Pre-Reading
Activities
Ask students about
wars they have read about or learned of through movies, family
history, or personal experiences. What do they know about these
wars? Why were they fought? What were their outcomes? What do
they think about these wars?
Feel free to invite
a war veteran living in the neighborhood to speak to your students
about personal experiences in wars such as World War II, the
Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, etc. If possible,
have the speaker bring along any regalia (uniforms, photos,
letters, etc.) to enhance the presentation. Provide opportunity
for a Q&A session, allowing students access to answers and perceptions
not always found in the pages of a history book.
Classroom
Connections
Activities
to use with
American
Revolution:
A
Nonfiction Companion to Revolutionary
War on Wednesday
Graph from
the Past
• Math
Colonists came to the
United States from several countries. Have readers ask family
members to identify the country from which their relatives came.
Make a graph that shows the countries of the students’ ancestors,
and indicate the number of students with ancestors from each
country identified. Encourage readers to research to learn something
unique about their country of origin, and share that with the
class.
Help Wanted
- Social Studies
- Language Arts
Several different
jobs in colonial America are described in this research guide.
Have students write a “Help Wanted” ad, seeking someone to fulfill
one of the colonial jobs. Remind them that in their ad they
need to include such things as job description, qualifications,
salary, benefits, and how to apply. Students should read want
ads in their local newspapers to learn additional details typically
put in a job announcement.
This Is Your Life
Have each student select
one of the people associated with the Revolutionary War and
research that figure’s personal life and accomplishments. Then
have students get into costume and play the role of their character
for a recorded interview. Some possible questions for the interview
include: What was your childhood like? What is your profession?
How would you like to be remembered?
Ordinary People, Extraordinary Deeds
Thomas Paine wrote that
ordinary people could do amazing things. Ask students to select
one of the ordinary people from the revolution and describe
an amazing thing that person accomplished. Using paper plates,
students should create the face of the person they have selected,
adding details with markers, construction paper, and other supplies.
On the back of the plate, have them write the extraordinary
thing the person did.
 Put
Your Stamp On It Activity Sheet
George
Says Thanks Activity Sheet
Guide
prepared by Dr. Peggy A Sharp, a national children's literature
consultant
Activities
to use with
Revolutionary
War on Wednesday
Crossing the
Delaware
- History
- The Arts
In her introductory letter to
Revolutionary War on Wednesday, Mary Pope Osborne
points out several "errors" in Emanuel Leutze's 1851 painting
"Washington Crossing the Delaware," including Washington's
standing position, the size of the boat, and the flag depicted.
Introduce the term "artistic license" to your students,
noting how accuracy sometimes takes a back seat to the portrayal
of a feeling or emotion. How do these and other "errors"
in Leutze's Romantic portrayal of this event communicate
the artist's feelings for what Washington and his men were
undertaking rather than depicting the accuracy of the moment?
Using library
and/or Internet resources, compare Leutze's portrayal of
this scene with those of other members of the Romantic School
including George Caleb Bingham and Thomas Sully. Look at
the paintings' organization, light, balance, and position
of figures to illustrate how "artistic license" was used
by each painter to emote feeling rather than portray reality.
Check
Out Revolutionary
Match Column for a lesson on important terms.
Answers:
- D
- H
- F
- G
- B
- C
- A
- E
Teaching
ideas by Rosemary B. Stimola, Ph.D., professor of children's
literature at City University of New York, and educational and
editorial consultant to publishers of children's books.
Activities
to use with
Civil
War on Sunday
African American
Patriots
Jack and Annie's short
experience in the Civil War shows them that many African Americans-escaped
slaves or freedmen-fought for the Union cause. A longer stay
in our colonial era would have also revealed that 5,000 Black
Patriots voluntarily fought and died for America's independence
in the Revolutionary War.
Separate your students
into two teams: Civil War and Revolutionary War. Using library
and/or Internet resources, have students research the role,
identities, and experiences of African American soldiers and
patriots in each of these wars and prepare biographies of
African American heroes for sharing and display. The Civil
War team, aided by excerpts from the movie Glory, may look
to the 54th regiment of the Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry
and other African American Civil War units and heroes such
as Robert Gould Shaw, William H. Carney and Robert Blake.
The Revolutionary War team, aided by excerpts from historical
fictions such as War Comes to Willy Freeman (James and Christopher
Collier, 1983), may look to the contributions made by Black
patriots such as Crispus Attucks, Prince Whipple, Lambert
Latham, James Forten, Salem Poor and others.
Then tell students
that Congress recently approved a Black Patriots Memorial
to be designed by Ed Dwight, America's first black astronaut
and a renowned sculptor, and located on the site of Martin
Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech. Have each team design
a monument honoring the brave contributions and voluntary
sacrifices made by African American heroes in each of these
wars.
Courage of Compassion
More than 3,000 women
served as nurses in army field hospitals during the Civil War,
including Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross, and
Louisa May Alcott, author of the novel Little Women. Alcott
chronicled her experiences as a nurse during the Civil War in
her book Hospital Sketches, written in the form of letters to
her family, vividly describing the horrors, heartbreak, and
frustrations of caring for the war's wounded in a hospital in
Washington, D.C.
Ask your students
to define the kind of "courage" typically associated with
war. Then ask them to describe "the courage of compassion,"
distinguishing the courage required on the battlefield from
that required of a wartime nurse. Discuss examples of Jack
and Annie's courage in Clara Barton's field hospital outside
of Richmond.
One War, Two Generals
The
course of the Civil War was determined, to some degree, by the
men in charge of the men leading the Union and Confederate forces.
Using library and/or Internet resources,
have students research the Civil War generals, Ulysses S. Grant
and Robert E. Lee. After discussing their individual personalities,
perspectives, skills, and experiences, have students highlight
major differences and similarities between these leaders using
a Venn Diagram.
Teaching ideas
by Rosemary B. Stimola, Ph.D., professor of children's literature
at City University of New York, and educational and editorial
consultant to publishers of children's books.
Activities
to use with both
Revolutionary
War on Wednesday and Civil
War on Sunday
Something to Follow,
Something to Send
- Language Arts
Morgan le Fay needs four kinds
of writings for her library to help save Camelot: Something
to follow; something to send; something to learn; and something
to lend. In Civil War on Sunday, Jack and Annie find
Clara Barton's list of suggestions to help them care for
the wounded soldiers. Have students write their own list
of "rules" to live by.
In Revolutionary
War on Wednesday, Jack and Annie are given a letter
by a captain to deliver to his children should he not return
from battle. The letter highlights George Washington's speech
inspired by Thomas Paine, which includes the phrase "The
harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph." Ask
students what this phrase means and to create or recall
other sayings that also use the double comparative structure.
Check
out What are they
Saying/Civil War and What
are they Saying/Revolutionary War
Teaching ideas
by Rosemary B. Stimola, Ph.D., professor of children's literature
at City University of New York, and educational and editorial
consultant to publishers of children's books.
Certificate
of Achievement
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