American Quilts Social Studies Lesson 3 rd Grade Quilts and the Underground Railroad

Transcription

1 American Quilts Social Studies Lesson 3 rd Grade Quilts and the Underground Railroad Objectives Students will identify the need for slaves to escape to freedom. (NCSS Standard Xa*) (continued from Language Arts Lesson #2) Students will identify quilt block patterns by name and by sight. (NCSS Standard Ic*) Students will analyze quilt block patterns to find the symbolic meaning. (NCSS Standard IId*) Students will create and evaluate directions from the school to the park. (NCSS Standard IIIa*) Students will conclude that freedom quilts played an important role in helping slaves make their way along the Underground Railroad. (NCSS Standard Ic*) Students will practice cooperative group learning skills. (NCSS Standard IVh*) Instructional Materials & Resources *For details regarding standards, please refer to the end of this lesson plan. Aunt Harriet s Underground Railroad in the Sky Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt Scholastic News: Freedom Road Vocabulary Web and Thermometer (From LA Lesson #2) Flipchart w/ Paper Note Paper, Journal Writing Paper Pencils, Crayons, Markers Clue Quilt Worksheet Overhead (O/H) Projector, O/H Sheets, O/H Marker Freedom Quilt Block Pattern Templates 52

2 (w/ names on separate cards) 1 Square Quilting Graph Paper Instructional Activities and Tasks DAY ONE Reviewing Prior Knowledge: 1. Re-read Aunt Harriet s Underground Railroad in the Sky by Faith Ringgold. 2. Review vocabulary from Aunt Harriet s Underground Railroad in the Sky (Language Arts Lesson #2). Use both the vocabulary web and thermometer. 3. Ask students in whole-class format: What is slavery? Where did slaves escape to? Why How did they get there? Who helped them? 4. Revisit the place in the book where the quilt was a secret signal for Cassie to enter the house. Introduction: 1. We are going to read a story about a young girl who made a quilt that helped slaves escape along the Underground Railroad. Not quite like the signal in Aunt Harriet s Underground Railroad in the Sky, but a different way of helping. Let s read the story together, and see how Sweet Clara helps people find freedom! (At this point, pass out a piece of notepaper to each student.) 2. Read Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt, by Deborah Hopkinton, aloud to the students. Stop throughout the story to ask students if they know how Clara is going to help people to freedom. Ask them to record their own answers on a piece of paper. 3. After reading the story and recording our answers to the literature questions ( What is slavery? Where did slaves escape to? Why How did they get there? Who helped them? ), students will Think, Pair, and Share. First, 53

3 students will have 2 minutes to pair with their neighbor and share and compare ideas and answers. CLOSURE/RECAP: 1. Next, the entire class will share their answers, and they will be recorded on a flipchart. 2. Explain to students that we will work with this story again tomorrow, and that they need to save their notepapers in their Social Studies folder. DAY TWO REVIEWING PRIOR KNOWLEDGE: 1. Take a picture walk through Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt. Ask students (as a whole class) to retell the story in their own words ( Tell us what it s about! ). 2. Explain to students that we are going to re-read the story, and our goal for the day is to search for clues (more detail) as to HOW Clara made the map. INTRODUCTION: 1. Pass out a clue quilt worksheet to each child. While they listen to the story, each student should be recording their ideas about HOW Clara knew to place rivers where they belonged, fields where they belonged, and so on. 2. Tell students that different people pick up on different clues so we will be practicing our Think-Pair-Share technique, just like we did yesterday. (Students may need a reminder of the procedures.) 3. Re-read the story to the children, making modifications (i.e. pausing, slower rate of reading) to allow children the opportunity to both listen to the story, and to have time to record the details. (Note-taking skills at this point are minimal, if any. Be patient, and read slowly.) 54

4 4. Have students work with the same Pair partner as yesterday (making adjustments for groups that do not work well together). Ask students to compare clue quilts, and explain that it is more than alright to add one of their neighbor s clues to their own quilt. CLOSURE/RECAP: 1. Bring students back together as a whole class. Fill in a giant clue quilt on flipchart paper. Be sure to discuss (or lead discussion to) the different types of fabric used, as well as directions (N, S, E, and W), number of fields, landmarks, and so on. 2. HOMEWORK: Have students write directions to get from the school to the town park. If they are unable to go to the park, or pass by it on the bus on the way home, ask them to imagine they are walking there and to record their best guess. Explain to students that we will be using these directions tomorrow to create maps of our own. DAY THREE Reviewing Prior Knowledge: 1. Review our clue quilt as a class. Point to various points on the clue quilt and ask students how this helped the slaves escape, or what it told the slaves (where to go, direction, what to look for). INTRODUCTION: 1. Now that we know what kinds of clues slaves put into freedom quilts, we re going to read about the different quilt patterns and the clues they held for runaway slaves to find their way along the Underground Railroad. 2. Read the Scholastic article together as a class. Discuss why students think it would be important for different slaves making quilts to use the same symbols. Record their answers on the 55

5 flipchart. How do you think they created those symbols? Why couldn t they just write out directions? 3. Review the directions students wrote for homework from the school to the park. Use the shared writing technique, recording different sentences from different students on the board. If a student disagrees with a direction, they may disagree by raising their hands, and calmly stating the change they would like to make. Children then vote on which directive they feel is correct. DAY FOUR CLOSURE/RECAP: 1. Write the final copy together on the overhead projector (modeling the importance of a final, published copy). Praise the students for their hard work, and relate to the children that they will be creating their own freedom quilt tomorrow. They will be using the patterns they learned about today in the Scholastic article and the class directions to the park. Reviewing Prior Knowledge: 1. Provide each student with a copy of the classcreated directions to the park. Read and review these directions as an entire class. 2. Review the quilt block patterns in the Scholastic article. Mix the review by asking for names of patterns that you point out to students (premade templates in the front of the classroom), and asking them to point to patterns in the article when you state the name of a specific quilt block. INTRODUCTION: 1. Provide each student with quilting graph paper (1 squares). Have them first make a thumbnail sketch (referring to templates in the front of 56

6 the room) of the quilt block they would use next to the corresponding direction. 2. Once students have planned which block to use for which direction, have them draw their freedom quilt on the quilting graph paper. Students are encouraged to use colors. Ask that the school (starting point) begin at the bottom of the quilt, and that the park (freedom destination) be located at the top of the quilt. CLOSURE/RECAP: 1. Take a walk, following our quilt maps. Invite students to do the same, with their parents. Explain that they should teach their parents how to interpret the quilt blocks, and see if they can get to the park together! 2. Give students a piece of journal writing paper. Ask them to reflect, and think about what it would be like to be Sweet Clara. Tell them to write one (good third-grade) paragraph, telling us why Sweet Clara s job was so very important. Assessment Activities Through observation and note-taking during wholeclass discussion, I will be able to assess whether or not students understand the need for slaves to escape to freedom, as well as their knowledge of quilt block patterns. Additionally, I will be able to monitor their progress in developing cooperative learning skills. The individual quilt maps from the school to the park will assess whether or not the students grasp the symbolic meaning behind the quilt patterns. Through group work, shared writing, and the homework assignment, I will be able to assess each 57

7 student s ability to create and evaluate directions. The journal writing at the end of the entire lesson allows the student to express their understanding of the importance of freedom quilts, and the role they played in helping slaves make their way along the Underground Railroad. Learner Factors To be completed Fall This lesson has incorporated the following multiple intelligences: spatial (creating accurate directions from the school to the park, creating story quilts in the right directional order), linguistic (writing directions, recording clues), interpersonal ( Think, Pair, Share technique), intrapersonal (reflecting on what it would be like to be Sweet Clara), and bodilykinesthetic (following directions and walking to the park). All students with disabilities will be accommodated to the best of the teacher s ability and knowledge, specifically following any modifications required by the child s IEP. Additionally, connections were deliberately made between the content (freedom quilts as maps) and the children s own world (getting from school to the park). Environmental Factors Student grouping will be mixed between whole-class interaction, individual work, and paired work to accommodate as many different learning strengths as possible, while allowing for development in weaker areas. Physical set-up of the classroom may remain the same. Safety concerns would be the supervision and behavior of students when walking to the park. 58

8 Adult volunteers should be solicited to allow for maximum supervision. Procedures for walking safely in a city should be reviewed. Reflection To be completed Fall This lesson on quilts and the Underground Railroad directly relates to the standards from the National Council on Social Studies in Curriculum Standards for Social Studies: Ic: Describe ways in which language, stories, folktales, music, and artistic creations serve as expressions of culture and influence behavior of people living in a particular culture. IId: Identify and use various sources for reconstructing the past, such as documents, letters, diaries, maps, textbooks, photos, and others. IIIa: Construct and use mental maps of locales, regions, and the world that demonstrate understanding of relative location, direction, size, and shape. IVh: Work independently and cooperatively to accomplish goals. Xa: Identify key ideals of the United States democratic republican form of government, such as individual human dignity, liberty, justice, equality, and the rule of law, and discuss their application in specific situation 59

9 NAME: DATE: #: CLUE QUILT How did Sweet Clara know where to place rivers, fields, and other landmarks where they belonged? Record different clues from the story in each box below. 60

10 Flying Geese Drunkard s Path Evening Star 61