Web Quest

Chapter 2

THE TOWNS AND VILLAGES OF ONTARIO

The Web Activity for Chapter 2 asks the children to use their knowledge of number and place value to organize population information. Students have been asked to find out the population and location of 10 villages and 10 towns in your county. They are responsible for putting 10 of these on a map of your county along with their populations. While completing this activity, your child will learn more about the county in which he or she lives and the populations of the small towns and villages in the area.

This activity uses the data available the Statistics Canada Population Counts for Canada, Provinces and Territories website. Once your child has explored the site, a map of the county will be needed on which to place the names and the populations of the towns your child has discovered. This map can be found at the Statistics Canada Reference Maps website and can be printed. Downloading time is rather slow. You might also have your child use an atlas to find the towns and villages and discuss where they are located in relation to where you live.

While your child is exploring the web pages, ask:

"Read the populations of some of the towns to me."
"What is the smallest population? Which town has the largest population?"
"How do you know which column to place each village or town in the Populations of Ontario Towns & Villages chart?"
"How would you write that population in words?"

Your child may need some assistance in choosing the correct county in which they live. Your child may also wish to discover the population of towns and villages where friends or relatives live or places they have visited.

Your child should be familiar with the following vocabulary to describe the patterns:

population, ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, place value, rounding.