Critical Perspectives: Reading and Writing About Slavery

Lesson Plans

Student Interactives

Printouts

Strategy Guides

Professional Library

 

LESSON PLANS

Grades   3 – 5  |  Lesson Plan  |  Standard Lesson

Escaping Slavery: Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt

Students read Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt by Deborah Hopkinson, create a problems/solutions/events chart, and create a map with a key, compass, and landmarks surrounding their home and school.

 

Grades   3 – 7  |  Lesson Plan  |  Standard Lesson

Strategic Reading and Writing: Summarizing Antislavery Biographies

Antislavery heroes are the focus of this lesson. Students research a historical figure who played a key role in the abolition of slavery, and then create a three-dimensional biographical mobile.

 

Grades   6 – 8  |  Lesson Plan  |  Unit

Traveling the Road to Freedom Through Research and Historical Fiction

Students learn how to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes by reading historical fiction about the Underground Railroad.

 

Grades   6 – 8  |  Lesson Plan  |  Unit

Fighting Injustice by Studying Lessons of the Past

Social injustice occurs every day all over the world. In this lesson, students research a few historical examples of social injustice, including the Holocaust, the Trail of Tears, and Japanese internment.

 

Grades   3 – 5  |  Lesson Plan  |  Standard Lesson

Literature as a Catalyst for Social Action: Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges

Students are invited to confront and discuss issues of injustice and intolerance in response to reading a variety of fiction and nonfiction texts.

 

Grades   3 – 5  |  Lesson Plan  |  Standard Lesson

Blending Fiction and Nonfiction to Improve Comprehension and Writing Skills

Students use a text set to increase understanding of content area material and demonstrate what they have learned by writing an original piece that blends together narrative and expository elements.

 

Grades   4 – 6  |  Lesson Plan  |  Standard Lesson

Guided Comprehension: Making Connections Using a Double-Entry Journal

Based on the Guided Comprehension Model by Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen, this lesson helps students learn three types of connections (text-to-text, text-to-self, and text-to-world) using a double-entry journal.

 

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STUDENT INTERACTIVES

Grades   K – 12  |  Student Interactive  |  Writing & Publishing Prose

Printing Press

The interactive Printing Press is designed to assist students in creating newspapers, brochures, and flyers.

 

Grades   3 – 8  |  Student Interactive  |  Organizing & Summarizing

K-W-L Creator

This tool allows students to create an online K-W-L chart. Saving capability makes it easy for them to start the chart before reading and then return to it to reflect on what they learned.

 

Grades   3 – 12  |  Student Interactive  |  Writing & Publishing Prose

Flip Book

The Flip Book is designed to allow users to type and illustrate tabbed flip books up to ten pages long. Students and teachers can use the flip book for taking notes while reading, making picture books, collecting facts, or creating question and answer booklets.

 

Grades   K – 12  |  Student Interactive  |  Writing & Publishing Prose

Letter Generator

The Letter Generator is a useful tool for students to learn the parts of a business or friendly letter and then compose and print letters for both styles of correspondence.

 

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PRINTOUTS

Grades   3 – 8  |  Printout  |  Graphic Organizer

K-W-L Chart

This K-W-L Chart, which tracks what a student knows (K), wants to know (W), and has learned (L) about a topic, can be used before, during, and after research projects.

 

Grades   3 – 8  |  Printout  |  Graphic Organizer

K-W-L-S Chart

This printable extends the familiar K-W-L’s means of organizing students’ prior knowledge, formulating inquiry questions, and recording new learning by adding space for questions for further inquiry.

 

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STRATEGY GUIDES

Grades   3 – 12  |  Strategy Guide

Inquiry Charts (I-Charts)

This guide introduces I-Charts, a strategy that enables students to generate meaningful questions about a topic and organize their writing.

 

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PROFESSIONAL LIBRARY

Grades   6 – 8  |  Professional Library  |  Book

Developing Critical Awareness at the Middle Level: Using Texts as Tools for Critique and Pleasure

This unique instructional approach enables students to read literature they enjoy while developing critical consciousness and addressing issues of social justice.

 

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