Famous Bay Staters         WebQuest 3rd Grade Massachusetts Biography Study Designed by Patty McLaughlin Maureen McKenna

Are you ready to travel with Paul Revere or Louisa May Alcott? Get ready to enter a time warp. As you learn about many important people from Massachusetts you will be transported into a different time.

The Task           

You will read about famous Massachusetts people. As you read about these people you will choose 5 to include in an individual timeline and a class timeline.

The Process        

1. With a partner, read the entire Process and Evaluation before you begin.
   
2. Take a look at the table below. Select one person from each category. Click on his/her name to go to a website that provides more information. 
3. Read the entire article on each person.
   
4. After you read about these famous people, write on an index card the significant events, and accomplishments in their lives, including the dates when they happened. Put one event on each card. Include on each card:  name of the person, date of birth and death, event, event date (if available) and your own illustration. Include at least two important events from each person's life. In addition to being creative be sure the writing is your best.

   Politicians/Activists John Adams 2nd U.S. president, Braintree John Quincy Adams 6th U.S. president, Braintree Samuel Adams patriot, Boston Susan B. Anthony woman suffragist, Adams George Bush 41st U.S. president, Milton Benjamin Franklin statesman, scientist, Boston John Hancock statesman, Braintree John F. Kennedy U.S. President, Brookline Paul Revere silversmith, Revolutionary War Patriot, Boston William Bradford  Governor of Plymouth Colony, Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony William Monroe Trotter African American civil rights leader, Boston Edward Brooke   first African American senator, Boston Lucy Stone woman suffragist, West Brookfield W.E.B. DuBois African American civil rights activist, Great Barrington

   Authors John Greenleaf Whittier poet, Haverhill Edgar Allan Poe author, Boston Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss) author, illustrator, Springfield Henry David Thoreau author, Concord James Russell Lowell poet, Cambridge Nathaniel Hawthorne author, Salem Oliver Wendell Holmes poet, Cambridge Louisa May Alcott author, Concord E. E. Cummings poet, Cambridge Emily Dickinson poet, Amherst Ralph Waldo Emerson philosopher, poet, Boston Phillis Wheatley African American poet, Boston

   Scientists/Inventors Luther Burbank  horticulturist, Lancaster Benjamin Franklin statesman, scientist, Boston Robert Hutchings Goddard rocketry, Worcester Elias Howe inventor, Spencer Eli Whitney inventor, Westboro Alexander Graham Bell inventor, Boston Samuel F. B. Morse painter, inventor, Charlestown R. Buckminster Fuller inventor, mathematician, philosopher, architect, engineer, Milton An Wang Asian immigrant, founder of Wang Laboratories, Boston Jan Matzeliger African American inventor, Lynn

   Artists John Singleton Copley painter, Boston Winslow Homer painter, Boston James McNeill Whistler painter, Lowell Norman Rockwell painter, Stockbridge Childe Hassam painter, Boston Leonard Bernstein composer, Lawrence Other Clara Barton American Red Cross founder, Oxford John Chapman Johnny Appleseed nurseryman, Leominister Cotton Mather clergyman, Boston Sharon Christa McAuliffe teacher, astronaut, Framingham Frederick Law Olmstead landscape architect, Brookline Massasoit Wampanoag Chief, Plymouth

5. After you have read about these five people, sort your cards in chronological order (earliest date to latest date).
6. You will now create a timeline using TimeLiner software.
7. You will present this information to the rest of the class as you add your card to the class timeline.
8. For the presentation you will make a conncection on the timeline with another event, accomplishment, person, date, occupation or some significant connection you make on your own. Be creative in how you make your connections.

Conclusion          

After successfully completing your tasks, you should have a sense of the rich history and important people connected to Massachusetts. In this activity you have been encouraged to make connections throughout the history of Massachusetts. How can you contribute and enrich the history of the Bay State?