THIS IS THE FINAL DRAFT (all edits are highlighted in yellow)
WHEELOCK COLLEGE
Elementary Education Department
Unit Plan
GRADE LEVEL: _________4________
TIME ALLOTMENT: ___________5 sixty minute lessons_______
SUBJECT AREA(S): _________Social Studies____________
LEARNING GOAL:
Students will better understand the development of the country they live in by learning the buildup that led to our nations founding.
CONTENT STANDARDS
Massachusetts State Standards:
3.5 Explain important political, economic, and military developments leading to and
during the American Revolution. (H, C)
A. the growth of towns and cities in Massachusetts before the Revolution
B. the Boston Tea Party
C. the beginning of the Revolution at Lexington and Concord
E. Revolutionary leaders such as John Adams, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and Paul Revere
3.6 Identify the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights as
key American documents. (C)
3.9 Identify historic buildings, monuments, or sites in the area and explain their purpose
and significance. (H, C)
2. Interpret a map using information from its title, compass rose, scale, and legend. (G)
Describe the climate, major physical features, and major natural resources in each
region. (G)
4.11
WHEELOCK COLLEGE EDUCATOR STANDARDS (Review the seven WCTS and list the standard or component of standard this lesson addresses).
Standard 3: Knowledge of Content and Integrated Curriculum
Standard 4: Educational Practices that foster learning, development, and achievement for all of
the nation’s children
UNDERSTANDINGS
Students will understand…
Students will understand the causes of the break from England.
Students will know that the Continental Congress led to the current structure of our government.
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
Why is America called the “land of the free and the home of the brave?”
Why did the United States break away from England to form their own nation?
ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
I know that for the students in my fourth grade class that attended the Joseph Lee last year (as third graders), they did not cover the American Revolution like they usually do. Therefore, my students have a very limited or no knowledge of the Revolution. I do know that I have five students in my homeroom that are not from the Lee and may have possibly covered this topic already. One student that went to the Lee Academy has definitely touched on the topic and has mentioned facts from the time period that she knows. To find out where my other students are, on the first day of the unit I will make a KWL chart with them. While I will accept answers that are beyond the time of the Declaration of Independence, I will only focus on answers that deal with the time before the signing of the Declaration. This way I will be able to adjust my lessons to focus on the knowledge that my students are missing.
PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
My students do not really need any knowledge of the subject in order to understand the content of the lessons. I am giving the students a brief overview of what occurred in the country before the timeline that I am covering begins. What they will need to have (and have already covered this school year) is a knowledge of maps. The students will be making their own maps and will need to know what a compass rose, a map key, and other aspects of maps are.
OBJECTIVES
Students will be able to….
Students will know…
1. Students will know the causes of the American Revolution. (U1)
2. Students will be able to identify the original 13 colonies. (U2)
3. Students will be able to express their own rights that they find important in
writing. (U1)
4. Students will know the key phrases in the preamble to the Declaration of
Independence as they relate to the overall points in the Declaration. (U1)
5. Students will be able to identify some of the founding fathers and know their roles
in the independence process. (U1)
6. Students will be able to compare the Continental Congress to the basic structure
of the Legislative Branch of our government. (U2)
7. Students will be able to identify what the founding fathers wanted changed about
life in the colonies before the Revolution. (U1)
8. Students will compare and contrast the Patriots and the Loyalists. (U2)
9. Students will understand the goals of the founding fathers. (U1 and U2)
DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION
During the course of the unit, students will be working in small groups and individually. There will be whole class instruction during the lessons, which will take place on the rug in the classroom. There will be movie clips for one class from 1776 the Musical that will allow the students a different method of hearing the information and remembering facts. I will also allow the students to come up during lunch to view the movie as a whole if they want to. This will give them even more knowledge about the founding father and the process of voting for independence from England. When we discuss the Boston Tea Party I will help my students visualize this by bringing in loose tea and dumping it in a bowl of water. This way my students will have a mental image of what Boston Harbor looked like after the Sons of Liberty threw the tea off the trade ships.
MODIFICATIONS/ACCOMMODATIONS AND EXTENSIONS
I have students with IEPs in my room. Those IEPs state that they need extra time for any assessment and they also need extra support for written work. With this in mind, during the writing assignment on the first day of the lesson I will have them sit at a table together and further model what I am looking for from them and then help them to organize their papers. They will use the graphic organizer model that they have been working with recently to organize their ideas and begin writing. There will not be a formal test so they won’t need extra time on any of the assignments; however, I will make it clear that if they do not finish they can come up during lunchtime to complete the work. This is not a punishment, just an opportunity to make sure that they are doing their best work (which they will understand because it is common practice for this to happen throughout E pod).
For the student(s) that has already covered the material last year I will first assess how much knowledge she has on each subject. Using that knowledge I would then give her some reading material on the aspects of the Revolution that we are covering. There is a mini textbook in the room that we will use as a class for certain lessons, but we are not covering the book as a whole. This book will give her more background information and strengthen her knowledge. There is also a play about the Revolution that requires more knowledge than I would be covering to properly perform. IF there are enough students that have a grasp on the topic I will give them copies of this play and ask them to read it together. They can then choose to perform the play for the teachers during a special or lunch period.
ASSESSMENT
During the first lesson of the unit the students will be making maps of the 13 colonies. When assessing the maps I will be looking to see a title, all labels (eg the names of the colonies), that the colonies are color-coded depending on their regions, a compass rose, and that there is a map key displaying the exports of each region. Maps must be done neatly and all labels and the key must have correct spelling. See attached rubric for how the grading will be done.
The second day the students will be taking notes on the different taxes. I will be looking to see that their notebooks are set up correctly and that there is the word, definition, and an example for each tax. As a class we will be brainstorming the rights that the children have as students and people. During this discussion I will be looking for every student to participate and give me an example of a right that they have. The students must also be able to back that right up and tell me why it is their right. For example, if the student says they have the right to ask their teachers for help they could tell me that the right is part of SLANT (an acronym to remind them of classroom expectations). They will also be writing a paragraph about their own personal rights that are important to them in their social studies notebooks. Students will also give me the examples for each of the taxes in their notes.
For the third lesson I will really be looking at the students’ group work. I will have a checklist and go around the room and make sure that the students are focused. I will also ask groups questions about why they chose to highlight what they did. This way I will have a good idea of which groups will bring what to the conversation and help the groups that need more support.
The fourth day I will be taking about the checklist again. This time I will be marking off who contributed to the Paul Revere conversation and well as participating in the debate about the snacks.
IMPLEMENTATION PROCEDURES (How will you begin the lesson and how will you carry it out? Also, consider grouping strategies and deliberate closure of the lesson).
Day One-
I will call the students over to the rug to introduce the unit. Students will sit by table, criss cross, and close enough together so they will all fit. They will be facing the mini white board while I sit in a chair in front of them (this is only so I can write while we’re talking). I will begin by reminding them of the social scientists that we have been studying. Colum helps the students remember the four social scientists by having the students picture them wearing hats. For example, the economist would wear a hat with a dollar symbol on it, the political scientist would wear a crown, the historian would wear an older hat that’s maybe faded or worn, and the geographer would wear a hat with a compass stitched on the front. So I would begin the lesson by saying:
Boys and girls, today is a very exciting day because we are starting a brand new social
studies unit. We are going to learn about the American Revolution, which happened way
back in the late 1700’s. This is my FAVORITE time period in American history, and was my favorite social studies subject that I studied when I was in elementary school. It was a time of rebellion, secret meetings, and heroism. Now, before we begin, does anyone know anything about the American Revolution? I know that some of you studied this time period last year in third grade, but that most of you did not. We will be making a chart then hanging it up in the room so we can check off what we’ve discussed during the unit itself when we’re finished with this investigation. It will also give me a good idea of what you already know so we’re not covering topics that you’ve previously learned about. I want to see hands raised and attentive listening.
Make a KWL chart.
Now boys and girls, the first thing we need to discuss are the 13 colonies. Does anyone know what I mean by that? Well, back before the United States of America existed, Great Britain owned all the land on the East Coast of the United States (except Florida and Maine). So if all the states on the East Coast were part of the British colonies can anyone name some of them? (Wait for students to name New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia). This was called colonialism and all the British lands that were not part of the British soil were part of the British Empire. Great Britain had over thirty different lands around the world that were part of their empire. Why do you think Great Britain wanted to control all these lands? (Wait for answers and discuss).
Great Britain was especially interested in the American colonies because of the resources that the colonies exported to Britain. Does anyone know what the word exported means? Exported refers to shipping goods produced in one country to another. In this case, the colonies exported goods like wheat, fish, lumber, and rice. The three regions of the colonies all exported different products to Great Britain. Can anyone guess what some of the goods the colonies exported were? (Wait for answers and discuss).
The New England colonies did not have good land for growing enough products to export. Therefore, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut exported more material items. These colonies exported ships that they built, fish, whale products, and other goods. Why do you think the New England colonies were able to build so many ships?
Write these items on the board because we will come back to them later.
The Middle colonies include New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware had soil that was really good for growing fruits and vegetables. The main export out of that region was wheat, which is used for making breads.
Write these items on the board.
The Southern colonies of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia had a warmer climate that was great for growing tobacco, rice and indigo. Indigo plants are used to make the dye for blue jeans.
Write these items on the board.
Each region of the colonies exported goods that were easily produced in their areas and that they had excess of. Knowledge of these goods and where they came from will be important later on in the unit. So today to help you to organize this information we’re going to use your knowledge of map making. These maps will help you to remember which regions the 13 colonies were part of and what their major exports were. You will be able to look back on these maps later in the unit whenever you need to remind yourself of any of that information.
I’m going to give you this blank map of the Thirteen Colonies. Now, who can tell me some of the things that need to go on this map? Make sure that students mention a title, labels for the colonies, a compass rose, and a map key. Excellent, those are all things that a map needs. In this case, I also want you to do a few more things. I want you to color code the colonies. The New England Colonies should be labeled and colored in green. The Middle Colonies should be colored red, and the Southern Colonies should be colored in orange.
Now this next part is important! Is there room to write the names of the colonies inside each of their borders? No. Instead, look at your maps and you will see that there is a line drawn from each of the 13 colonies and there are two letters at the end of each line. Each of the United States has a two-letter abbreviation so you don’t have to write the full name out. I have labeled each of the colonies with the abbreviation already, but if you choose you may write the full name of the colony out next to the abbreviation if it will help you remember.
After you do this you’re then going to label the colonies and their exports. But are you going to write each of the exports out or would it be easier just to use a symbol? Exactly, symbols save you from having to write the same thing over and over. Writing takes up a lot of space on a map. Now, we have the list of the exports written on the board. Let’s think of some symbols for these exports.
Draw the symbols on the board that the students come up with. Also, make sure that all elements they will need on their maps are listed on the board. Quickly review what needs to be on their map key (symbols for the exports and colors that show the regions of the colonies). Show the students the materials they will have on their tables as well as the grading rubrics. Also, tell them that the directions will be on the white board as well as the symbols they have come up with. Tell students that I will turn the lights off when they are getting too loud. Dismiss the students by table.
When there are five minutes left in the period use the pod-wide attention technique to get the students’ attention. Tell the students that we are out of time for social studies today. If they have not finished their maps they will tonight for homework. Point out the homework written on the board and tell them to put their maps and the books in their binders. Give out behavior grades and then once they have their grades they can stand up and line up at the door.
Each table should also have a basket with crayons and colored pencils (already sharpened to save time) as well as rulers and enough copies of If You Lived in the Time of the American Revolution for everyone. Tell students that they can find two examples of maps of the colonies in the book on pages 12 and 13. Homework for the night will be to finish the maps and to read up to page 17 of the book.
Day 2-
Today is the discussion of rights that the students have and then tying those rights into the rights that were taken away from the colonists when Great Britain imposed taxes. Students will begin to understand the causes of the Revolution as well as start to empathize with the predicament the colonists were in. The lesson will begin on the rug in the same manner the previous lesson had.
Alright class, today we’re going to talk about rights that people have. Can anyone tell me
what a right is or give me an example of one? A right is a claim, or something that a
person deserves to do. Living in the United States we have many different rights. You
each have rights as students, children, and people. For example, you each have the
right to an education, to be loved, and to have huge appetites. Can you think of any
other rights that you have? Let’s make a list of rights that we can hang up so everyone can see them.
Record on the white board the list of rights that the students come up with. Make sure to write them down somewhere else so the rights can be transferred to chart paper later. Tell the students to keep these rights in mind as they go back to their seat (dismiss by table). The students will be writing a paragraph about a right that they have that’s important to them. Students will state the right and then explain why it’s an important one. Move the white board with the list of rights we came up with over to the front of the classroom. Students will do this writing in their social studies notebooks on the left hand side of the page.
All these rights that we’ve written down on the board and in your paragraphs are important rights. Now I want you to think about how you would feel if those rights were suddenly taken away from you? What if you didn’t have the right to go to school, eat a healthy meal, or to get a full night’s sleep? What if someone besides your mom or dad told you that you had to go work on a farm for 12 hours of the day? You’re probably feeling like it’s not fair, maybe a little angry, and confused. You are completely right to feel that way, and that’s how the colonists were feeling when Great Britain suddenly began to tax the colonies. You see, even though the colonies belonged to Great Britain, for years the colonies had really been able to run themselves. Just like each town now has a mayor or a selectman to run it and make the laws, the colonies had people they elected to be in charge. However, after fighting in a war to protect the colonies from the French, Great Britain needed money. They believed that the colonies should be required to pay for an army to protect them from any threats. That sounds pretty fair, right? (allow students to share their thoughts and ideas with the class). Well the problem was, Great Britain didn’t ask the colonies what they thought.
The British government (called Parliament) decided to just begin taxing the colonies. Taxes require people to pay a fraction of the cost of an item and give it to the government. Since the colonies didn’t have taxes before this, they were upset that items cost more and that they didn’t have a say in this. The British government’s first tax placed on the colonies was in 1765 and was called the Stamp Act. This tax required the colonists to pay tax on ANY paper good. This includes newspapers, letters, land deeds, and even a deck of cards! Can you imagine? The stamp was to show that the tax had been paid.
Have students copy down the notes on the Stamp Act written on the board. Notes will be set up in the normal three-column fashion. The left column will be labeled tax, the middle column will tell the year the tax was enforced as well as what was generally taxed, and the right column will show the examples of items taxed. For the Stamp Act the notes will say Stamp Act, a tax on all paper goods, and then give examples like cards, land deeds, and newspaper. However, rather than have the examples on the board I’m going to ask the students to give me three examples of paper products.
The colonies came together and called on Parliament to repeal, or take away, the tax and a year later the Stamp Act was repealed. But the trouble didn’t end there. In 1767 the British government passed the Townshend Act. This new act taxed the colonists on everything they imported (or bought) from Britain. These products included things like tea, glass, lead, and paint. The colonists had to pay extra money for items that they used everyday! Imagine that you had two dollars to spend on hot chocolate at Dunkin Donuts. Hot chocolate used to be $1.80, and you would use the extra 20 cents to buy a stick of gum. Now, if all of a sudden you had to pay two dollars for that hot chocolate and you couldn’t get your gum! You knew that the only reason you had to pay more for that hot chocolate was because someone in Great Britain wanted that 20 cents! Turn and talk to your neighbor about how you would feel about this.
The notes for the Townshend Acts will go like this: Townshend Acts, tax on everything the colonies imported from Britain, and then the students would give me examples for the third column.
After this new tax was passed the colonies wrote letters of protest to Parliament and formed what was called the Committees of Correspondence. These committees helped the colonies to stay in contact with each other and to work for the same cause. The British Parliament received these letters and then they repealed the Townshend Acts, but they kept the tax on tea. Even though most of the tax had gone away the colonies were still upset because almost every person drank tea every day. That would be like Mrs. Curtis charging Mr. Whyte and myself for the coffee that we drink!
Instead of notes, we’re going to briefly discuss the Boston Tea Party.
There was a group of colonists called the Sons of Liberty who were opposed to Great Britain ruling the colonies. They were especially angered by the taxes, and after Parliament repealed the Townshend Acts but kept the tax on tea they decided to fight back. This group of about 50 men dressed up as Native Americans to disguise themselves and snuck on to British trade ships docked in Boston Harbor late at night on December 16, 1773. The men dumped all 342 chests of tea from the ships into Boston Harbor. If all your notes get done and we finish on time we will do an activity that will really help you visualize what happened to Boston Harbor as a result of the Boston Tea Party-it’s an experiment, but we have to get our other work done first in order to do it!
After this event the British government closed Boston Harbor and blocked all trade ships from coming and going through there. This made the colonists even angrier and they decided that they were not going to buy British goods anymore. They boycotted all goods from Great Britain. But the last straw for the colonists was the Intolerable Acts. This act stated that the colonists had to give food and shelter to the British soldiers that were stationed in the colonies.
Notes: left column-Intolerable Acts, middle column-colonists had to give food and shelter to the British soldiers, right column-if a soldier came to the door asking for bread the homeowner had to give it to them. Have all students finish notes at this time. Students that finish early can help set up for the tea experiment.
Pull out the containers and the loose tea. Make sure there is enough for each table. Explain that you want them to see and be able to visualize what Boston Harbor looked like after dumping all the tea into it. Make sure that there are paper towels down on every table. Use an example bucket to show the students how to do the activity. Make sure that each student puts a scoop of tea into the bucket and that they all get to stir the water a bit. Leave the tea there for the remainder of the lesson and then move them to the back of the room so they can see how the water darkens by the next day.
Boys and girls we are out of time for today. Tomorrow we will begin discussing what the colonists decided to do about all the taxes and how they were going to change the way things were run. For homework tonight continue reading the book you read last night from page 18 to 30. Also, draw pictures for each of the taxes that we talked about. For example, for the tax on tea you could draw a picture of a cup of tea and money next to it.
Dismiss by tables after you have given grades.
I really wanted to students to be able to empathize with the colonists about their rights being taken away and so students could see why the Patriots were angry. The students will also be able to see that colonists tried to tell Great Britain how they felt about all these taxes, but Parliament wasn’t listening so the colonists felt they had no choice but to fight back.
Day 3
When the students come in I will tell them to sit in their normal seats. I will stand in the front of the room and explain what we will be doing today and giving them instruction.
Ok boys and girls, we’ve learned a lot about the American Revolution. Who can remind me of some of the reasons that the colonists were unhappy? Look back in your notes if you need help. (Wait for answers before continuing or giving them some of your own). Excellent, now that you all know so much about what made the colonists unhappy we’re going to learn about what the colonists decided to do about it. Now remind me what the three regions of the colonies were.
Wait for the students to say New England, Middle, and Southern. Think back to the first day of this unit when we made the maps that are now hanging up. Does anyone remember what the different symbols on the maps stood for? Students should answer with different products and exports that the colonies made. Exactly. The different regions of the colonies all exported different goods and they all had different ways of life. For example, the New England colonies made a lot of money off shipping and were much less conservative than the other colonies. The Southern colonies exported goods that were grown on plantations. Plantation owners usually owned many slaves so they could get all the work done. There were also less people in the Southern colonies that wanted to change the way that the colonies were run; they were more conservative.
Now, there were two groups of colonists: Loyalists and Patriots. Loyalists wanted to remain citizens of Britain and liked the way the king was running things. They could have also been afraid of the British soldiers that were now stationed in the colonies, or they could have had family in England and they were afraid that by standing against the king they would be putting that family at risk. These colonists, for whatever reason, remained loyal to Great Britain and that is why there were called Loyalists.
But the majority of the colonists were Patriots. These were men and women that originally just wanted the taxes to go away but eventually came to want to break away from Britain and form their own nation. Remember the Sons of Liberty that dumped the tea into Boston Harbor? Those men were Patriots. This group of colonists eventually wanted to break away from Great Britain and form their own nation.
Today I’m going to split you up into groups of twos. You’re going to read information about the Patriots or the Loyalists. Whichever side you are reading about is the side that you will become experts on. You will have 10 minutes to read about your group and then as a pair highlight your sheet to show the MOST IMPORTANT information. Be prepared to discuss what you have chosen to highlight.
Pass out the worksheets and highlighters to each of the groups. Reiterate the need to decide as a group what to highlight and suggest that they read the sheet first and then reread and highlight once they are done. Walk around as the groups are working and make sure they are on task and can explain what they highlighted. Also get a feel for which groups should be called on first. Give them five extra minutes if you feel it’s necessary. Once time is over, call students to attention by using the “stop, look, and listen” method.
Now that you’ve all had time to become experts on either the Loyalists or the Patriots we’re going to discuss the differences between the two groups. I’m going to write them all down on the board as we’re doing this to make sure that the facts are not repeated.
Write down all facts about each side on the board using two columns. Label the one on the left Loyalists and the one on the right Patriots. Make sure that for the Loyalists they have:
- Liked the culture that they shared with Great Britain
- Benefited from the trade with GB
- Many had close relatives in England
- Strong sense of duty/loyalty to British Crown
- Were afraid of what the new government would look like
Patriots’ facts should include these:
- Felt their personal freedoms were being taken away
- Thought that the taxes were the British governments unfair laws being forced on them
- No representation in British Parliament
- Had to shelter and feed British troops
- Closing of the Port of Boston
- British control of trade
If the students add more on or use their own inferences that’s great! Make sure that you have your own highlighted copies of the notes so you can tell students exactly where to look to find information. When the lists are completed have the students copy them down on the right hand side of their notebooks. This activity to understand that there were two sides to the revolution other than colonists vs Great Britain. Write homework on the board when there is 5 minutes of class left. Have students write the writing prompt on the notebook page so they can refer to it later and then write the page number that they will be working on in the notebook down in their agendas. Walk around and give grades. Dismiss students by tables after they have homework written down and have been graded.
For homework: on the page opposite of the page they took their notes on have them write about which side they would choose to be on and why. Much give at least three reasons for choosing that side. Also, read pages 48-63 of the …If You Lived at the Time of the American Revolution book.
Day Four-
Call students in and have them sit on the rug. They don’t need anything with them.
Boys and girls you all did a wonderful job yesterday investigating the differences between the Loyalists and the Patriots. Today we’re going to be talking about the Patriots and the steps that they took after the fighting broke out between Great Britain and the colonies. Even though British troops had been stationed in the colonies for some time, there was no fighting that had occurred between the British army and the members of the colonies who opposed their occupancy.
However, the British army was ordered to travel to Concord, MA to take away all the ammunition the town had there so that the Patriots wouldn’t be able to use it if fighting broke out. A man named Paul Revere and two of his friends (Prescott and Dawes) rode to Concord to warn them and also passed along the warning to all the towns along the way. I’m now going to read you a story of Paul Revere and the long ride that he made that night.
Read “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere” and discuss what the story was about and the major events. This will help them to visualize the ride that was made (based on the map in the front of the book that I will refer to throughout the reading) as well as the distance covered by the Redcoats and the Minutemen.
Patriots quickly moved to protect their towns, and at Lexington, MA the first shots of the Revolution were fired. Patriot and British forces were engaged in a stand down when all of a sudden a gun was fired. No one knows which side shot first, but after that first shot shooting erupted on both sides. The Patriots were outnumbered so they fell back, but the British were stopped at Concord and then they retreated back to Boston.
After the Battle of Lexington and Concord the Patriots decided that they needed to get together and figure out how they were going to make the changes that they were looking for, especially after fighting had broken out between Britain and the colonies. They used the connections that they had made with the Committees of Correspondence (remember those?) and met in Philadelphia for the second time. Each of the colonies sent representatives to this meeting so that all of their views would be heard. The number of representatives depended on the size of the colony. This group of men called themselves the Continental Congress, and this congress served as the government for the colonies during the Revolution. The Continental Congress is actually a lot like our current House of Representatives that we have in our government today. Today, men and women are elected to serve and the state’s population determines the number of representatives from each state.
Today you’re going to see what it was like for that first group of men getting together and making a decision they all agreed on. Since the members of the Congress were making the choices for all of the colonies they didn’t take the responsibilities lightly. Today you are going to make a choice. And while it may not be a life and death decision, it will affect you tomorrow. Are you ready? Are you sure? Ok, I’m going to give you three choices and then split you up so you can discuss the choices and give me reasons for picking them. Are you SURE you’re ready? Ok, now when you hear the choice that I’m giving you there will be NO shouting out your pick got it? Are you REALLY, REALLY ready? Ok, today we’re going to pick…what the snack will be while we’re watching movie clips tomorrow! No shouting, and remember that the movie will ONLY happen if you all take this seriously. Here are the choices: popcorn, some form of fun size candy, or cupcakes.
Split students up into groups based on the snack they pick. Write instructions on the board. Students need to back up their choice and try to convince the rest of the class to pick their snack. Tell them they are getting ten minutes to structure and prepare their arguments. At the end we’re going to vote again and then the winning team will get the snack they chose. Call up the popcorn team first, then candy, then cupcakes. Have the groups stand in the front of the room and designate one student to speak. This will prepare them for tomorrow’s lesson about the decision to write the Declaration and they will be able to see how hard it was for the members of the Continental Congress to all agree on declaring independence from Great Britain.
Homework: Read the information sheets about John Adams, Ben Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson.
MATERIALS/RESOURCES
-green, red, and orange coloring pencils (pre-sharpened)
-blank maps of the 13 colonies
-rulers
-copies of …If You Lived at the Time of the American Revolution
-rubrics for grading the maps
-6 containers
-loose tea
-plastic spoons
-paper towels
-Loyalist and Patriot information sheets
-copy of the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere
