Big Question Overview and Resources

Overview

Imagine you are on a road trip with your family. Where are you going? A vacation spot? A relative's house? What does your family do on the way there? Sing songs? Watch a DVD? What part of the trip is more fun? Is it the time you spend with your family in the car or the time you spend with them when you reach your destination?

When you read, you can learn about other people's journeys. Sometimes a journey is actually going somewhere. Other times, a journey is the series of events that lead to reaching a goal. People usually learn things while they are on journeys. Folktales are stories about journeys and life lessons.

Web Resources

Amazon Adventure
www.pbs.org/journeyintoamazonia
Travel to the Amazon without leaving your home! The Amazon is the world's largest tropical rainforest. Click on “Enter Amazonia” for a quick overview of the region. Follow the other links to learn about the plants, animals, and underwater creatures that live in the region.

Journey to Planet Earth
http://www.pbs.org/journeytoplanetearth/
Learn about people's relationship with the earth. On this website you can travel to countries around the globe and learn about the human impact on the earth's natural resources.

Living with the Sioux
http://www.nmnh.si.edu/naa/fletcher/fletcher.htm
This site tells about Alice Fletcher's experience living with Sioux Women on a Native American reservation in South Dakota in 1881. Click on the “Folktales” link to read the Sioux folktales that Fletcher recorded while living on the reservation.

Journey with CARE
http://www.careusa.org/vft/kosovo
CARE is a volunteer organization that helps people whose lives have been affected by war and poverty. This website tells about the journey of one CARE relief worker in Kosovo after a devastating war.

Folktales
http://www.americanfolklore.net
This website has many retellings of folktales, myths, legends, and other stories from American culture.