Introduction

Sarah, Plain and Tall is the story of widower, Jacob Whitting, his children, Anna and Calab, and their quest to fill the emptiness left by their wife and mother following her death. Jacob (Papa) put an ad in the paper asking for a wife. He received an answer from Sarah Elisabeth Wheaton, from Maine. After several letters of correspondence, Sarah decides to leave her home and visit the Whittings for a month. Were the Whittings a suitable family for her? Anna and Caleb wonder what Sarah will be like. Will she be nice? Will she like them? Will she stay? Sarah loves many things and describes herself as plain and tall.

Sarah Plain and Tall is a novel that fits into the fourth grade curriculum of Malcolm Price Laboratory School. This novel not only is a good story but is also thematic. It includes themes from science, geography and social studies. The story also allows the reader to investigate the cultural differences of Maine and the Midwestern part of the United States. This web quest is designed to have the reader investigate more fully the themes imbedded within the story.

  Learners

This web quest project is intended for the fourth grade language arts/reading. It does include some aspects of science and social studies. This project can easily be extended to other grade levels with additional requirement or investigations that look more closely at the imbedded themes of the novel.

The students that participate in this web quest will need to be fourth grade level readers. They will need to have experience with the Internet and will need to be independent learners. Completing the activities in pairs is an option, especially for younger students or students who would benefit from a classmates positive influence.

  Curriculum Standards

The standards and benchmarks used for this web quest can be found in totality at http://www.mcrel.org they are linked specifically below:

  Language Arts / Reading Standards Addressed

• Standard 2: Uses stylistic and rhetorical aspects of writing
• Standard 3: Uses grammatical and mechanical and conventions in written compositions
• Standard 5: Uses general skills and strategies of the reading process

• Standard 2: Knows the location of places, geographic features, and patterns of the environment
• Standard 5: Understands the concept of regions
• Standard 6: Understand that culture and experience influence people's perceptions of places and regions.

The Process

The process to complete this webquest is as follows:

First, you must read chapter 1 of Sarah, Plain and Tall and choose a character you would like to become. Remember it could be Jacob (Papa), Sarah, Anna or Caleb.

In this section I like to read the first chapter to the students having them follow along in the book. We stop and discuss various aspects of the story. Set the stage for the time and setting of the story. Putting an advertisement in the paper for a wife is a foreign concept to them.

1. Read the Sarah Plain and Tall webquest to become familiar with the Chapter group assignments. Each chapter group is indexed at the beginning of each page.
2. While reading each chapter group you will need to:

• Add words to your vocabulary list section. Each chapter page in this web quest will have vocabulary words for you to include in your vocabulary list. First read the vocabulary list from the webquest page. Next, read the chapter to look for the word. Then think of what you believe is the meaning of the word and click on the link to the on-line source, check the definition. You will enter the word once you get to the on-line source.

1. Following the reading of each chapter you will need to:

• Write a reaction paragraph of each chapter group. In this section you need to think about how the character you are assuming would be feeling about these events. Sometimes the book will tell you and sometimes you will have to infer the character's feelings.
• Write a summary of each chapter group. You will need to write a summary for each chapter group. The summary needs to be five sentences long and written in cursive. At the time of this story students in school would have learned to write in cursive at an early age. Since we are going to create these journals in an authentic manner, cursive is a must.
• Write prediction of the coming chapter. Following the reading of each chapter group you will write a one sentence prediction of what you think will happen next.

(Click on the blue words to see their definitions. Include the words and definitions in your vocabulary list.)
 
 

The Process from the WebQuest

The process to complete this webquest is as follows:

First, you must read chapter 1 of Sarah, Plain and Tall and choose a character you would like to become. Remember it could be Jacob (Papa), Sarah, Anna or Caleb.

1. Read the Sarah Plain and Tall webquest to become familiar with the Chapter group assignments. Each chapter group is indexed at the beginning of each page.
2. While reading each chapter group you will need to:

• Add words to your vocabulary list section. Each chapter page in this web quest will have vocabulary words for you to include in your vocabulary list. First read the vocabulary list from the webquest page. Next, read the chapter to look for the word. Then think of what you believe is the meaning of the word and click on the link to the on-line source, check the definition. You will enter the word once you get to the on-line source.

1. Following the reading of each chapter you will need to:

• Write a reaction paragraph of each chapter group. In this section you need to think about how the character you are assuming would be feeling about these events. Sometimes the book will tell you and sometimes you will have to infer the character's feelings.
• Write a summary of each chapter group. You will need to write a summary for each chapter group. The summary needs to be five sentences long and written in cursive. At the time of this story students in school would have learned to write in cursive at an early age. Since we are going to create these journals in an authentic manner, cursive is a must.
• Write prediction of the coming chapter. Following the reading of each chapter group you will write a one sentence prediction of what you think will happen next.
• Optional Activity: Compare the Sarah, Plain and Tall movie from Hallmark with the book. Download the comparison sheet from here. Sarah, Plain and Tall movie and book comparison sheet

This webquest is designed to be used with one class at a time. A creative teacher could devise a way to utilize more than one class with the webquest at a time. I choose to organize my students so that one day they would read three chapters, some homework was necessary, and the next day they would complete the activities and their journal assignments. Six days is necessary to complete this schedule. However, a longer period of time might be necessary in some cases. I would not recommend that there be long periods of time between computer access days.

There are many connections to other subject areas. Connections might be made to prairies or regions of the United States.

  Resources Needed

You will need the following materials to complete this webquest.

• Access to computers and internet access
• Sarah, Plain and Tall novel for each student
• Pencils, pens, paper and any other materials you might want students to use for the journal

Dictionary.com

• http://www.dictionary.com/

• http://www.prairies.org/page4.html

• http://www.docksquare.org/WPP/

• http://www.emily.net/~schiller/wildflwr.html

• http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Gorge/2583/

• http://www.mmsc.org/info/seal-harbor.html

• http://mail.coos.or.us/~bishop/

• http://www.fredparker.com/bt07507.htm

• http://ask.com/main/metaanswer.asp?metaEngine=directhit&origin=0&MetaURL=http%3A%2F%2Fask%2Edirecthit%2Ecom%2Ffcgi%2Dbin%2FRedirURL%2Efcg%3Furl%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fozthunder%2Ecom%2Fchase%2Fchase15%2Ehtm%26qry%3Drain%2Bsqualls%26rnk%3D2%26cz%3D3dfe23d87858ec59%26src%3DDH%5FAsk%5FSRCH&qCategory=ref_&metaTopic=Severe+squall+lines+and+heavy+rain+%2D+9th+December+1999&ItemOrdinal=1&logQID=7F6A51A1DECF724DA173C8D182E2F4EB&sv=402&back=http%3A%2F%2Fask%2Ecom%2Fmain%2Faskjeeves%2Easp%3Fask%3Drain%2Bsqualls%26origin%3D0%26site%5Fname%3DJeeves%26metasearch%3Dyes%26ads%3D

  Evaluation

	A couple horses short of a team 1	Going through the motions 2	Seeker     3	Pioneer     4	Score
Vocabulary list both assigned words and choosen words from the story.	Includes only assigned words from the webquest	Includes assigned words and meanings and five choosen words and meanings or less in vocabulary list	Includes assigned words and meanings and a vocabulary word and meaning from each chapter.	Includes assigned words and meanings and more than one vocabulary word and meaning from each chapter.
Creates thoughtful predictions for each chapter.	No prediction	Prediction makes no sense with the context of the story	Predictions make sense for the story	Predictions make sense and are accurate for the story.
Creates complete chapter summaries	Chapter summaries are not written in cursive and doesn't include all parts of the chapter.	Chapter summaries are written in cursive but focuses only on one part of the story.	Chapter summaries are written in cursive but leave out major portions of the chapter	Chapter summaries are written in cursive and include all parts of the chapter.
Journal entries are written in the voice of the character (first person form) choosen from the story.	Less than one journal entry for each chapter. Not written in first person form as spoken by the character. Not in cursive.	One journal entry for each chapter. Not written in first person form as spoken by the character. Not in cursive. Little indication of characters thoughts and feelings.	One journal entry for each chapter. Written in first person form and in cursive as spoken by the character. Some indication of characters thoughts and feelings.	One or more journal entries for each chapter. Written in first person form and in cursive as spoken by the character. Entry displays an image of what the character would be thinking and felling.
The journal is a unique/individual creation which includes all parts.	The journal has incomplete sections and has been put together in an unorganized way.	The journal has complete sections but is put together in an unorganized way.	The journal has complete sections and has been put together in an organized way.	The journal has complete sections and has been put together in an organized way. It is very neat in appearance.

  The Conclusion

Sarah, Plain and Tall allows each student the opportunity to think like one of the characters in this wonderful novel. This book also gives students the opportunity to compare how they live in the 21st Century today and how the Whittings lived in the 19th Century. Also students can compare and contrast Maine with the Plains of the United States.

Credits and References

The format for this WebQuest was patterned after Bernie Dodge's "The WebQuest Page"