Saugus Public Schools
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Saugus, MA 01906-2347
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Teaching with Historic Places
Lesson Plan
Salem Witch Trials
School: Veterans Memorial School Subject: Social Studies
Contributors: Kay Citro & Tammy Sazo
Grade: 3
Introduction:
In third grade, we have begun a social studies chapter on the Puritans. In previous lessons, we
have discussed everyday life,
the Pilgrims versus the Puritans,
war with the Native Americans
and how England took control.
This would lead us up to the
year of 1692 and the Salem
Witch Trials.
Objectives:
• Students will be able to
briefly summarize the Salem
Witch Trials.
Materials:
• Massachusetts, Our Home,
Publisher, Gibbs Smith
The Salem Witch Museum.
• The Story of the Witch Hunt (a six minute movie available through the web from the Discovery School site at: http://school.discovery.com/schooladventures/salemwitchtrials/story/)
Activities:
• Students will read page 101 in Massachusetts, Our Home.
• The teacher and students will discuss what they learned about the trials in 1692.
• The students will watch a short movie, The Story of the Witch Hunt.
• The teacher will break the class into groups to discuss what children endured each day during
the witch trials.
• The groups would write down their responses to share with the class.
• The teacher would guide the students to think about how they would feel about being a child
in 1692.
• Groups would share what they learned and how they would feel about being a child in 1692.
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Saugus.net
Saugus Public Schools
23 Main Street
Saugus, MA 01906-2347
Teaching with Historic Places
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Lesson Plan
Assessment:
Students will complete a worksheet, “Imagine This: Writing in My Journal”. The teacher will
collect and review papers to see if the students could recall information from the textbook and
movie. It will allow the teacher to see how well the students understood the lesson.
Examination of a Witch, by T.H. Matteson, 1853
Extended Learning Activities:1
Salem Witch Trials:
Ask students to consider what life was really like for the community of Salem Village. Begin by
exploring the online feature entitled Life in 1692 Salem. What were some of the challenges and
fears the Puritans faced every day? What was it like to be a child in Puritan New England? As a
class, discuss how these factors may have played a role in the witch trials. What do students
think the main cause of the hysteria may have been?
1 The contents of this section is from the Teachers’ Resource Package of Massachusetts, Our Home and is copyright © 2004 Gibbs Smith, Pub-
lisher. It is used here with permission.
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Saugus.net
Saugus Public Schools
23 Main Street
Saugus, MA 01906-2347
Teaching with Historic Places
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Lesson Plan
Letters From Salem:
Have students explore the biographies and primary source documents in People Behind the Trials found on The Story of the Witch Hunt web site. Ask students to choose one featured person
and try to imagine themselves in his or her shoes. What motivated their actions? What do you
think they were thinking or feeling? Have each student write a letter from the person they chose.
Their letters can be written to real people from Salem or to fictional people.
Explorer’s Journal:
Tell your students to step into a time machine. They are Puritans who lived hundreds of years
ago. They travel across the ocean to get to the colony. The wind pushes the ships across the
water. The ocean currents help them travel on water.
Give these instructions: “Write a daily journal of your adventures on the ship coming to the new
colony. Be sure to include where you are going, who is with you, and what life is like on the
ship. Describe what you see, hear, smell, and taste. Write about people and animals you see.
Describe all of your adventures!” Have students write at least five journal entries.
Interdisciplinary Activities:
Write About Tituba:
Share the story of Tituba or have students learn more on their own about the black slave who was
accused of teaching Puritan girls how to practice witchcraft. Have students write a “portrait” on
Tituba like the ones in the textbook.
Soap Making:
This project is a lot of fun and very easy to do. You will need pure glycerin soap in different
colors, soap or candy molds, a microwave oven, microwavable cups, and a knife. Explain that
instead of starting with soap, the colonists started with ash from the fire and animal fat.
Directions:
1. Set supplies on an area covered with newspaper.
2. Cut the glycerin soap into pieces about the size of a small sticky note. 3. Place one piece of
soap into a cup and microwave on high for 10-15 seconds. Watch carefully because the glycerin soap melts very quickly.
3. Remove the soap from the microwave using pot holders, and stir thoroughly to mix.
4. Working quickly, pour melted soap into molds.
TAHG
A Teaching American History Grant
Saugus.net
Saugus Public Schools
23 Main Street
Saugus, MA 01906-2347
Teaching with Historic Places
Page 4 of 7
Lesson Plan
5. Wait about five minutes for the soap to harden, and then remove it from the molds. If soaps
are difficult to remove from molds, place them in a freezer for about 30 minutes. You can also
try adding a small amount of olive oil to the melted soap or coating the molds with spray oil.
Children’s Pebble Game:
In colonial times, the streets of Boston were made of dirt and cobblestone, so it was easy to find
pebbles to play this game. Today, it is a lot harder to find pebbles. But if students look hard
enough, they should be able to find some. When they do, here’s a game they can play.
Sit in a circle. Choose one person to begin. This person tosses one stone in the air and tries to
catch it on the back of the hand he threw it with. If he catches it, he remains in the game. If not,
he’s out. The person to the first player’s left tries to do the same thing. After everyone in the
circle has tried to catch one stone, they should try with two, three, four, and five stones, taking
turns as before. Continue playing until everyone has missed. The person who is able to catch
the highest number of stones on the back of his or her hand wins.
Hints: Practice for awhile before beginning the game. Keep fingers together when trying to
catch stones. Flat stones are easiest to catch.
Weave “Cloth”:
Materials:
• colored construction paper
• scissors
Directions:
1. Choose two pieces of colored construction paper (different colors).
2. Fold one sheet in half.
3. Beginning at the fold, cut lines about one-inch apart. Leave a 1" margin uncut at the edge of
the paper.
4. Cut the other sheet into 1" strips.
5. Weave the different strips one at a time into the other paper – going over, under, over, under.
Repeat until the pattern is finished.
Tribal Council:
Organize a tribal council (perhaps involving the whole class). Pretend it is 1700, and you are a
Native American. White settlers are beginning to move into your area. You see them as invaders. Role-play a tribal council (discussion) to decide what to do. Consider these possibilities:
1. Ignore the settlers, and hope they go away.
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A Teaching American History Grant
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Saugus Public Schools
23 Main Street
Saugus, MA 01906-2347
Teaching with Historic Places
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Lesson Plan
2. Meet with them, and ask them to leave.
3. Decide to move away to other lands.
4. Fight the settlers with the goal of protecting your family and way of life.
Be sure students consider the way Native Americans must have felt. Role-playing should help
them see how difficult it must have been for leaders to make good decisions under such intense
pressure.
Further Study:
Books:
Anne Hutchinson: Fighter for Religious Freedom by Dennis Brindell, B.Fradin, Tom Dunnington
(Illustrator)
Beyond the Burning Time by Kathryn Lasky (Scholastic, 1996)
Finding Providence: The Story of Roger Williams (I Can Read Chapter Book Series) by Avi,
James Watling (Illustrator)
The Accused, Vol. 4 by Nancy N. Rue
I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem by Maryse Conde (University Press of Virginia 1992)
In the Days of the Salem Witch Trials by Marilynne K. Roach (Houghton Mifflin, 1996)
Narratives of the Witchcraft Cases: 1648-1707 edited by George L. Burr
Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft by Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum
Salem Witch Trials by Edward F. Dolan
Story of the Salem Witch Trials by Zachary Kent, Ralph Canaday (Illustrator)
The Devil in Massachusetts by Marion L. Starkey (Doubleday, 1949)
The Devil in Salem Village: The Story of the Salem Witchcraft Trials by Laureder Linde (Millbrook Press, 1992)
Tituba by William Miller, Leonard Jenkins (Illustrator)
Explore the Internet:
Puritans:
TAHG
A Teaching American History Grant
Saugus.net
Saugus Public Schools
23 Main Street
Saugus, MA 01906-2347
Page 6 of 7
Teaching with Historic Places
Lesson Plan
• http://www.ga.k12.pa.us/Academics/LS/4/SStudies/Colonial/4K/4k98/4knkm.htm
• http://cybersleuth-kids.com/americanhistory/Chapter1/massachusetts.htm
John Winthrop:
• http://www.medford.org/History/book/winthrop.htm
Anne Hutchinson:
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/kids/civilrights/features_hutchison.html
Anne Bradstreet:
• http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/webtexts/Bradstreet/bradbio.htm
Salem Witch Trials:
• http://www.law.umkc.edu/Faculty/Projects/FTrials/Salem/Salem.htm
• http://www.nationalgeographic.com/salem/
• http://www.salemwitchmuseum.com/
• http://www.salemweb.com/guide/witches.shtml
Places to Visit:
Historic Salem, Inc.
P.O. Box 865
Salem, MA 01971
(978) 745-0799
House of the Seven Gables Settlement Association
54 Turner Street
Salem, MA 01971
(978) 744-0991 ext.118
The Stephen Phillips Trust House
34 Chestnut Street
Salem, MA 01971
(978) 744-0440
The Salem Witch Museum
Washington Square
Salem, MA 01971
(978) 744-1692
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A Teaching American History Grant
Saugus.net
Name: ________________________ Date: ___________
Imagine This: Writing in My Journal
Imagine you are a child living in Salem at the time of the witch trials. Write in your journal
about the trials. What do you see, hear, and do? Who is with you? Do you know any of the
people who have been accused? How do you feel about the events taking place in your town?
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This worksheet is from the Teachers’ Resource Package of Massachusetts, Our Home and is copyright © 2004 Gibbs Smith, Publisher. It is used
here with permission.
TAHG
Salem Witch Trials
August 2005