http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/calendar-activities/titanic-sank-this-1912-20473.html
Contribute to ReadWriteThink / RSS / FAQs / Site Demonstrations / Contact Us
- About IRA
- About NCTE
- About Verizon Thinkfinity
- Standards
- Our Advisors
- Our Authors
- Community Stories
- Promotional Materials
- News
What’s Happening This Week
There is much more to explore in our calendar. Find other important events in literary history, authors' birthdays, and a variety of holidays, each with related lessons and resources.
Looking for age-appropriate book recommendations, author interviews, and fun activity ideas? Check out our podcasts.
Home › Classroom Resources › Calendar Activities
April 15
The RMS Titanic sank on this day in 1912.
E-mail
/
Share
/
Print This Page
/
Print All Materials (Note: Handouts must be printed separately)
| Grades | 3 – 12 |
| Calendar Activity Type | Historical Figure & Event |
The RMS Titanic, a British luxury passenger liner, sank en route to New York City, and some 1,500 of its passengers perished. The ship had been designed and built by William Pirrie's firm of Harland & Wolff in Belfast, Ireland. A credulous public had believed that design innovations such as its 15 "watertight" bulkheads would make it "unsinkable."
Your students probably had some background knowledge about the Titanic even before the release of James Cameron's movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslett. A nice way to begin your study is with the Internet Workshop model. You might use the recommended Websites from this calendar entry as part of the Internet Workshop.
Some questions you might ask students to explore are:
- Could this disaster happen today?
- What could have been done to prevent the disaster at that time?
- What really sank the Titanic?
- Did anything good happen as a result of this disaster?
- Titanic: The Unsinkable Ship and Halifax
Visitors to this website learn about Halifax, Nova Scotia's role during the tragedy's aftermath. Included is a transcript of Robert Hunston's wireless document The Titanic Disaster as Viewed from Cape Race.
- Titanic: A Special Exhibit from Encyclopaedia Britannica
This exhibit includes hyperlinks to facts about the Titanic and a large collection of historical photographs.
- Estate of Hans Jenson v. the White Star Line
The Anderson Kill & Olick law firm offers this interactive mock trial of the Titanic's operators, the White Star Line.
- Survivors of the Titanic Series
The BBC' site contains 13 audio recordings of survivors relaying their experiences. The collection also includes six primary source documents.
- WatchKnowLearn
This site has a collection of fifteen short videos about the Titanic. Included in that collection is an interactive timeline from History.com. The timeline starts with the construction of the Titanic and ends in 1913 with stories from survivors.
Grades 6 – 8 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
Inquiry on the Internet: Evaluating Web Pages for a Class Collection
Students use Internet search engines and Web analysis checklists to evaluate online resources then write annotations that explain how and why the resources will be valuable to the class.
Grades 6 – 8 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
Using THIEVES to Preview Nonfiction Texts
Students become "thieves" in this lesson as they use a previewing strategy to "steal" information from textbooks and other nonfiction texts before actually reading them.
Grades 3 – 5 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
Exploring How Section Headings Support Understanding of Expository Texts
Nonfiction may be dull for some students, but this lesson helps them focus on the main ideas. Through awareness of section headings, students learn to sort and categorize main concepts.
