"Life on the Mississippi"
Integrated Literacy Unit
by
Steve Sutton and Liz Cox
"Teaching Literacy" with professor Michele Pickel
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INTRODUCTION
These unit lessons are inspired by the Public Broadcasting System’s show from several
years back called "The Mississippi: River of Song." This series of television shows
chronicled the history of the people along the river through their music. I have, for many
years, been fascinated by the Mississippi River. It draws me. I am an avid river fisherman
and have spent many wonderful hours on the river. I understand how central the
Mississippi River has been to the development of American history. The attempt with this
unit is to integrate Literacy into each of the academic subjects that the unit revolves
around.
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MUSIC
"Music of the Mississippi River"
______________
GOAL: To understand major event s and themes surrounding the Mississippi River’s
importance to the development of the United States ghtough musical selections.
OBJECTIVES:
1. To put in order five events in the development along the Mississippi River
(Comprehension)
2. To compare the similarities and differences of the river of today with the river of 100
and 200 years ago as depicted through music, and art. (Analysis)
MATERIALS: markers, paper, magazines, overhead projector, glue sticks, scissors,
paper, pencils, tape player and music
ASSESSMENT: Student’s performance will be assessed by evaluating the product of the
small group exercises as well as the journal reflections submitted.
ANTICIPATORY SET: Play the portion of "Showboat" where "Ol’ Man River" is sung.
TEACHING THE LESSON:
-Discuss the goal of the lesson
-Discuss the history involved with the lyrics of the songs listened to
-Compare and contrast the art forms of yesterday with today and how art also
tells a history
-Listen to various recordings such as ""Mike Fink" by Bob Dyer,"Get Down River" by
Bottle Rockets, "Steamboat Soundings" by John Hartford, and "Life on the Mississippi"
by Lisa Cannon.
LESSON ENHANCERS:
Vocabulary Acquisition- Before listening to the songs, make a list of unfamiliar words
and give students a pre-quiz. Discuss how after hearing the music, the context of the song
will aid with coming up with the definition.
Writing- Encourage students to write their own song about the Minnesota River or have
them record in their writing journals how this type of music makes them feel.
Creative and Critical Thinking- Assign the students to make up a tall tale discussing the
possible creative ways that the Mississippi could have come into existence.
Allow students to draw pictures related to the music as its being played. Have them cut
shapes from construction paper to mimic the ‘feel’ a certain piece of music has, and
combine them together in a sort of Mississippi collage.
Fluency- Stage a kareoke hour where students are given the words to the songs
and have the chance to sing into mics with the recordings.
READING
"Reading the Mississippi"
____________
GOAL: Introduce the writings of Mark Twain and foster students’ interest in literature of
that time period.
LITERATURE READ: "Life on the Mississippi" by Mark Twain
OBJECTIVES:
1. Work in groups of 2-3 and list things they might need to survive along the Mississippi
during the early settler days.
2. List the items in order of importance of need to be able to survive.
3. Narrow the list to 12 items
4. Construct a replica of this survival kit.
MATERIALS: Things necessary to construct paper or cardboard replicas of items in their
survival kits.
ANTICIPATORY SET: Give each student a piece of paper with the following sentence
on it: "I have just been stranded on a desert island after surviving a ship wreck. I will
spend the next 24 hours. . ." They are to write a paragraph to finish the sentence.
TEACHING THE LESSON:
-Decoding and Sight Word Recognition- As you read the chapters out loud, all
unfamiliar words could be written down by a secretary and dropped into a ‘hat.’ Upon
conclusion of the book, one could stage a Hat Quiz, similar to how a spelling bee is run.
-Comprehension- At the end of a chapter, instruct kids to make up the beginning of the
next chapter, not knowing what’s ahead.
-Fluency- Choose children’s books that they can read to K-1st graders
ASSESSMENT: When students have constructed their finalsurvival kits, have each group
assess another’s kits to check for planning, thought and reasoning behind the items
chosen.
LESSON ENHANCERS:
Writing- Have students prepare a front page article describing a marooned victim,
complete with pictures
SOCIAL STUDIES
"Up and Down the River Through Time"
___________
GOAL: Mapping skills
OBJECTIVES:
1. To learn to map significant geographical, socio-economic, and population centers for
selected regions of the United States.
2. Be able to use comparative analysis regarding issues such as population movement and
economic development as they relate to the Mississippi River.
MATERIALS: Overhead projector, colored markers, maps of the US regions, textbooks
describing regional territories, butcher block paper
ANTICIPATORY SET: Drop a 3 ft. length of black yarn onto a large white sheet of
paper and discuss how it resembles a river. Discuss how a river changes the area around
where it flows.
TEACHING THE LESSON:
-Divide class into groups of three or four. Assign each group to draw a specific area of
the land that attaches to the Mississippi. They should research maps from different time
periods and compare how the area around the Mississippi has changed with time.
-Discuss what should and shouldn’t be included in a map key. Encourage them to make
liberal use of keys to aid the map reader.
-Ask groups to Predict what will happen in time to each of the areas they have drawn
regarding population movement or economic development
-These predictions can be recorded on butcher block paper and hung for analysis.
LESSON ENHANCERS:
Higher Order Literacy- Label each student group a ‘family’ and give them the task of
creating a diary of events in their life living near the Mississippi, visually displayed on a
time line.
Vocabulary Acquisitiion- Challenge the groups to come up with 10 words associated with
mapping not previously discussed.
Multicultural Element- Students could be assigned an Indian tribe to research.
Tell how each tribe used the Mississippi for their cultural survival.
PHYSICAL EDUCATION
"Dancing Up and Down the Mississippi"
____________
GOAL: To combine literature of the Mississippi with dancing.
OBJECTIVES:
1) The learner should express themselves through dance from reading and
interpreting poetry and literature that is based on the Mississippi.
2) The learner should become familiar with several different dance styles
of the "Life on the Mississippi" era.
TEACHING THE LESSON:
-Read selected poems from "Up and Down the River: Boat Poems" (edited by Claude
Lewis)
-Discuss the significance of each line of the poem.
-Assign small groups the task of choreographing a selected poem.
LESSON ENHANCERS:
-Play Charades based on the poems in the aforementioned book.
-Play Musical Chairs
-Multicultural Element- Research Indians of the Mississippi and their different styles of
dancing. Stage a demonstration on each dance and be ready to explain what their dancing
may symbolize.
MATH
"Mississippi Math: There and Back Again"
___________
GOAL: To give the students experience with using the mileage key on a map.
OBJECTIVE:
The student will be able to use the mileage key of a map, plan a trip and keep within a set
amount of miles given by the teacher.
MATERIALS: Maps of the states bordering the Mississippi, rulers, pencils, paper, little,
inexpensive plastic cars and certificates.
ANTICIPATORY SET: The teacher announces that everyone in the class has a chance of
winning a brand new car of their choice. They have to do one very simple thing in order
to get their car. Ask, "How many would be interested?"
TEACHING THE LESSON:
-Explain that they will each receive a car that will have "0" on the odometer.
-They have to plan a trip that will be between 1200 and 1300 miles.
-They may not go to any place more than once.
-They must start at any point on the Mississippi and must return to their starting
location.
-The student who sees the most on his trip will receive a bonus prize.
EVALUTION: This does not need to be graded; only monitored. Watch for enthusiasm
and the basic understanding of gauging mileage on a map
LESSON ENHANCERS:
Writing- Students develop a small travel journal, creating stories that happen
at each stop.
Vocabulary- Challenge the students to come up with other rivers named by
Indians.
Higher Order Literacy- Students create a graph showing mileages of rivers compared
with the Mississippi
SCIENCE
OBJECTIVES: 1) Learn the parts of a river system
2) Study the life cycle of a river
3) Read topographical maps that show land forms
4) Create models of normal river landscapes
MATERIALS: -Topographic maps of river life cycles (available from DNR)
-References on physical geography (Science books, encyclopedias)
ANTICIPATORY SET: Have three pictures of the three stages of the river cycles
(available from riversonline.net). Do not tell the students what they represent, but assign
them the task of discovering how they relate with each other.
TEACHING: 1) Hand out topographic maps and have students practice locating items on
the river using the keys given. A river cycle map is unique from other maps and there are
many different symbols to become acquainted with.
2) Divide the class into groups of three, representing the three stages of a river: Youth,
Maturity and Old Age.
3) Assign the groups the task of independently researching their subject with special
emphasis on addressing the following topics:
-Compare your stage of river with the same stage of a human being
-List characteristics of your stage
-Explain what forces were necessary to create your stage
-Draw pictures of things seen in each stage
-predict what elements of change would be necessary for your stage to reach the next
stage
-Can you find information or pictures specifically addressing your stage of the
Mississippi?
4) Allow each group to teach a class on their stage
5)While students are presenting their stages to the classes, take down two
notes of each stage and develop a short quiz to be given upon completion
of the presentations.
EVALUATION: The aforementioned quiz would serve to evaluate whether the kids
grasped the concepts of what makes a stage a stage in the life of a river. Aside from that,
you would want to peruse their notes on the information they gathered in their research
and observe their activity involvement.
LESSON ENHANCERS:
Creative/Critical Thinking- Students could design what they think the Mississippi would
be like if man had not changed any of its features
Vocabulary Acquisition- With topographical maps, stage a Game Show called,
"Top O’ the Mississippi" and call out vocabulary words learned in the unit. Have students
race to see who can locate the aspect first on their map or be the first to answer the quiz
question verbally.
School to Home Communication- Design a letter to the parents inviting them to consider
taking their child on a trip down the Mississippi. Offer modes of transportation, costs
involved, and activity sheets to help look for features and landmarks.
Field Trip- Plan a class trip down the Mississippi on a famous river boat with one of the
available guided tours.
Field Trip- Take students to the Science Museum and pay special attention to matters or
exhibits relating to the wildlife near rivers.