s birth certificate is believed to be the world's most expensive at $84,146 | ||
| 13 | In this country it is bad luck to give a watch or clock as a birthday gift | ||
| DOWN | |||
| 1 | When your age and date of birth are same, the day is special and is known as your_________ | ||
| 2 | Day of the week that the most babies are born on | ||
| 4 | The first balloons were made out of various animal ______ | ||
| 6 | World's least common birthday | ||
| 7 | The world's most expensive birthday cake is priced at $40,000 and contains real gold leaf, a sparkling ______, and strawberry caviar | ||
| 9 | This country was the first to celebrate a Birthday by eating round cake and blowing out candles |
Lesson 2:
1. Copy and paste into browser: http://www.historyorb.com/day/march/31
2. By default, the website will bring you to events that have previously happened on March 31.
3. There will be a gray calendar on the right hand side of the website. Use this calendar to select your birthday.
4. Skim the information of events that have happened on your birthday. And answer the questions below with a 2-4 sentence response.
- Which events surprised you the most? Were there any widely known events?
- Did anyone die on your birthday that you admire? Were there any deaths of famous people?
- Did an event have any significance in your life? Did anything happen that you wished you could have witnessed?
Lesson 3:
1. Find five interesting facts of major events that have happened in your birth year
2. Find five interesting fact of events that happened on your birthday, not including the year.
3. Find five interesting facts about the history of birthdays (like the facts in lesson 1)
Evaluation
Lesson 1 Evaluation:
- Complete and acurate crossword puzzle: 5pt
Total: 5pt
Lesson 2 Evaluation:
- Each of the three questions answered with two or more sentences is worth 2points
Total: 6pt
Lesson 3 Evaluation:
- Each set of five interesting facts is worth 3 points
Total: 9pt
Conclusion
CONGRATULATIONS!!! You have now completed the webquest. You know have knowledge of how birthday traditions came to be and what events happened on your birthday.
