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Introduction Imagine that you are exploring in the woods behind our school, trying to find your own special place to hang out with your friends. You see the perfect place in the distance, but there is a slight problem, there is a stream between the perfect place and you. The stream is too wide to jump across, it is too deep to walk across, there are no trees to hang a rope from and you don't want to sit in wet clothes for the rest of the day in school so you can't swim across. What are you going to do? Of course, build a bridge! Webster's dictionary defines a bridge as "a structure build over a river, railroad, highway, etc. to provide a way across for vehicles or pedestrians." The bridge you will build over the stream will fit this definition. But did you know that there is a second definition? A bridge is also defined as " a thing that provides connection, contact or transition." Does this sound familiar? Guess what? We have already built this type of bridge as we read the novel, discussed it and did the many novel activities together! You didn't even know that you have already build one bridge, now we will build the other! (Before we get to the building though there is a bit of work to be done.) Task There are a few adventurous tasks involved in creating your bridges and you will work in pairs to complete these tasks. First you will have to do a little bit of research on some of the bridges that are being used in the world today. You will collect this information from the websites we have highlighted for you and record them on your record sheet. You will then use some of the information that you gathered to design your bridge on paper. You will decide what features your bridge will have to get you across the stream in the woods. Then comes the really fun part, you will work in your pairs to create a model of your bridge using play clay that you will make with Mrs. MacPhee. When your model is complete (with banks on both sides and water underneath) you will dry your bridge to a hard finish and paint it with tempera paints! Doesn't that sound like fun?! Process You will begin with your research on bridges using the sites provided in the resources section. You will record your findings on your research guide pages, given to you by the teacher. It is important to split up the inquires so that you have time to collect information in each area. Remember to share your information with your partner so you are both informed. It is important to note we are only going to be in the computer lab for one day so use your time wisely! The next day we will focus on designing our bridges on paper, using sketching. It is important you have a picture before you start to build so that it doesn't end up getting too big or impossible to finish. As you are working on your design we will also be taking you in groups to the kitchen to make our building clay, like all good builders we need to get all of our materials together before we start. On the next day you will use your sketch to build your actual model. We will need to work efficiently and remain in task so that we can finish the bridge section to allow it to dry over the weekend. We cannot do any of the painting before we have dry clay. A few days later we will paint our bridges with tempera paint and allow them to dry before we share them with our classmates. Resources To complete this project you will need a copy of the following pages. You can ask your teacher for a copy of these pages. Now here are the websites that you will use to complete your research guide. Reminder not each person will be responsible to all the questions, you are working together as a team to build this bridge. Build a Bridge - Types of Bridges Confederation Bridge - Frequently Asked Questions Confederation Bridge - Design and Construction Finally here is a copy of the rubric we will use to evaluate your final projects. Evaluation For taking part in this Web Quest you will be evaluated in a
number of different ways. Secondly, you will have to submit your bridge design once your bridge is complete. Finally your final bridge will be evaluated using a rubric that will include your whole mark for this Web Quest. Conclusion Hopefully you have learned a lot from this novel and the research you have completed. It has been an enjoyable experience for both of us completing this novel with you, thank you for making it so! We hope that you also had fun during this Quest and share what you have learned with your family and friends. And we have some beautiful bridges to display for people to enjoy over the next weeks.
If you have enjoyed Bridge to Terabithia then maybe you would be interested in checking out other books on the same topics or by the same author, Katherine Paterson, here is a list of books to help you with your want to read!!
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Eastern Kings Consolidated, November 2006
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