Knowledge Sam Westing turns out to be a man with many different identities. What five different names and identities does he use?

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1 Name: Date: Quiz - The Westing Game Each question corresponds to Bloom's Taxonomy and is designed to evaluate you're overall understanding of the book. The questions in this quiz are courtesy of Scholastic Books. Knowledge Sam Westing turns out to be a man with many different identities. What five different names and identities does he use? Comprehension Who did the burglar turn out to be, and why do you think he or she stole the jewelry and the clock? Application Did you feel sorry for any of the characters here? Why? How would you help that character if you could? Analysis What do the words of the song America the Beautiful have to do with the Westing mystery? Do the words to the song help the heirs as they try to solve the puzzle? Synthesis Why do you think Sam Westing set up this elaborate game, and do you think it turned out as he hoped? As you were reading, which of the heirs did you trust the most? Who did you find the most suspicious? Explain why you judged them as you did. Activities Make Wanted posters for the Westing heirs on the provided template. Illustrate your posters using physical descriptions from the novel, and include information on your poster about what makes each character suspicious.

2 Name: WANTED Physical Description (Make a drawing of your suspect) Reward(Determine an appropriate reward for your suspect) Description/Evidence(Provide details from the book that make your suspect.. suspicious)

3 Pete Raboin English 275 October 30 th, 2012 Literature Circle: Book Summary/Activity Summary/Educational Goals Book Summay: The Westing Game is a book by Ellen Raskin in the realistic fiction and mystery genre. The book involves many different characters intertwined in a web of clues pointing to the murderer of Sam Westing, a wealthy and eccentric man who owned the Westing Paper Company. Sam Westing is a legend in the town, as well as a mystery. No one knows where he has been for a long time. Rumors suggest he is on a private island somewhere, or that his dead body is in the house rotting on an oriental rug. But recently, smoke has been seen rising from the old mansion, known as the Westing House, and some of the people in town are suspicious. T.R. Wexler, also known as Turtle, is a 13 year old girl and one of the most important characters in the book. When smoke is seen rising from the mansion, she is dared to go in and investigate, which is where she sees what she thinks is the dead body of Samual Westing. While this is going on, another part of the story is being developed. Real estate agent Barney Northrup is attempting to rent out the Sunset Towers apartment building to a select group of people, all of whom are somehow related to Sam Westing. It is all part of an elaborate game, known as the Westing game, designed to find an heir to the vast Westing fortune. Those involved in the game are as follows. Flora Baumbach, the Theodorakis family consisting of George, Katherine, Theo, and Christos, the Wexler family consisting of Jake, Grace, Angela, and Turtle, Sydelle Pulaski, the Hoo family consisting of James, Sun, and Douglas, Berthe Erica Crow, Judge Josie-Jo Ford, Otis Amber, and Denton Deere. As mentioned earlier, all have a relationship to Sam Westing in some form or another, and all are selected to be tenants of the Sunset Towers apartment building, but they are unaware of these facts at this point. All the tenants are invited to the reading of Sam Westing's will. This is where the Westing game is introduced to the potential heirs, and it is revealed within the will that Sam Westing did not die of natural causes, but rather, was murdered, and nonetheless by one of the potential heirs. The heirs are divided into teams of two, given a set of clues and 10,000 dollars, and told that whichever team solves the mystery of who murdered Sam Westing would be the rightful heirs of the vast Westing estate woth 200 million dollars Through a complex web of events and happenings, including accusations, bombings, burglary, and death, the mystery is slowly resolved, mainly by Turtle. It is determined that Sam Westing has been alive all along, and has actually been disguised as some of the side characters in the book including Barney Northrup(the real-estate agent), Sandy McSouthers(the doorman), Julian Eastman(newly elected chairman of the Westing Paper Co.), and Sam Windkloppel(his original name

4 when he moved to Wisconsin as an immigrant). He has done this in order to, in disguise, influence the Westing game and observe it while maintaining his secret identity. The potential heirs all decide to pool their clues together. When they do, they spell out Berthe Erica Crow, one of the potential heirs and a secretary at the Westing Paper Company, as well as the ex-wife of Sam Westing. She gives herself up, but Turtle notices some inconsistancies and decides to call a trial. It turns out that there is a missing word from the will, and it claims that the heir who wins the windfall will be the one who finds the fourth. Turtle realizes that the fourth is referring to one of the four identities of Sam Westing, which are Sam WESTing, Barney NORTHrup, Sandy McSOUTHers, and one more, containg the word east. She quickly realizes it is Julian EASTman, the newly elected chairman of the Westing Paper Company. This makes Turtle the winner of the Westing game, and the rightful heir to the Westing estate. Ellen Raskin does a great job of building up anticipation in The Westing Game, without giving away the surprise ending that Sam Westing is actually alive and in disguise as four different characters in the novel. This is important to a great mystery story because if the ending is given away too early, some readers may become disinterested in the book. She also does a great job of writing a complex mystery that is not too complex for young readers. This is a fine line that Ellen Raskin must walk. If The Westing Game was too complex, than young readers will have a tough time following along. If The Westing Game was not complex enough, than young readers would not grow and be challenged enough as readers. In other words, it would not prepare them for more adult-level reading as much as it could, or should. Activity One: The Westing Game Quiz Based on Bloom's Taxonomy Activity one is a quiz I found through the Scholastic website that is designed to cover all of the different heirachacal levels of Bloom's Taxonomy. The questions are relatively hard, but they get at the core of the meaning of the book and allow students to reflect deeply on the reading. For sake of time, I picked what I thought was the best question from each level of Bloom's Taxonomy and disregarded the rest. Students will have half the time alloted for the Literature Circle assignment to do this quiz, then we will discuss our answers as a group. Activity Two: Wanted Poster for Potential Murder Suspect Activity two gives students an opportunity to make a wanted poster of one of the potential heirs in The Westing Game who was suspected of murdering Sam Westing. The students are given a template for the wanted poster and are to use their imagery from the book to make a drawing of the suspect they choose, come up with an appropriate reward, and give a physical description of the person as well as clues and evidence that suggest why this person may be the murderer. This activity uses Bloom's Taxonomy by having students create an artifact using their own knowledge. It also forces them to understand knowledge from the book and apply it to their creative artifact. Bibliography "TEACHERS." The Westing Game Extension Activity. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Oct <

5 - I modified the lesson by removing certain questions from the quiz and creating my own template for the wanted poster.