Third Grade
Historical Fiction—Community History Project
Westshire School, West Fairlee, Vermont
Summary: Third Grade students will study Historical Fiction with an
emphasis on their own local community. The children will learn the story of
“their community” using hands-on activities based on a local historical site.
Students will research a local site through mapping old remains, utilizing old
photos, researching old records, learning oral history and exploring their
community. As a culminating activity students will write, publish, retell and
perform the story of this place as characters in historical fiction.
Grade Level: 3
Disciplines: History, Language Arts, Historical Fiction Genre, Information
Technology.
Topic: Ely Village and Ely Copper Mine located in Vershire, Vermont.
Printed Materials Needed: Rip Van Winkle, Laura Ingalls Wilder Series,
The Sign of the Beaver, Abenaki Captive, American Girl Series, Over the
River and Through the Woods, Guided Reading for Intermediate Grades.
Resources: West Fairlee Historical Society, Vermont Historical Society,
Local Town Clerk, Local Historians, Local Maps, Story Tellers, Computer,
Scanner, Printer, Digital Camera, Video Camera
Standards Addressed: Vermont’s Framework of Standards and Learning
Opportunities. 1.5 Students draft, revise, edit and critique written products
so that final drafts are appropriate in terms of the following dimensions:
Purpose, Organization, Details, Voice or Tone.
1.6 Students’ independent writing demonstrates command of appropriate
English conventions, including grammar, usage, and mechanics. A. Use
clear sentences, correct syntax, and grade-appropriate mechanics so that
what is written can be easily understood by the reader.
1.9 In written narratives, students organize and relate a series of events,
fictional or actual, in a coherent whole. A. Recount in sequence several parts
of an experience or event, commenting on their significance and drawing a
conclusion from them; or create an imaginative story with a clear story line
in which some events are clearly related to the resolution of a problem; b.
Use dialogue and/or other strategies appropriate to narration; 1.18 Students
use computers, telecommunications, and other tools of technology to
research, to gather information and ideas, and to represent information and
ideas accurately and appropriately. 1.20 Students use graphs, charts,
continuity and change. A. Demonstrate understanding of the patterns of
change (steady, cyclic, irregular) and constancy. 5.8 Students read a variety
of types of literature, fiction and nonfiction. 5.13 Students respond to literary
texts and public documents using interpretive, critical, and evaluative
process. A. Make inferences about content, events, story, characters, and
setting, and about the relationship(s) among them. 6.1 Students examine
complex webs of causes and effects in relation to events in order to
generalize about the workings of human societies, and they apply their
findings to problems. A. Identify multiple causes and effects of events under
study. 6.4 Students identify major historical eras and analyze periods of
transition in various times in their future (e.g., create time lines, create
chronologies base on narratives, compare and contrast family life, or school,
and community life in different periods); b. Examine local history by
reading historical narratives and documents, investigating artifacts,
architecture, and other resources that illustrate key periods in local history
(e.g., investigate local town’s history and establish its connections/place
with Vermont and other cultures); 6.5 Students investigate both the
traditional and the social histories of the people, places, and cultures under
study, including those of indigenous peoples. A. Describe and interpret
events through the perspectives of people (both famous and common) living
in the time and place and under study. 6.7 Students use geographical
knowledge and images of various places to understand the present,
communicate historical interpretations, develop solutions for the problems,
and plan for the future. A. Identify location and patterns of local areas (e.g.,
create and use maps of classroom, schoolyard, neighborhoods, and town,) to
identify the location of physical features; use clay to create forms or
landmarks. 6.8 Students analyze the factors and implications associated with
the historical and contemporary movements and settlements of people and
groups in various times in their local community, in Vermont, in the United
States, and in various locations world wide. B. Recognize voluntary and
involuntary migration factors (e.g. drought, famine, economic opportunity,
conflicts, slavery). 7.16 Students understand how natural resources are
extracted natural resources. C. Recognize that there are differences between
natural and synthetic materials.
Stage 1: Identify Desired Results
Understandings: Historical fiction indicates how events of the past shape
our present.
People interpret multiple and perhaps conflicting or contradictory versions
of historical events through many primary and secondary sources.
Historical Fiction has several definitive characteristics: Settings are in a
particular historical time period. Story elements include accurate historical
details and descriptions, and references to true events and personalities.
History can be told from different points of view.
Natural resources can affect a communities economic and population
growth, thus affecting the lives of its citizens both past and present.
Essential Questions: What does historical fiction tell us about our past?
How do people critique historical fiction and analyze different perspectives?
What are the characters of historical fiction?
How does a communities natural resources impact life in a community—
past and present?
How does a community’s natural resources affect the economic and
population growth of a community?
Knowledge and Skills: Students will develop an awareness of their
community’s natural resources and how it impacted their past. They will
compare life in their community to the 1880’s and the present including
clothing, games, music, tools, entertainment, etc.
Assessment Summary: Reading response journals, Written responses to
teacher prompts, Written responses to literature, Rubric for student computer
representation and presentation to the class, Student portfolio with student
created map, newspaper of the past, student generated time line and
chronologies will be evaluated using a rubric, A rubric for the culminating
activity in which students write, publish, retell and perform the story of this
place as characters in historical fiction will be used. Each piece of work will
be evaluated using the teacher/student generated rubrics or checklists.
Performance Task(s), Prompt(s), and Rubric(s)
Other assessment evidence to be collected.
Evaluate performance and progress.
Learning Activities: Rip Van Winkle will be read to the class prior to
beginning of the unit.
Local historians will come to school dressed as people from the 1876.
Students will research a local site through mapping old remains, utilizing old
photos, researching old records, learning oral history and exploring their
community.
Students will create a map identifying physical features of the past.
Students will gather their information and ideas and scan it in a computer to
record it accurately.
Students will present their data and artifacts using graphs, technology and
other representations.
Students will create time lines, chronologies based on narratives, and
information they gathered.
Students will spend the day as if they are in the 1870’s. They will bake
bread, make homemade food, play old fashion games, go without modern
amenities such as electricity, television, telephone, etc.
Students will role play different traditional occupations such as the store
keeper, doctor, teacher, etc.
Students will write a newspaper about a local event.
Students will listen to a read historical fiction.
As a culminating activity students will write, publish, retell and perform at
REP and for the entire community the story of this place as characters in
historical fiction.