Lesson Plan: The Civil War
Lesson Basics
Class level: High Beginning
Topic: Civil War
Length: 2 hours (not including the extension activity)
Objectives:
The student will be able to:
 Interpret information on a variety of maps and charts
 Summarize information on a graph/chart verbally and in writing
 Create a bar graph and a pie chart using data collected from classmates and from
data in lesson content
 Use vocabulary of quantity such as many, some, a few, none, most, and least
 Pronounce larger numbers (in the thousands)
 Name at least two causes of the civil war
 Explain the Emancipation Proclamation
 Use vocabulary of quantity
Language skill primary focus:
X Listening
X Speaking
_X
Reading _X_ Writing
Benchmarks from Virginia’s Adult ESOL Content Standards:
 S3.4c Use simple strategies to monitor and enhance communication
 L3.2b Respond appropriately to questions with familiar vocabulary and short
learned phrases
 R3.3 Use visuals or other aids in combination with linguistic content and real-world
knowledge to comprehend short, simplified connected text on unfamiliar topics.
 W3.3 Write simple texts with some control of basic English language structures and
use of mechanics.
Materials/Equipment:


Handouts 1-5
Computer with internet connection
PowerPoint Presentation:

Create a Graph Online tools
Stages of the Lesson Plan
Warm Up/Review 30 min.
Graphs
Grouping Strategies:
Whole group, small
Introducing Graphs and the term ‘Divided’
Activity Steps:
Languages Graphs:
 Make a list of all the languages spoken by your students.
groups
(Decide what level of proficiency to include) Hand out
post-it notes, and have students write their name on one
Materials Needed:
post-it for every language they speak. Write the
Post It’s
languages in a horizontal line across the bottom of the
Create a Graph Tool:
board or on index cards on a wall. Have students come
http://nces.ed.gov/NCESKI
and put their post-its above the languages they speak,
DS/createagraph/default.as
creating a bar graph- (Demonstrate how one is put on top
px
of the next starting at the bottom.)
 Create a pie chart of the languages spoken by the class
to demonstrate how to put data into the Create a Graph
Pictogram tool:
online tool. (This first part of the lesson could be done
http://gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo
ahead of time)
/numbers/pictogram/pictogr  Discuss words to show quantity and use them to describe
am.htm
how many students speak each language. How many
people speak Spanish? A lot, many, some, a few, etc.
Which language is spoken by the most students?, least
students?
Student Created Graphs:
 Choose a local, national or international topic that is likely
to have variation in views within your class. Introduce the
issue, and write different opinions on the board. Have
students take a post it and place it under their opinion.
 In small groups, have students use this data to create a
graph-, individual groups can create a post it graph, or use
one of the online tools to create a bar, pie or pictograph.
(based on your students needs) Walk around and help
students as needed.
 Share graphs as a whole group- discuss which type of
graph gives the best picture of the data.
 This graph shows our class is divided on this issue. We
have different opinions.
Introduction/Presentation
Causes of the Civil War
30 min.
Grouping Strategies:
Whole Group
Materials Needed:
 Online access
 Interactive Infograph:
http://teachingamericanhist
ory.org/static/neh/interactiv
es/civilwar/lesson1/
 Student Handout 1 (or 1b)
 PowerPoint- Slides 2-13
Causes of the Civil War
Activity Steps:
Slide 2: What is the name of this country?
(The United States)
What does united mean?
(To join to form a single whole)
Slide 3: About 150 years ago, the states were not united.
They were divided. The North (show on map) wanted to
stay united, while the South (show on map) wanted to
secede- to become their own country.
Today we are going to learn about some reasons they
were divided. We will compare the northern and southern
states.

Video about the Civil
War:
https://www.youtube.com/wat
ch?v=FAXezpErmP8

Review vocabulary to describe amounts. None, a little,
some, many.
 On computers or other devices, students will use the
interactive infograph to compare the differences
between the southern and northern states. Introduce
each topic with the Powerpoint slides, then walk
students through analysis of the infographic, and have
them write what they learned on the chart on handout 1.
Optional: Discuss how Virginia compares in each area
since we live in Virginia, and Richmond was the capital of
the confederacy for most of the war. You can discuss
Virginia as a class and write a summary on the board, or
use handout 1b and have students also record information
about Virginia.
ECONOMY(Slides 4-6) The way a country uses money
and resources (such as workers and land) to make, buy,
and sell goods and services.
 Industry: Use slide 5 to introduce the concept of
industry.
Infographic: Have students click on the Industry tab. Ask
students what the different colors of the bar graph show.
(Discuss the key) The time right before the civil war was
1860- what color is 1860? How much industry was in
the North? The South? Have students fill in the chart on
handout 1.
 Plantations: Introduce the concept of plantations with
slide 6.
Infographic: Click on the Cotton Tab. Why are only the
Southern states shown here? (because cotton was
grown in the south- why? Climate- warm, sunny, mild
winters= long growing season)
Have students write on their chart about cotton for the
North and South using words of quantity.
SLAVERY: (Slides 7-9)
 What is slavery?- At the time of the civil war, many
slaves were used to grow cotton.
Infographic: Click on the Slavery Tab. Show students
how you can hover your cursor over a state to see the
number of slaves. Discuss the key- what each person
means on the chart.
Have students fill in Handout 2
 Infographic: Click on the Free Blacks Tab Free blacks blacks who were not slaves
These differences caused problems and different ideas
of how to run things. The North opposed slavery, The
South felt they needed slaves for their cotton economy to
be successful. . Slide 10 – one interpretation of the causes
of the civil war.
These differences between the North and South are
reflected in the Presidential Election results- show map and
discuss. (Slide 11)
When Abraham Lincoln was elected President, (Slide
12) the South knew he didn’t like slavery. Many of the
Southern states believed each state should be able to
make their own decisions. They wanted to form their own
country- the Confederate States of America. The Northern
states believed this was not allowed under the constitution.
The North was called the Union because they wanted all
the states to stay in union together
These different views led to the civil war.
Write North- Union and South-Confederate on the board
And dates of the civil war: April 12, 1861 – May 10, 1865
Introduce the Civil War through the video. Show a clip of
the video from 0- 1.28. Link is in Slide 13 of the
PowerPoint. Tell students to look at the pictures to help
them understand the civil war. Discuss what they noticed in
the pictures.
Guided Practice 20 min.
Interpreting Graphs
Grouping Strategies:
Whole Group, Pairs
Materials Needed:
Powerpoint Slides 14-18
Student Handouts 2 & 3:
Information Gap
Resources of the North and South
Activity Steps:
Resources- What are they?
 Discuss the resources of your school/organizationsupplies, technology, use of buildings, money, staff. What
would classes be like if we had many more resources?
(every student could have their own computer, small
classes,…)
 What if we had far fewer resources? (Sit on the floor,
larger classes, no books…) Paint a vivid picture of what
your program would be like to help students understand
the importance/impact of more or fewer resources.
We are going to look at the resources of the Union (North)
and the Confederates (South)
Use slides 14-17 to explain the types of resources the
charts represent.
 Introduce the information gap activity by using slide 18.
One person will have a pie chart. The other person will
have a question (write on the board) Model how you will
ask and answer the question and fill in the blank. Blueunion, Orange-confederate
 Have pairs work together to complete the Information
Gap
 Share results as a group. Optional: Discuss percentageshow to say them and have students report on the
percentages.
Communicative Practice
Interpreting a bar graph
and creating a bar graph
20-25 min.
Grouping Strategies
Pairs
Materials Needed:
Charts
PowerPoint Slides 22
Computer, tablet, or mobile
phone with internet access
Virtual Whiteboard Tool:
Stoodle:
http://stoodle.ck12.org
Application 20 min.
Grouping Strategies:
Whole group, pairs
Materials Needed:
PowerPoint Slide 20, 21
Student Handout 4
Internet access
Online Graphing Tool:
http://nces.ed.gov/NCESKID
S/createagraph/default.aspx
Activity Steps:
 Use slide 21 to introduce the concept of a battle, a
victory, a draw (tie), and lives lost in a battle. Show slide
22 and tell students this bar graph shows battle victories
and lives lost.
 Have students work in small groups to answer
questions about the graph on slide 22. The teacher will
ask a question, in small groups students will collaborate
to determine the answer and write it on a virtual white
board (see teacher resources), a dry erase board, chart
paper, or on a piece of paper.
 See questions in Teacher Resources
Students create a graph with data about lives lost in
United States wars.
 We will compare the numbers of lives lost in the civil war
with the lives lost in other wars the United States fought.
 Pass out data on handout 4, and/or display via slide 23.
 Discuss how to read larger numbers. Say ‘thousand’ at
the comma. Read a few numbers and have students
repeat, then have students read in unison, followed by
one volunteer reading the number as a check.
 Have students use the online Create a Graph tool to
create a bar graph using the data on handout 4.
 Have students share results. Did anything surprise
them?
Activity Steps: Emancipation proclamation
Refer to dates of the civil war on the board to help students
understand when during the war this happened.
 Use slide 20 and handout 4 to introduce the
emancipation proclamation. Show slide 21 to explain that
slaves were only freed from the states fighting against
the United States.
 The Emancipation Proclamation opened the door for
African Americans to become Union soldiers.
 Hand out top half of handout 5 to half the students- they
will be partner A, the bottom half to the rest of the
students- partner B. Have students work in pairs to
share their information and make a pie chart using the
‘create a graph’ online tool to compare the number of
deaths of African American soldiers to the number of
deaths of all Union soldiers.
 Share and discuss results.

Evaluation
Grouping Strategies:
various
Materials Needed:
Use an app, post-its or a
notebook to note
performance and
understanding of individual
students
Extension
Grouping Strategies:
Whole Group
Materials Needed:
See Teacher Resources for
virtual tour of Gettysburg
and video of a civil war
reenactment
Additional Extension
Ideas:
Recipes from the Civil War:
http://www.webring.org/l/rd?rin
g=cwol;id=1;url=http%3A%2F%2
Fwebspace%2Ewebring%2Ecom
%2Fpeople%2Fbu%2Fum_10870
%2Frecipes%2Ehtml
The Emancipation Proclamation gave a lot of hope to
African Americans, but it was a long road to freedom,
filled with discrimination.
Activity Steps
Ongoing evaluation, especially during information gap
activity, communicative practice activities, and the
application activity.
Activity Steps
Make history come alive for your students:
 Have a civil war reenactor visit your class or
 Take a field trip to a civil war battlefield (or a virtual
trip)or encourage your students to visit a site on their
own.
 Watch a civil war reenactment. (See teacher resources)
Civil War Recipes
 Make hard tack and bring it in for students to try.
Discuss what made hard tack a good food for the war.
 Have students share what types of food from their home
countries have similar properties.
Student Handout 1
Some Differences Between the North and South
Before the Civil War
Economy
North
Industry
Cotton Production
Slavery
Slavery
Free Blacks
South
Student Handout 1b (includes Virginia)
Some Differences Between the North and South
Before the Civil War
Economy
North
Industry
Cotton
Production
Slavery
Slavery
Free Blacks
South
Virginia
Partner A: Information Gap
Student Handout 2
Union and Confederate Resources 1860
Key:
1.
2. Did the North or the South have more railroads?
The _____________________ had more railroads.
3.
4. Did the North or South have more industrial workers?
The ______________________ had more industrial workers.
-------------------------------------------------------On Your Own-----------------------------------------------------
5. Did the North or South have more resources?
Partner B: Information Gap
Student Handout 3
Union and Confederate Resources 1860
Key:
1. Did the North or the South have more people?
The _____________________ had more people.
2.
3. Did the North or South have more manufacturing plants?
The ______________________ had more manufacturing plants
4.
-------------------------------------------------------On Your Own-----------------------------------------------------
5. Did the North or South have more resources?
Student Handout 4
Lives Lost in United States Wars:
o Revolutionary War: 16,000
o Civil War: 620,000
o World War I: 116,000
o World War II: 405,000
o Vietnam War: 58,000
o Korean War: 36,000
o Iraq-Afghanistan: 4,000
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Lives Lost in United States Wars:
o Revolutionary War: 16,000
o Civil War: 620,000
o World War I: 116,000
o World War II: 405,000
o Vietnam War: 58,000
o Korean War: 36,000
o Iraq-Afghanistan: 4,000
Student Handout 5
President Abraham Lincoln’s
Emancipation Proclamation
Emancipation – The act of freeing
Proclamation – a public announcement
On January 1, 1862, all slaves (in states rebelling against the United
States) are free.
“That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord
one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons
held as slaves within any State or designated part of a
State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion
against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward,
and forever free;”
The United States government will enforce the freeing of slaves.
“…and the Executive Government of the United States,
including the military and naval authority thereof, will
recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and
will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of
them, in any efforts they may make for their actual
freedom.”
Freed slaves can fight in the war.
“And I further declare and make known, that such persons of
suitable condition, will be received into the armed service
of the United States to garrison forts, positions,
stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts
in said service.”
Handout 6
Partner A
Rate of survival for Non-Black Union Soldiers
in the Civil War:
Survived
Died
Non-Black
Union soldiers
83%
17%
--------------------------------------------------------------------Partner B
Rate of survival for Black Union Soldiers
in the Civil War:
Survived
Died
Black Union soldiers
78%
22%
Teacher Resources:
Teacher Resources 1
Warm Up/ Review:
o
o
o
Online ‘Create a Graph’ Tool: http://nces.ed.gov/NCESKIDS/createagraph/default.aspx
Tutorial for Create a Graph: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfgUwEGgHEA
Pictogram tool: http://gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/numbers/pictogram/pictogram.htm
Introduction/Presentation:



PowerPoint Presentation:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxnwTyxcFX9fbllhdGViZDEwMkk/edit?usp=sharing
Interactive Infograph: http://teachingamericanhistory.org/static/neh/interactives/civilwar/lesson1/
Video about the Civil War: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAXezpErmP8
Guided Practice:
To help lead the discussion of resources, take a few minutes before class to think about the
resources of your program and what it would be like if you had many more or far fewer resources.
Communicative Practice:
Small Group Quiz:
If you have computers, tablets, or smart phones, students can use this virtual whiteboard to
answer questions: Virtual Whiteboard Tool-Stoodle: http://stoodle.ck12.org
Questions about chart on Slide 22:
1. What do the colors on the map mean? (Red-Confederate victory, Blue-Union Victory, Greydraw)
2. Which battle had the most losses? (Gettysburg)
3. Which battle on this chart had the least losses? (Petersburg)
4. How many battles ended in a draw? (3)
5. How many confederate soldiers lost their lives? (260,000)
6. How many union soldiers lost their lives? (360,222)
7. Which battle had 30,000 losses? (Spotsylvania)
8. Which battle had 24,000 losses? (Chancellorsville)
Application:
Online ‘Create a Graph’ Tool: http://nces.ed.gov/NCESKIDS/createagraph/default.aspx
Extension:
Virtual Tour of Gettysburg Battlefield:
http://www.virtualgettysburg.com/vg/panoramas/multi_node.html
Video of Reenactment of Civil War Battle of Bull Run:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8206fTwQZ9Q
Suggestions for adapting the lesson to higher levels:
Warm Up:
 Have students work in small groups. Groups will choose an issue, survey students, create a
graph with the survey results, and present to the class.
 Have different groups create different types of graphs/charts
 Use a more complex graphing tool: Online Graphing Tool: Onlinecharttool.com
Introduction/Presentation:
 Discuss vocabulary (industry, cotton production, slavery, etc.) and if needed review the keys
of several graphs.
 Have students work in pairs to interpret information on the infographs and write an
explanation on handout 1.
Guided Practice:
Discuss resources, then have students choose whether to write about what the classes would
be like with many more resources, or far fewer resources. Then share their writing.
Communicative Practice:
 Go over the lives lost in U.S. wars graph as a group, then have students work in pairs or small
groups to practice reading larger numbers as they look at the casualties at various battles of
the civil war.
 One person asks, How many lives were lost in Gettysburg?, the other answers. Students
could also practice saying dates by asking, which battle happened on September 17, 1862?
Application:
Choose 1 or more of these quotes about the Emancipation Proclamation to discuss with your
students.
1. “The act makes clear that the lives of our heroes have not been sacrificed in vain. It
makes a victory of our defeats.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson (1862)
2. “We show our sympathy with slavery by emancipating slaves where we cannot reach
them and holding them in bondage where we can set them free.” –William Seward
(1863)
3. “I cannot swallow whole the view of Lincoln as the ‘Great Emancipator.’... Anyone who
actually reads the Emancipation Proclamation knows it was more a military necessity
than a clarion call for justice.” –Barack Obama (2005)
4. “[The Emancipation Proclamation was] the central act of my administration [and] the
great event of the nineteenth century.” –Abraham Lincoln (1865)
Evaluation:
Have students fill out an exit slip before they leave class. Give everyone an index card, and
have them answer these two questions. Name one problem that led to the civil war. What is the
Emancipation Proclamation?
Extension:
Have students locate information on this Interactive Infographic about Civil War:
http://www.history.com/interactives/civil-war-150#/who-they-were
US Citizenship Questions addressed in this lesson:
72. Name one war fought by the United States in the 1800s.
o
o
o
o
War of 1812
Mexican-American War
Civil War
Spanish-American War
73. Name the U.S. war between the North and the South.
o
o
the Civil War
the War between the States
74. Name one problem that led to the Civil War.
o
o
o
Slavery
economic reasons
states’ rights
75. What was one important thing that Abraham Lincoln did?*



freed the slaves (Emancipation Proclamation
saved (or preserved) the Union
led the United States during the Civil War
76. What did the Emancipation Proclamation do?




freed the slaves
freed slaves in the Confederacy
freed slaves in the Confederate states
freed slaves in most Southern states