Lesson Title
Grade Level
Lesson Topic
SC Standards
and Indicators
Historical Fiction
Writing Project
Fourth
Teacher
Anna B Hilton
Duration of Lesson
Three weeks during
Social Studies and ELA
blocks
The contributions of abolitionists through writing historical fiction
4-6.2 Explain the contributions of abolitionists to the mounting tensions
between the North and South over slavery, including William Lloyd Garrison,
Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Harriet Beecher Stowe,
and John Brown.
CCSS for ELA & Literacy in History/Social Studies Grade 4
Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in
groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 4 topics and texts,
building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or
speak about the subject knowledgeably.
Explain events, procedures, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or
technical text, including what happened and why, based on specific
information in the text.
Develop the topic with facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or
other information and examples related to the topic.
Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using
effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.
Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and
nuances in word meanings.
Academic
Vocabulary
Historical fiction, anxious, auction, deliberate, salve quarters, foreman,
surrender, women's suffrage, statesman, plantation, overseer, navigation,
immigrant, abolitionist, orator, anti-slavery, Big Dipper, Civil War, conductor,
Drinking Gourd, emancipation, humanitarian, fugitive slave, master, mission,
North Star, patrollers, Quakers, quilt, code, runaway, safe house, slave
catcher, spirituals, stations, Underground Railroad, insurrection, advocate,
abolish, secession, raid
Lesson
Materials
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Anna Hilton AHG Historical Fiction Writing Project SMART Lesson
Book sets of 10 depending on class size of: Enemies of Slavery by
David A. Adler
Book sets of 6 to 10 depending on class size of: Only Passing Through:
the story of Sojourner Truth by Anne Rockwell, The Patchwork Path by
Bettye Stroud, Under the Quilt of Night by Deborah Hopkinson
Project folder including handouts to accompanying online activities,
historical writing project directions and rubric, template for quilt
square (copy paper with a square the size of the quilt square being
copied), and 6 window planning sheet (student made)
polyester cloth, fabric crayons, art supplies
SMART board/access to computer lab
Lesson Set
Content Objective(s)
Literacy Objective(s)
Explain the contributions of abolitionists to the mounting tensions
between the North and South over slavery, including William Lloyd
Garrison, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Harriet
Beecher Stowe, and John Brown.
Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one,
in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 4 topics and
texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to
write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.
Explain events, procedures, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific,
or technical text, including what happened and why, based on specific
information in the text.
Develop the topic with facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations,
or other information and examples related to the topic.
Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events
using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event
sequences.
Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships,
and nuances in word meanings.
Lesson Importance
Writing historical fiction from a study of social studies Civil War
literature and primary resources empowers students with content
knowledge, perspective, and examples of writing techniques. Reading,
comparing writing styles, discussions of issues and beliefs of the time
period is an effective way to integrate the curriculum and enrich
students’ writing and learning.
Connections to prior
and future learning
Prior Activities: CCSD 4th Grade Social Studies Resource Binder 4th
nineweeks
Future Learning: CCSD 4th Grade Social Studies Resource Binder 4th
nineweeks Curriculum that explains how United States was forced to
settle sectional differences through a civil war and the social, economic
and political effects of the war.
Anticipatory Set/
Hook (Engage)
The anticipatory set is page 1 – 6 of the SMART lesson. Page 3 and 4
include small group discussions of prior knowledge, applied knowledge,
and opinions about learning history.
Page 6 explores the writing style and emotional immersion of a seventh
grade students’ slavery project online.
1. Teacher will say – “Are you a listener and a learner?” Teacher
will remind students off good team strategies for sharing
information. After students have had time to share, the class will
discuss their answers:
a. Students should report about industrialized North and
agrarian South.
b. Students should report about how the different soil and
climate of each region resulted the North going from ship
building and fur trade to producing manufactured goods
as a basis of their economy; and the South focusing on
exporting cash crops which required the free labor of
slaves after Native Americans and indentured servants
were no longer an available or sufficient work force for
the plantation economy.
c. Lead students to apply previous learning, “Sectionalism
developed a two-party political system in America with
the Northern States believing in a more central
government while the South began supporting state’s
rights and slavery as an essential part of the South’s
economy. Northerners began to question the morality of
slavery.”
d. Students have dictionaries available to look up
“abolitionist” for team discussion. Teacher will say- The
class will begin a historical writing project based on
literature and research about the abolitionists.
e. Teacher will say – “How do historians learn about the
past?” Students should report their ideas including using
primary documents as a key strategy for learning about
history (previous learning).
2. Teacher will say, “Slavery is a system under which people are
treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work.
Historically, slavery was recognized by many societies; in more
recent times slavery has been outlawed in most societies but
continues in some cultures. The Transatlantic slave trade
(Triangular trade route – Middle Passage) peaked in the late 18th
century, when the largest number of slaves was captured on
raiding expeditions into the interior of West Africa. These
expeditions were typically carried out by other African tribes.
Europeans rarely entered the interior of Africa because of
warring Africans. The slaves were brought to west coastal
outposts in Africa (see map page 5) where they were traded for
goods. About 645,000 slaves were brought to what is now the
United States. Many were brought first to Sullivan’s Island, SC.
The usual estimate is that about 15 per cent of slaves died during
the voyage, with mortality rates considerably higher in Africa
itself in the process of capturing and transporting indigenous
peoples to the ships. (Wikipedia)
3. Teacher will say, “We are beginning our historical writing
project this week. We are going to take a look at the horror of
slavery by exploring online resources, analyzing primary
sources, and reading fiction and nonfiction literature. We can
compare the writing styles and voices of these resources. We
will also review several writing techniques we will use in our
historical fiction writing project, “Escape from Slavery.” It is
tragic and hard to imagine that slavery still exists in our world
today. Let’s look at a Morgan and Annie’s Slavery Project
online. This is the work of seventh graders. ( page 6)”
Skill Development
Initial “explain” portion of the lesson. Introduce vocabulary, explain/demonstrate/model the
skill required for the literacy objective, introduce content components.
The content portion is only a brief introduction; the bulk of the student learning will take
place during the guided practice activity.
Introduce content
components
Teaching Strategies: This introduction can be whole class using the
class SMART board or students can be introduced to content in a
computer lab exploring this portion of the SMART lesson
independently with follow up discussions in class.
Page 6, 7, and 8 of SMART lesson. The teacher will say- “For this
“I do”
project you will read and analyze literature about slavery and
Skill from literacy
abolitionists. You will be learning and reviewing techniques you will
objective
introduce/explain/model use in your historical fiction writing project. Let’s analyze the
Slavery Project by Morgan and Annie.” The teacher and students
work together to complete the Poetry Analysis together while
reviewing writing techniques and primary images used by the
authors.
Page 9 explains other genre of primary sources including music and
photographs of the Civil War era. The teacher and students explore
these sites together.
Page 10 contains videos from United Streaming Discovery Learning
to review the events that led to the war including a segment about
abolitionists. This can be used for review and an introduction to the
abolitionists presented in this project.
Page 11 models a table similar to the one that the students will use as
a planning sheet for their writing project. The teacher leads the
discussion by asking students to make predictions about the lives and
the beliefs of the plantation owners, their family, and their slaves.
Page 12 is an introduction to the abolitionists in the project. The
information is read aloud to the class by the students or by the
teacher. The information is from Wikipedia. The photographs are
primary sources and the sources are cited.
Page 13 is a video on Teacher Tube that talks about abolitions and
how songs sung by the slaves played a key part in their escape. A
discussion in class can recall the video was about how these songs
were used as a code for the slaves and how today these primary
sources tell us about the history of the Underground Railroad.
Guided Practice
This is the inquiry portion of the lesson, student-centered & often cooperative learning
strategies used, teacher acting as facilitator, also known as Explore.
“We do”
Activity Description
Include student
“explore”
components and
opportunities for
them to explain their
learning.
Page 14 - A review of writing skills is presented as a ZIG SAW
cooperative learning activity in a computer lab. Student teams are
assigned with a writing skill to review online
(http://www.time4writing.com/free-writing-resources/ ) under Free
Writing Resources by Category. The teacher will preview the online
Time4Writing presentations for: Starting with an Attention Grabber,
Ending with a Cliffhanger, Using Figurative Language, and Painting a
Word Picture. The teacher will assign groups of three to view each
presentation. The teacher will give each team one copy of the
evaluation (attached) and go over it with the class (page 15) before
taking the class to the computer lab. If you do not have access to a
computer lab you may have a team work at the class SMART board
while students are in the reading teams during the next activity. The
teacher will say - “Each team will view and evaluate a presentation in
the computer lab, print and complete an exercise, and play a game in
the computer lab. Take turns reading the sections of the presentation to
each other. You will work together to complete the exercise so choose
the elementary level and only print one copy. You will also complete
the evaluation together as a team. Your team will display their
completed worksheet and evaluation on the class document camera to
present the writing skill assigned to the class.”
If you do not have access to a computer lab you may have a team work
at the class SMART board while students are in the reading teams
during the next activity.
Checking for
Understanding“Informal”
Assessment
The teacher will oversee the ZIG ZAG writing by category activity. The
exercises provided by Time4Writing will be assessed by the teacher and
discussed with the teams during the activity.
Closure
Teacher will re-visit content and answer students’ questions developed during the Guided
Practice component. Summarize the lesson, clarify content, and revisit content and literacy
objectives.
Content Solidified
Page 16: The teacher will pass out a historical fiction writing project
folder to each student to keep at their desks during the project. The
Teacher will display page 16 on the SMART board and say- “These are
the books we will use to research our topic and compare writing
techniques. Let’s look an online review of each book.” Choose
individual students to read each review.
Page 17: The teacher will use the links to describe the craft activity to
the class. The students will each choose a quilt design to copy with a
pencil and color with fabric crayons. Remind students to put their names
on the quilt template. Each design is related to a code. (The completed
cloth square can be glued to the project folder or room parents can stich
the quilt squares together for a class freedom quilt.) Teacher will say,
“Be sure to write the title of the square and explain the code for the
square you selected on the quilt template. Raise your hand when you
have finished copying your design for the teacher to check and give you
a pack of fabric crayons. You may color the design in any colors you
choose or replicate the original quilt square colors. Be sure to color very
heavily because the paper will be transferred to cloth. You cannot
include any words in crayon because they would transfer backwards.”
Students have copies of the design they chose available as handout and
they can take turn enlarging the squares on the SMART board. The
students will work on this activity individually at their desks when
waiting on books for the other activities.
Page 18: The teacher will say- “Let’s take some time to go over each
book activity you will do independently in the next weeks. There is an
activity for each book on the SMART board and the handouts are in
your project folder. We will begin with Enemies of Slavery.” Begin
with Enemies of Slavery to explain the activity to the class. Click on the
photograph of Sojourner Truth for the lesson activity to do while
reading Enemies of Slavery. Ask the students to take out the outline for
the activity and click on image of book to display the outline to class.
Go over the activity with the class and the handout that accompanies the
activity (attached and also available as an attachment on SMART
lesson). Teacher will say- “We will only read about the abolitionists
listed on the handout. The books will be available in our class library to
students who want to read about other abolitionists. Each student will
complete the handout to share with their team members. Read about
each abolitionist with your reading partners. Complete the outline for
each abolitionist during reading about the abolitionist. Talk together
about what the abolitionist’s quote and what it meant together. Each
team member will complete an individual copy of the outline to be
assessed by the teacher.”
The teacher clicks on each book on page 18 and explains the activities
that are described on the SMART board as the students look at the
handouts in the project folder. Students should complete the activity for
Enemies of slavery before moving onto Only Passing Through. Students
will read the book together with their reading partners. Include only the
worksheets that accompany the online lesson plan that you want the
students to do. You may choose to only do a few of the activities
because of time. Explain the worksheets to the class. The students who
complete the activities can work on the quilt activity independently at
their desks.
Page 18: The teacher will read The Patchwork Path and Under the Quilt
of Night to the class. After reading each book the teacher will discuss the
writing style and techniques with the class. The class will go back to
page 18 on the SMART board and the teacher will click the image of the
book, The Patchwork Path, for a class activity comparing both books.
The teacher will then click on image of the book, Under the Quilt of
Night, and direct students how to complete their planning sheets for the
writing project. The teacher clicks on the project sheet attachment so
that it is displayed on the SMART board as the class goes over the copy
in their project folder.
The teacher will say- “First we will fold the construction paper to make
a six square planning sheet. On one side of your six-box planning sheet,
write a question at the top of each box. Copy the questions onto one side
of your planning sheet.
• Why did you decide to go?
• When did you devise the plan?
• Who
of the day and year did you leave?
• Where did you travel? What states, locations and areas did you
go through? Use your atlas.
• How long did it take?
When you finish copying the questions turn the planning sheet over to
outline the elements of your story. Continue planning by mapping out
the fictional elements below on the back of your six-box planning
sheet. Write a fictional story element at the top of each box. Think
about the story you are writing. Include the following elements:
• Characters
• Setting
• Problem
• Sequence of events of your travels
• Climax-most important part of your trip
• Solution-FREEDOM!
The teacher will go over the writing rubric with the class.
Independent Practice
“You Do”
The students will begin their individual historical fiction writing project
using their planning sheets, project descriptions, and project writing
rubric. The teacher will conduct writing conferences during each step of
the writing process. The students will also meet with their reading
partners to proofread and edit their own writing. The teacher will
approve the final draft that can then be recopied and published in the
project folder. This is a wonderful unit to do at the end of the year when
these standards are addressed so that the writing portion of the project
can be done after state standardized testing. The class can present their
writing to the parents at an end of the year presentation of the historical
fiction writing projects.
Checking for
Understanding“Informal”
Assessment
The activities accompanying the Enemies of Slavery and Only Passing
Through are informally assessed by the reading partners and the teacher
through discussion in teams and teacher conferences.
Summative/ “Formal” Assessment
Assessment
Differentiation
The teacher will assess the writing project using the writing rubric.
During Lesson
Assessment
Students reading below the lexile of a book are given individual help
by their reading partners and the teacher. The teacher meets with
individuals and teams to direct their learning and provide individual
help as needed.
The rubric is used as a guide by the teacher to assess each student at
their skill level.