Fifth Grade Revolution Unit
Lesson 12
Title: Declaration of Independence
Grade Level: 5th
Unit of Study: American Revolution
Abstract: Students will understand why the colonists wanted to separate from Great Britain
and why they believed they had the right to do so.
Students will be able to describe how colonial experiences with self-government and ideas
about government influenced the decision to declare independence.
GLCE:
U3.1.5 Use the Declaration of Independence to explain why the colonists wanted to
separate from Great Britain and why they believed they had the right to do so.
U3.1.7 Describe how colonial experiences with self-government and ideas about
government influenced the decision to declare independence.
Key Concepts: Personal beliefs influence government
Sequence of Activities:
Introduction: Show students the Discovery Education video: Six Revolutionary War Figures
1. Read aloud the book Will You Sign Here? John Hancock by Jean Fritz to the class.
2. Break students into groups. Have the students examine a copy of the Declaration of
Independence and write down any words or phrases they do not understand. Report out,
discuss, and define group questions.
3. Have each student create a Patriot Thumbnail Book (see below for instructions)
Formative Assessment
If possible, use template from Hands-On-History American Revolution for the Declaration of
Independence Quiz Panels. If not, have the students answer the following questions on paper:
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Which delegate was chosen to write the Declaration of Independence?
On what date did the Congress adopt the Declaration of Independence?
Who was the first person to sign the Declaration of Independence? Why did he write
his name so large?
What unalienable rights does the Declaration say people have?
How are the Mayflower Compact and the Declaration of Independence similar?
How are they different?
This work by Calhoun ISD Department of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Fifth Grade Revolution Unit
Connections:
English Language Arts
Analyzing text
Mathematics
Instructional Resources:
Equipment/Manipulative
Student Resources
Teacher Resources
Hands on History American Revolution by Michael Gravois ISBN# 0-439-07208-5
Book of plays: Revolutionary War by Dallas Murphy ISBN#0-590-03325-5
U.S. History Document-Based Activities by Charlotte S. Jaffe and Barbara T. Doherty ISBN#
978-1-56644-110-0
How Our Nation Was Born: The American Revolution by Carole Marsh ISBN#978-0-63502348-3
Primary Sources Teaching Kit Colonial America by Karen Baicker ISBN #0-590-37847-3
The Complete Book of United States History by McGraw-Hill ISBN# 1-56189-679-9
This work by Calhoun ISD Department of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Fifth Grade Revolution Unit
Activity -- Patriot Thumbnail Book
Activity: Students will create books with short biographies of the following patriots:
George Washington
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Franklin
Patrick Henry
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Thomas Paine
Materials needed:
 7 circles cut from light colored construction paper. (You can use a cd for a template, or
draw circles with a compass.)
 Coloring materials (markers, colored pencils, etc.)
 Copies of biographical information on each individual (included or other resources –
textbooks, trade books, internet, etc.)
Sequence of Events:
1. Students will use included or other resources to complete biography organizer for each
patriot.
2. Students should carefully cut 7 circles from light colored construction paper. Each page
will be used for notes about a different patriot.
3. Students will neatly copy information from each biography organizer to a separate circle.
4. Once all seven circles have been completed, students will fold each circle in half and glue
the backs together.
This work by Calhoun ISD Department of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Fifth Grade Revolution Unit
Biography Organizer
Name of individual
Date /place of birth
Family life/occupation
Role they played in
leading colonists to
revolution
This work by Calhoun ISD Department of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.