1. Task After reading Boss of the Plains The Hat That Won The West, you will: 1.Design a hat for the 21 st century on notebook paper using a pencil, colored pencils or crayons. 2. Write a friendly letter to Hats of the 21 st Century using Microsoft Word and persuade them to market your new hat. You will tell the company why John B. Stetson’s hat was so useful to a cowboy in the American West and include your group’s reasons for why your new hat will be useful for present-day life.

2. The Process Step 1: You will be divided into a group of 3 people. Once in your group decide on a name for your company. (Remember your company is going to make hats) Your group will work together to complete each of the 3 tasks: Hat Designer, Letter Writer and Facilitator. Hat Designer – Draws the hat on paper and fills out the List of Purposes Worksheet for the hat that the group has designed. Letter Writer- Writes a rough draft of a business letter and then types the final copy in Microsoft Word. Facilitator- Uses the Internet to navigate links and researches and keeps group members organized and on task.

3. The Process continued Step 2: Within your group you will study the life of an American Cowboy and the environment which inspired John B. Stetson’s design of the Boss of the Plains. Complete the List of Purposes Worksheet for the Boss of the Plains’ Hat and state reasons why it was useful for life in the American West. Use the following links: Purposes Worksheet http://www.stetsonhat.com/history.php http://www.archives.gov/research/american- west/images/103.jpg http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0210182/ http://lib-operations.sonoma.edu/fin/aaa- 0709.html http://pbskids.org/stantonanthony/frontier_girl.html

4. Uses for Boss of the Plains Hat Uses for your new hat Names of Group Members___________________________ LIST OF PURPOSES WORKSHEET BOSS OF THE PLAINS WEBQUEST List of Purposes Worksheet

5. The Process continued Step 4: Your group is now ready to design a hat for the 21 st century. Complete the List of Purposes Worksheet for your new hat and state the reasons why it will be useful for present day life. (Make sure you look at your scoring guide before you start this step.) Step 5: Your group has designed a 21 st century hat and is now ready to market the hat. Write a friendly letter to the Hats of the 21 st Century Co. persuading them to choose your hat to market. In the letter tell the company why John B. Stetson’s hat was so useful to a cowboy in the American West. Then include your group’s reasons for why your hat is useful for present day life.

6. The Letter 1.Use your List of Purposes Worksheet to help you with your Sloppy Copy. 2.Revise and Edit your Sloppy Copy 3.Type your final copy in the letter generator, use the link below: 4.http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/letter_generator/http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/letter_generator/

7. Presentation Present your group’s design to the class. (Look at the evaluation page under presentation.) The group will read aloud their letter, show their hat design, and discuss why their hat is useful in the 21 st century.

8. Category1234Score Hat Design Design is original, but lacks neat appearance; does not match the description on the Purposes Worksheet The hat design is original, but lacks neat appearance. The description somewhat matches the Purpose Worksheet Design is original, has a neat appearance, somewhat matches the description in the Purposes Worksheet The hat design is original, has a neat appearance and matches the description in the Purposes Worksheet Conventions Witter makes more than 4 errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation or capitalization Writer makes 3-4 errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation or capitalization Writer makes 1-2 errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, or capitalization Writer makes very few mistakes in grammar, spelling punctuation or capitalization Friendly Letter Letter doesn’t state any purposes or match time period Letter states 1 purpose for Boss of the Plains hat and 1 for new hat Letter states 2 purposes for Boss of Plains hat and 2 for new hat. Letter states 3 purposes for Boss of Plains hat and 3 for new hat. Format 1-2 parts of letter were present 3 parts of letter were present 4 parts of letter were present All 5 parts of letter were present Presentation Students not prepared. Does not speak clearly or make good eye contact Students somewhat prepared and sometimes speak clearly and make good eye contact Students prepared. Not all in group participate. Speak clearly and have good eye contact Students prepared. All participate. Speak clearly and have good eye contact Scoring Guide Boss of the Plains