Celebrating the Harvest

Introduction

This WebQuest will let you explore the celebrations of harvest here and around the world. You will also explore processes of harvesting, storing, and perserving foods. Since everyone must eat to live, harvesting is one of the most important tasks in the survival of humans. It is celebrated with song, dance, art, stories, eating, and thanksgiving. As you work with your classmates and families, you will see that harvesting is more than gathering the crops.

The Task

In this WebQuest you learn about harvests here in New Mexico and around the world. You will break up into three groups. One group will become experts in harvests around the world, another group will study traditional New Mexico harvests, and a third will investigate the various aspects of harvesting. After you gather your data, you will present your research in a colorful and exciting way that demonstrates the spirit and celebration of harvest. Here are the three groups:

• Harvests Around the World
• Traditional Harvests in New Mexico
• What is a Harvest?

Process

Using books and online resources, investigate the concepts and questions presented in each group. Discover as much as you can about harvesting and how it is celebrated. Talk to your older family members and their friends about the traditions followed by your family. Talk to members of other cultures and discuss their traditions. Read encyclopedias and other reference books to find the definitions assigned to the word harvest. Search online for different ways harvests are celebrated.

Books

• The very first thanksgiving: Pioneers on the Rio Grande by Bea Bragg
• Ameila's Road by Linda Jacobs Altman
• Radio Man/Don Radio: A story in English and Spanish by Arthur Dorros
• Calling the Doves/El canto de las palomas by Juan Felipe Herrera
• The Tortilla Factory by Gary Paulsen
• Voices from the fields: Children of migrant farm workers tell their stories by S. Beth Atkin
• La Causa: The migrant farmworker's story by Dana Catharine De Ruiz and Richard Larios

Learning Advice

Be sure to keep track of all of your findings. Open up a word processing document and copy the URLs that are of interest to your group and then save them on a disk. You can also bookmark the URLs, but if you want to access them from school or home, it would be better to have them on a disk. Also, save the graphics you want to use in your presentation in the same folder. For example:

Also, see the Presentation Methods and Ideas.

Conclusion

You now have a deeper understanding of what harvest is and what it involves. You can develop an appreciation for the hard work, time, and energy it takes to put food on your table and clothes on your body. You can use this knowledge to start a harvest tradition in your family, one that you can pass down to your grandchildren. You might also use this information to organize a hunger relief campaign for the children in your community who don't have enough to eat. Now you know that harvest means survival.

This WebQuest was created and designed by Carmen Gonzales, Karin Wiburg and Linda Pickett.