Lesson Title
Grade Level
Lesson Topic
SC Standards and
Indicators
Common Core
Strategy(ies)
addressed
Academic
Vocabulary
Lesson Materials
Needed (attached at
end of lesson)
Why did we have a Civil
War?
4
Teacher
Lisa Stewart
Duration of Lesson
Approximately five 45
minute class periods
Events Leading to the American Revolution
4-6.3 Explain the specific events and issues that led to the Civil War,
including sectionalism, slavery in the territories, states’ rights, the
presidential election of 1860, and secession.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.3 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.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.5 Describe the overall structure (e.g., chronology,
comparison, cause/effect, problem/solution) of events, ideas, concepts, or
information in a text or part of a text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.9 Integrate information from two texts on the same
topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.6 With some guidance and support from adults, use
technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as
to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of
keyboarding skills to type a minimum of one page in a single sitting.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.8 Recall relevant information from experiences or
gather relevant information from print and digital sources; take notes and
categorize information, and provide a list of sources.
Missouri Compromise
fugitive slave laws
annexation
Compromise of 1850
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Sectionalism
states' rights
free-soil
plurality
secede
Confederacy
• Attachments 1-9.
• Internet access for students.
Content Narrative
(What is the background
information that needs to
be taught to understand
the context of the lesson?
Be sure to include
necessary citations)
Students should know how the events related to westward
expansion
led to the Civil War, including the Missouri
Compromise, the fugitive slave laws, the annexation of Texas, the
Compromise of 1850, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the Dred Scott
decision (4-5.5). Sectionalism meant that the interest of each section of
the country, the North or the South, was more important to the people
of that region than the interest of the country as a whole. Sectionalism
was the result of growing cultural and economic differences between
regions (4- 6.1) particularly their differences over the issues of slavery in
the western territories.
The Northern and Southern sections of the country also had different
philosophies about the power of the federal government. Farmers and
plantation owners, usually in the South, supported the idea of states'
rights, in which the authority rests with the states, and they believed
a government closer to the people was easier to influence. Southerners
adopted this as a way to protect slavery. They feared that the federal
government might take away the right to own slaves even though the
federal government only had the power to limit the spread of slavery
into the territories like the Northwest Ordinance and Missouri
Compromise and could not affect the states where it was already
established. The North recognized the authority of the national
government. This difference in views had its roots in the early national
period with the inception of the two-party system (Jeffersonian vs.
Hamiltonian 4-4.5) and the deep philosophical differences about the
structure and power of the federal system is one of the issues that led to
the Civil War.
The presidential election of 1860 brought sectional conflict to the
breaking point. The new Republican Party (1856) opposed the
expansion of slavery into the territories (a concept known as free-soil)
and nominated the little-known Abraham Lincoln as their candidate. The
southern states feared the election of Lincoln as a Republican, seen as an
abolitionist party, despite the fact that his 'free soil' position on slavery in
the territories was well known (that it should not expand into the
territories, but was legally established in areas where it already existed).
Lincoln's stated priority was upholding the federal Union. In an
atmosphere of heightened sectional distrust, however, an accurate
understanding of the candidates' positions and what could or couldn't be
legally achieved in office by one branch of the federal government was
greatly biased. None of the four candidates won a majority of the votes,
but Lincoln won a plurality and thus enough electoral votes to become
the next president. Claiming that they were protecting states' rights and
their way of life, with a few months of the election and prior to the
inauguration, seven of the southern states, led by South Carolina seceded
from the Union. An additional four states seceded after the firing on Fort
Sumter in April, 1861.
As a result of this secession, the newly-seceded states declared that they
were a new country named the Confederate States of American (CSA) or
the Confederacy. They quickly wrote a constitution that endorsed both
slavery and states' rights and elected Jefferson Davis as their president.
When the war began in at Fort Sumter in 1861, neither the Union nor the
Confederacy entered the war with any intention or desire to change the
status of African Americans.
Taken from: South Carolina Social Studies Standards, 4th Grade Support
Documents
Lesson Set
Content Objective(s)
Literacy Objective(s)
Lesson Importance
Connections to prior
and future learning
Anticipatory Set/
Hook (Engage)
Explain the specific events and issues that led to the Civil War,
including sectionalism, slavery in the territories, states' rights, the
presidential election of 1860, and secession using graphics and text.
Explain events, procedures, ideas, or concepts in a historical including what
happened and why, using graphics and text.
Identify and explain cause-and-effect relationships.
Previously, students were asked to explain the reasons for South Carolina's
secession from the Union, including the concept of states' rights (3-4.3). In
grade eight and high school, students
will analyze key issues that led to South Carolina's secession from the Union,
including the extension of slavery and the compromises over westward
expansion, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the Dred Scott decision, and the election
of 1860 (8-4.3). They will also evaluate arguments and the relative importance
of political events and the issues of states' rights and slavery (8-4.4) that
divided the nation and led to the Civil War (USHC-3.1).
Taken from: South Carolina Social Studies Standards, 4th Grade Support
Documents
• Share a comic book or graphic novel about the American Civil War with
your students. Suggestions can be found in attachment 2.
• Discuss how the graphics enhance ideas and understanding.
• Discuss the use of dialogue as a means of telling a story.
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.
Share The American Civil War: The Causes of War video available from
Introduce content
Discovery Education: http://app.discoveryeducation.com.
components
Stop the video frequently to discuss important points and to allow students to
take notes.
• If necessary, demonstrate using the Strip Designer App on iPad. Examples
“I do”
are provided in Attachment 3.
Skill from objective
• Review sources for information and images related to historical events
introduce/explain/model
leading up to the Civil War. Create a list of appropriate resources. See
Attachment 4.
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.
• Work with students to discuss criteria for comic strip. An example is
“We do”
provided in Attachment 5.
Activity Description
•
Working
pairs or alone, students create a timeline for their comic.
Include student “explore”
components and
• Using recommended resources, students find images to use in comic strip.
opportunities for them to • Students add text to graphics to explain the events.
explain their learning.
Checking for
Understanding“Informal”
Assessment
•
Check outlines for required information.
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.
• Students share comic strips with the class.
Content Solidified
Independent Practice
“You Do”
Peer evaluation of other comic strips. (Attachment 6)
Summative/ “Formal” Assessment
Assessment
Students complete self-assessment using criteria list developed by the class.
(Attachment 7)
Differentiation
During Lesson
Assessment
Students will be directed to different websites depending on their individual
reading levels.
The level of detail required in comic strip will vary according to student
abilities.
Reflection
Lesson Reflection
(What went well in the
lesson? What might you
do differently the next
time you teach it?
Evaluate the success of
the lesson)
We have just received our class set of iPads and this was our first project. As
the students (and their teacher) become more proficient at using the iPads,
this lesson will become easier to conduct. by this time of the year, I suspect
students will be able to accomplish tasks such as these will little instruction.
Materials Needed for Lesson
Lesson Materials and •
•
Handouts
•
•
•
iPads
Strip Designer App
Internet access
Comic or graphic novel about the Civil War
Attachments
Attachment 1
Comic
omic strip maker available at iT
iTunes app for $2.99
Strip Designer
This is a comic strip creation including page templates.
Strip Designer lets you add photos and a couple of
speech bubbles and additional effect stickers and you
have a professional looking comic or graphic novel.
You can even paint on the photos or draw sketches
from scratch.
Attachment 2
Civil War comic available on Education Made Easy for free.
http://www.ezcomics.com/site/sites/all/themes/ezcomics_new/view
_comics.php?viewid=80
Harriet Tubman graphic novel available from myon reader
http://www.myon.com
Attachment 3
Example of student created comic.
Attachment 4
Resources for researching the causes of the American Civil War
http://www.historynet.com/causes-of-the-civil-war
http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/feature/causes-of-the-civil-war/
http://www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/ushistory/civilwarcauses/preview.weml
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/missouri-compromise/
http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/subjects/civilwar.htm
http://www.tolerance.org/magazine/number-40-fall-2011/feature/getting-civilwar-right
Attachment 5
Example of Comic Criteria List
• describe at least 3 different compromises
• have at least 10 boxes
• include Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, and Abraham
Lincoln
• told in the correct order
• graphics enhance the story
Attachment 6
Peer Assessment
Peer Assessment
3 Glows and a Grow
I liked…
I liked…
I liked…
Next time, you should …
Attachment 7
Self Assessment
Self Assessment
Use the criteria list to answer the questions.
1. Describe how you met each piece of criteria.
2. In which area is your comic weakest? How could you improve it?
3. What are the three most important things you learned from this activity?