Intermediate Guided Reading Lesson Plan Title: Sweet Clara and the Freedom Genre: Text Structure: Level: Quilt Historical Narrative Informational Author: Hopkinson, Deborah Fiction S Publisher: Scholastic, Inc. ISBN: 0-590-42485-8 Literacy Core Objective: 5th Grade Enduring Understanding: Purpose for reading S7/O2 Apply strategies to comprehend text The Underground Railroad, though risky and dangerous, helped many enslaved people escape Social Studies Core Objective:.5th Grade and find Freedom. Students will understand the S4/O2 Assess the geographic, cultural, political, and value of, desire for and willingness to risk economic divisions between regions that everything for Freedom from the perspective of contributed to the Civil War. those who were enslaved. S4/O3 Evaluate the course of events of the Civil War and its impact both immediate and long-term. ELL Strategies: “I Can Statements” - Essential Questions: What is freedom and why is it so valuable? Do a picture walk of the book before reading, and tell What were the risks associated with the the story in your own words, using the pictures. underground railroad? Why was freedom worth the risk? Before Reading Vocabulary: Use the graphic organizer for the vocabulary. Word, Kid friendly definition, and sketch. You may want to do the vocabulary in sections each day. clumsy (p.6) overseer (p. 8) bustle (p.13) squirrel (p. 19) seamstress (p.6) contrary (p. 10) paterollers (p.13) skirting (p.29)
Activate/Build Prior Knowledge: The following are taken from http://www.africanaheritage.com/sweetclara.asp. Read the concepts and then ask students to make a text to self connection by imagining the imagine statements.
Concept: Clara is separated from her mother before her twelfth birthday. During the times of slavery, it was quite common for the children of slaves to be taken away from their parents. Many slave children were taken away while still an infant. (This practice of separation was used to alienate slaves, deprive them of an emotional support system, and make them feel less human.) Imagine: When you get home from school one day, someone takes you away to a place far away from your family and tells you that you must stay at the faraway place forever. Imagine what it might feel like thinking that you will never see your family again.
Concept: When Clara arrives at Home Plantation she is forced to work in the fields. Most slave children were forced to work, some even years before their twelfth birthday. Oftentimes, slaves were required to work from sunrise to sunset— sometimes even earlier and later. Most slaves were not allowed to read or write. At some points in history, it was illegal to teach a slave to read or write and illegal for slaves to teach themselves. Imagine: You are not allowed to come to school. Imagine that, instead, you are required to work outdoors, in a field, picking cotton or planting seeds. Imagine that you are in the heat all day in the summer and in the cold all day in the winter. Imagine that you are not allowed to learn to spell your own name. How would this feel knowing that other kids that only look different than you are allowed to go to school and never have to work?
Comprehension Strategy: Connections During Reading Attend to Comprehension Within, Beyond, & About the text: Using appropriate Guided reading strategies, students will be reading at their own pace and teachers will be listening to students read, monitoring, giving feedback, taking anecdotal notes and running records.
Suggested Pacing: The entire book could most likely be read during one guided reading sitting
Encourage students to think of themselves as Clara as they are reading and think about what they would have done in the different situation she is in.
After Reading Attend to Comprehension Within, Beyond, & About the text:
The following is taken from http://www.africanaheritage.com/sweetclara.asp. Read the concepts and then ask students to make a text to self connection by imagining the imagine statements.
Concept: Aunt Rachel told Clara not to think about running away. Do you remember why? Imagine: Would you still think about running away? Why?
Concept: To cross the river during their escape, Clara, Jack, and Clara’s family used a boat hidden by people that belonged to the Underground Railroad. Many types of people belonged to the Underground Railroad: white people from the North, white people from the South, slaves that had already escaped to the North, and slaves that did not try to escape so that they could stay to help others escape. Because helping a slave escape was illegal, everyone involved with the Underground Railroad put himself or herself in great danger. Why did so many people help slaves escape even though it was dangerous? Imagine: You are a white person living in the South during the times of slavery. Imagine that your friends own plantations and many slaves but you think that slavery is wrong. Would you be a part of the Underground Railroad? What things might you be able to do to help slaves escape?
Content Core Integration:(Science, Soc. St., Math, etc.) Assessment: Activities: Play a recording of the song, Swing Low, Ask students to answer in writing whether they think Sweet Chariot. Discuss the song's significance they would have assisted in helping the slaves to to the Underground Railroad. freedom if they had been free individuals living at the Lyrics and information on Harriet Tubman time of the Underground Railroad. http://www.osblackhistory.com/swinglow.php consider the pros and cons of their decisions, Video of Civil War pictures with this song including the dangers for themselves if they http://video.google.com/videoplay? decided to help docid=1702179363179298041 read about the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and Computer Lab – Allow students to explore the look at the posters at Journey of the Underground Railroad, making http://education.ucdavis.edu/new/stc/lesson/soc individual decisions along the way. Also great stud/railroad/SlaveLaw.htm. How would this resources for teachers at this sight. act have influenced their decision? http://www.nationalgeographic.com/features/99 (This idea was taken from National Geographic at: /railroad/j1.html http://www.nationalgeographic.com/features/99/railro ad/lp2.html#two)
*Not all activities will be done in each lesson. Some lessons may take multiple days to complete. However, all students should be reading each time you meet. Name ______Date ______
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