Brianne Oleksiw
RDG 589
5/4/09
Title: The American Revolution—Re-living history through different
perspectives
Curriculum: Regional District Four—Grade Five Social Studies: Unit Two
Grade Level: Five
Content Objectives:
Social Studies
 How/why did England attempt to control the colonies?
 How/why did the colonies react to this policy?
 What was life like for American colonists, British citizens/soldiers,
Native Americans and African Americans during the Revolution?
 How did the American Revolution affect my life and world as an
American citizen?
Reading/Language Arts
 How do we know we understand what we read? (Discussion, Written
Response, Word-study, Reflection)
 What strategies can we use to help us understand and retain
information? (Summarizing, connecting, interpreting)
 How do we write, speak, and present effectively? (Journal Entries,
Research Questions, Notes, Interview Scripts)
Learning
Activities
NCTE/IRA
Standards
IRA Teacher
Competencies
CT Social Studies
Framework
Standards
Lesson 1: Who
was Paul Revere
and what was
happening in
America in 1775?
Begin with KWL.
What do you know
about the reasons
Americans wanted
to revolt against
England? What do
you want to know?
Students watch
“And then What
Happened Paul
Revere” (video
from Discovery’s
United Streaming)
to build
background
knowledge on Paul
Revere and the
issues erupting in
the colonies like
the Boston Tea
Party, tax acts and
growing unrest
eventually leading
to the Battles of
Lexington and
Concord.
Closure:
Group discussion:
What was Boston
like during 1775?
Students add to
their KWL charts.
Lesson 2:
Review: What
were the reasons
to revolt?
Review the
British/American
conflict.
1. Students read
a wide range of
print and non-print
texts to build an
understanding of
texts, of
themselves, and of
the cultures of
the United States
and the world; to
acquire new
information; to
respond to the
needs and
demands of
society and the
workplace; and for
personal
fulfillment. Among
these texts are
fiction and
nonfiction, classic
and contemporary
works.
3. Students apply
a wide range of
strategies to
comprehend,
interpret,
evaluate, and
appreciate texts.
They draw on
their prior
experience, their
interactions with
other readers and
writers, their
knowledge of word
meaning and of
other texts, their
word
identification
strategies, and
their
understanding of
textual features
Standard 1:
Foundational
Knowledge
1.4: Demonstrate
knowledge of the
major components
of reading
(phonemic
awareness, word
identification and
phonics,
vocabulary and
background
knowledge,
fluency,
comprehension
strategies, and
motivation) and
how they are
integrated in
fluent reading.
Standard 2:
Instructional
Strategies and
Curriculum
Materials
2.2: Use a wide
range of
instructional
practices,
approaches, and
methods, including
technology-based
practices for
learners at
differing stages
of development
and from differing
cultural and
linguistic
backgrounds.
Standard 3:
Assessment,
Diagnosis and
Evaluation
1. Students will
develop historical
thinking skills,
including
chronological
thinking and
recognizing change
over time;
contextualizing,
comprehending
and
analyzing
historical
literature;
researching
historical sources;
understanding the
concept of
historical
causation;
understanding
competing
narratives and
interpretation;
and constructing
narratives and
interpretation.
2. Students will
use historical
thinking skills to
develop an
understanding of
the major
historical periods,
issues and trends
in United States
history, world
history, and
Connecticut and
local history.
4. Students will
recognize the
continuing
importance of
historical thinking
Tools/Resources:
Collier, J. and C. My brother Sam is dead. New York, NY: Scholastic
Inc., 1978.
In My Brother Sam is Dead, Tim Meeker is trapped in a war between
his loyalist father and patriot brother. He must decide what side to choose
when the battle approaches his hometown of Redding, Connecticut. Not only
does this book show students the various perspectives of patriots, loyalists
and those who chose to remain neutral, it also gives them a glimpse into what
daily life was like in a colonial village. The book gives students the
opportunity to experience first hand what the war was like for a young boy
and see how difficult it was to choose a side. Students will be able to
connect with Tim’s struggles to make a difficult decision and will thoroughly
enjoy the storyline.
I enjoyed reading My Brother Sam is Dead, especially being that the
story takes place in Connecticut. I was able to visualize the locations Tim
describes and felt connected to this book as a Connecticut resident. I also
connected to the theme of making difficult choices. Tim had to stop
worrying about what others will think of him and ultimately make the
decision best suited for him. The book also made me realize how war
affects not only the soldiers fighting in it, but their families, friends and
the places they live.
I chose to use this book with my higher level readers in a literature
circle. Students will complete a cyber-lesson that coordinates with the book
to build background knowledge and will then complete during and after
reading activities to extend their understanding of the book’s concepts.
Students have always enjoyed the book’s story line and have been able to
connect with making difficult decisions and feeling pressured to always do
the right thing. Not only does the book teach students what life was like
during the revolution, it spurs insightful discussions about making decisions
and growing up.
Fritz, J. And then what happened Paul Revere?
http://streaming.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm
This is an animated version of Jean Fritz’s book, And then what
happened Paul Revere? The story starts in colonial Boston and discusses
historical events like the Boston Massacre, Boston Tea Party and eventually
the midnight ride of Paul Revere and early battles of the war. Students
learn why colonists were in rebellion and what life was like in colonial Boston.
I love this video because it really brings this book to life for students.
The text is narrated with plenty of expression and the animations bring an
older book into the digital age. Through the video, students learn about Paul
Revere, the events taking place in Boston in 1775 and the British reaction to
these events.
I think that this video is a perfect way to introduce the whole class to
a unit on the American Revolution. Students learn about Paul Revere and the
Sons of Liberty as well as the reasons Americans were in rebellion. It could
be used as an introduction to this unit or as an introduction to a biographical
study of Paul Revere.
Gregory, K. The winter of red snow: the revolutionary war diary of
Abigail Jane Stewart. New York, NY: Scholastic Inc., 1996.
In this book, Abigail Stewart is a young girl living in Valley Forge,
Pennsylvania. She witnesses first hand how terrible the conditions of the
Continental Army are and she helps other women to care for the soldiers
stationed at Valley Forge. Readers see how much Washington and members
of the community cared for these soldiers and just how badly they believed
in the war for independence. They also learn how life for children has
drastically changed. Students can compare their lives to that of Abigail and
her brothers and sisters and will be surprised with the contrast.
I thought that this book would be a great book to read after or
before George Washington’s Socks. Both books portray Washington as a
caring leader while exposing the hardships of war. I also enjoyed the journal
format of the text as this is a genre that I don’t read very often. It made
me feel like I really got to know Abigail and re-live the events through her
eyes.
I would use this book in a literature circle with my grade level readers
and think that it would work best with girls since it is written in the voice of
a young girl. The book teaches students about George Washington, the
Colonial Army, life in colonial America, the reasons Americans wanted to
separate from England and the winter the Colonial Army spent at Valley
Forge in 1777.
Moore, K. If You Lived at the Time of the Revolution. New York, NY:
Scholastic Inc., 1997.
This is a great non-fiction resource, especially because it is readable
for students who struggle with grade five materials. The book is organized
in a question and answer format and helps students to quickly and easily find
the information they are looking for. Most of what students wonder about
the war can be found in the book. It covers topics from the beginning of the
Revolution through to the end and although the topics are not covered in
depth, the book gives students an idea what life was like for patriots,
loyalists and neutral colonists. It also provides information about why these
people chose the side they did, what their lives were like during the war and
what their lives were like after the war.
I like this book because it gives clear information about loyalist,
patriot, and neutral perspectives. I find that students often think that all
Americans were Patriots and this is a great book to expose them to the
other ideas people had about the war. I also found that the illustrations add
to the information and provide students with an opportunity to make
inferences about what the looks on their faces convey.
I used excerpts of this book with my whole class when exploring
different perspectives. The book helped to clear up misconceptions that my
students had about Americans during the war. It was also a great resource
to use as they found evidence to support their ideas in a debate about what
side they would choose to be on if they were alive during the revolution.
Murray, S. Eyewitness Books: American Revolution. New York, NY: DK
Publishing, 2002.
This non-fiction resource offers factual information from 1763-1783.
The book is full of colorful photographs of colonial artifacts that add to the
information presented. It explains how America’s unrest with England’s
decisions about governing the thirteen colonies exploded into war through
short, readable passages with plenty of visuals to support student learning.
The book contains maps, timelines, primary source documents like letters,
engravings, pamphlets, clothing, and other artifacts as well as illustrations of
historical figures. The visuals really bring the words to life for students and
make this resource one of the best non-fiction general sources of
information that I have found.
I prefer using this book as a resource rather than my school’s textbook because the topics are explored more in-depth and the pictures and
artifacts really keep students interested. I especially liked the copies of
primary source documents that students could examine as they read. I
found myself amazed at the visuals of clothing and engravings as I read and
I know that my students felt the same way.
I used excerpts from this book with my whole class to supplement the
historical fiction we read in the unit. It clarified student’s questions and
helped to build their background knowledge on events like the Boston
Massacre, Boston Tea party, Battles of Lexington and Concord and the
Treaty of Paris. The material is readable for students reading at or above
grade level but was challenging for my struggling readers. Giving these
students a focus question, graphic organizer or pairing them with a stronger
student were all strategies that helped them to be successful with reading
this book.
Winters, K. Colonial voices: hear them speak. New York, NY: Penguin
Group, 2008.
Colonial Voices: Hear them Speak is a collection of poetry written in
the voice of colonial workers in Boston who speak about the ensuing Boston
Tea Party. As a local errand boy brings a message from the printer to the
Sons of Liberty, he stops in each shop and overhears talk of the conflicts
with England. The poems reflect what this errand boy listens to as he moves
from place to place. The reader realizes that the thoughts on the revolution
vary from person to person as they speak about how rebelling against
England will affect them. The book teaches readers that not all colonists
were in support of rebellion. The beautiful illustrations on each page add to
the powerful words that show the thoughts of the baker, schoolteacher,
tavern-keeper and many other workers.
The two poems in this collection that stood out to me were those
written in the voice of a Native American and African American. The tone
of both poems was deeply sad in contrast to the excitement in the voices of
white men and women. The Native American discusses how the white men
have changed her world and are now fighting on the land that once belonged
to her people. The African American questions how white men can talk of
freedom and fighting for a cause when he will never be free. The
perspectives present in these poems show a reader that freedom was not
meant for all living in the colonies, but was reserved for the white men in
charge of the rebellion.
I found this book to be a great teaching tool for the multi-cultural
aspect of my unit. So often, history books write about only the ideas of
white men while Native and African Americans are left out. I used this book
with my whole class and it showed my students what these people thought
about the revolution and how our definition of freedom is different from
that in 1776. The book also gave my students a model for writing free-verse
poetry. After reading the poetry, I asked my students to write their own
poems in the voice of a colonial character and they produced powerful poetry
that showed a deep understanding of the unit’s historical concepts.
Woodruff E. George Washington’s Socks. New York, NY: Scholastic
Inc., 2001.
In George Washington’s Socks, a group of kids camping out in their
backyard decide to read about the Battle of Trenton. Before they know it,
they are sent back in time and find themselves traveling with Washington’s
troops as they march through the harsh winter on their way to Trenton, New
Jersey. The kids experience what the journey was like, and just how badly
the Americans wanted to win the war. Eventually they return to present
day, but learn a lot about George Washington and the Continental Army in
the process.
I liked this book because it made me realize just how poor living
conditions were for these soldiers. The reader finds out about soldiers
marching with no shoes, eating only a few bites of fire cake a day and begins
to realize how passionate these men were about their beliefs. You also see
George Washington as a kind and gentle leader who always had the best
interests of his men in mind. It made me realize how horrific fighting in a
war really is but also taught me a lot about the battle of Trenton and why it
was such an important win for America.
I would use this book in a literature circle with my low to medium level
readers, especially boys. Boys would really enjoy this book because of the
action and the relationships that develop between the soldiers. If students
read this book in a literature circle, it would enhance their understanding of
the colonial army and the battle of Trenton.
Assessment:
 Reading Response Journal Entries (Double Entry journal and
vocabulary page)




Literature Circle Role Sheets and Conversations
Research Outlines
Interview Scripts and Presentations
Classroom Discussions and anecdotal records
(See attached rubrics for cyber-lesson and research project)
Credits:
http://library.thinkquest.org/TQ0312848/barnold.htm
http://www.pbs.org/kcta/liberty/perspectives.html
http;//americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/jb/colonial
http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/our_america/colonial/
Regional District #4 Social Studies Curriculum Draft 2008-2009
Literature Circle Role Sheets from www.ReadWriteThink.org
Reflections:
This is the second year that I’ve taught this unit to fifth grade
students. I find that supplementing my district’s text-book with historical
fiction, poetry and a variety of non-fiction resources really brings this
historical period to life. When they discuss what they’ve learned from the
unit, most of my students tell me that it helped them to realize that
America really had to fight to gain freedom from England, that not all
colonists were in support of the rebellion, and that some of the freedoms
they now take for granted were not given to all people living in America
during this time period, especially women, Native Americans and African
Americans.
This unit directly coordinates with my district’s grade five social
studies curriculum. Students are expected to learn about the American
Revolution and explore what life was like during this historical time period.
It also coordinates with Connecticut’s Language Arts framework as students
are reading, writing, viewing, drawing, speaking and listening throughout the
unit. This unit works well for fifth grade students because it provides a
variety of high-interest and engaging learning activities that push students
to be more independent in their learning. Each lesson begins with teacher
modeling but then provides students plenty of opportunity for independent
reading, research, discussion and reflection while the teacher works to
support students as needed. The variety of books that I have selected
contain titles that are appropriate for students with reading levels at or
below grade level and help teachers to differentiate their instruction while
keeping students interested in the content being learned.
The benefits of this unit are that language arts skills and strategies
and social studies content are thoroughly integrated. The unit provides
teachers with the opportunity to teach the important content to students in
a way that is engaging and provides time for students to explore language
arts skills and strategies. I have also found that my students come away
from this unit with a deeper level of learning about the historical concepts
taught. They understand the big ideas about the revolution, about how
difficult it was for colonists to choose a side and how freedom and equality
have changed and evolved since the war. They are also exposed to a wide
variety of literature and learn more about themselves as readers and
writers through the journey.
The challenges of this unit are time, resources, and making sure that
you are meeting all students’ needs. Although the unit contains nine lessons,
some of the lessons will span out over several days or weeks depending on
the time students are allotted for each lesson. Students need time to
develop research questions, research historical figures and complete a
literature study. Teachers need to know that a unit like this cannot be
mapped out and neatly wrapped up in a few days but will rather depend on
what your students need and what pace works best for them.
Another challenge is to be sure you are meeting all students’ needs.
Although most of the materials have been selected to support students at
varying reading levels, the background knowledge and unique strengths and
weaknesses each student has need to be taken into account and planned for
so that each student gets the most out of this unit and the literature they
will be reading. I found that it was difficult to anticipate the challenges
that arose with my students as some need more guidance with researching
and script writing while others found the activities to be easy and needed
more of a challenge.
Most challenging for me has been building a collection of resources on
a limited or non-existent budget. Unfortunately, most of the materials that
I selected for the unit were not available in multiple copies. In order to find
resources, I used my school and town’s library as well as inter-library loan to
obtain several copies of each resource that would be used with groups or the
whole class. I also made copies of articles for my students when I couldn’t
obtain multiple copies. When students began the research portion of the
unit, I scoured my local library in search of non-fiction that would be
appropriate for my students and offer them a variety of historical figures
to choose from. In the future, I’d like to teach my students how to find
their own non-fiction materials both online and in our school’s library but as
of yet have brought in a set of non-fiction materials for them to use for
their research.
What surprised me most was the poetry my students wrote. Poetry
isn’t a genre that I use very often and so I was surprised to see how
powerful it can be. When I saw the work my students did and the way they
reacted to the poetry we read, I realized that I need to use it more in my
teaching. It was so powerful to read my student’s poems and realize just
how much they were learning about the Revolution through poetry.
I learned that putting together a unit like this is so valuable. I often
feel like I don’t have time to teach social studies as reading and math are my
school’s priorities. This unit made me realize that integrating reading and
social studies is an ideal way to make both subjects more meaningful for my
students while saving time in the classroom.
I found the most value to be in the research portion of this unit.
When given the opportunity to come up with research questions, pick a
historical figure to research and then write up scripts in the form of
interviews, my students did an outstanding job. I really think that giving
students creative ways to present the information they have collected made
the learning more powerful as well. When they presented the interviews,
they mentioned all the factual information I was looking for but they did so
in a way that was engaging for themselves as writers and presenters and for
their classmates as listeners and viewers. It has made me realize that
teaching and learning become more powerful when students are given
authentic tasks and the time to pursue their interests in a community where
inquiry, collaboration, and creativity are valued.