Making Connections s2

Making Connections

Developed by

Jenny Smith & Tammy Harbaugh

jenny.smith@olympia tamara.harbaugh@olympia

Olympia Middle School

Introduction

Grade Level: 7th Grade

Subject Matter: Reading

Purpose: Through this activity students will strengthen their knowledge of historical fiction in order to eventually gain a greater understanding of Sacagawea’s life and her role in the Lewis and Clark expedition.

State Standards: English Languag Arts

2.B.3a Respond to literary material from personal, creative and critical points of view

2.A.3b Describe how the development of them, character, plot and setting contribute to the overall impact of a piece of literature

The Task

Most people understand the meaning of the word history. Most could also tell you why a book would be considered fiction. But how many people really know what historical fiction actually is? What makes a piece of writing historical fiction rather than simply fiction? Through the following web quest students will gain a greater understanding of historical fiction and will be able to differentiate between the factual and embellished information within a historical fiction piece of writing. This activity will serve as a bridge between the students’ study of Lewis and Clark in Social Studies and the novel Streams to the River, River to the Sea about the life of Sacagawea, an important person involved in their expedition.

Process

Lesson: (1 class period) – Historical Fiction Introduction

1. View the power point (Making Connections) to provide a definition and pictures for the following activities.

2. As a class, students will discuss historical fiction. What is historical fictional? What makes it different from a fictional story?

3. Students will then view pictures of a variety of famous people throughout history (power point). For each person record all of the factual information that students are able to generate through a class discussion.

4. Read the story Abe Lincoln’s Hat, by Martha Brenner aloud to the class.

5. Then as a class compose a list of the factual information from within the story. Along with this list also identify the parts of the story that make it historical fiction (the fictional aspects).

6. Students should then break up into groups of two or three. Give each group a historical fiction picture book.

7. As a group students should create their own list of the factual information within their particular story. They should list as many facts as they can find.

8. Then they should organize a second list of fictional information that was probably added to create a more interesting story.

9. When the activity is complete the groups should share the information that they came up with. At this point students should help their classmates by adding any suggestions or questioning information that they feel may have been placed in the wrong category.

10. To conclude this activity, students will view the final picture provided in the power point. Independently students will write at least 8 facts about the picture.

11. Then, using what they have learned about historical fiction they should add some fictional information to these facts to create a paragraph that could be found in a historical fiction story.

Evaluation

Grading Rubric / Beginning
1 / Developing
2 / Accomplished
3 / Exemplary
4 / Score
Informal Group Assessment
Factual Information from story / Identified 2-3 factual examples / Identified 4-6 factual examples / Identified 7-10 factual examples / Identified 10 or more factual examples
Extra information list / Identified 1-2 fictional details / Identified 2-3 fictional details / Identified 4-5 fictional details / Identified 6 or more fictional details
Formal Independent Assessment
Factual information from picture / Identified 1-2 factual examples / Identified 2-3 factual examples / Identified 4-5 factual examples / Identified 6 or more factual examples
Historical fiction paragraph / Paragraph is vague and contains few if any of the following: historical event, person, time period, and setting, and does not embellish the factual information / Paragraph includes some of the following: historical event, person, time period, setting, and embellishes some facts / Paragraph included many of the following: historical event, person, time period, setting, and embellishes many facts / Well developed paragraph including a historical event, person, time period, and setting, which embellishes facts to interest a reader

Conclusion

These activities were done to provide a background of historical fiction. This background will help students make connections from what they are studying in social studies, language arts, and reading. Students will be reading the historical fiction novel, Streams to the River, River to the Sea, by Scott O’Dell. It took many people to make the Lewis and Clark expedition a success and one person who played a major role was Sacagawea. The novel Streams to the River, River to the Sea provides a glimpse into the life of Sacagawea and explains her role within the expedition.

Teacher Resources

Power Point – Making Connections

Abe Lincoln’s Hat, by Martha Brenner

Multiple historical fiction picture books

Credits

Image / Description / URL

Western History/Genealogy Department, Denver Public Library / Sacajawea, the bird woman / http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hawp:@field(NUMBER+@band(codhawp+10033784))

Western History/Genealogy Department, Denver Public Library / Home of the River Crows / Throssel / http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hawp:@field(NUMBER+@band(codhawp+10031211))

No known restrictions on publication. / [Harriet Tubman, full-length portrait, seated in chair, facing front, probably at her home in Auburn, New York]. / http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/awhbib:@field(NUMBER+@od1(ppmsca+02909))

Advertising Ephemera Collection - Database #A0160. Emergence of Advertising On-Line Project, John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History. Duke University Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library. http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/eaa/ / George Washington woodcut / http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/eaa:@field(DOCID+@lit(A0073))

Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, National American Woman Suffrage Association Collection / [Postcard of Abraham Lincoln statue with suffrage caption] / http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/nawbib:@field(NUMBER+@od1(rbnawsa+n900a))

DN-0067854, Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Chicago Historical Society. / Man dressed as Paul Revere, riding a horse on Michigan Avenue, looking north]. / http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/cdn:@field(NUMBER+@band(ichicdn+n067854))

The University Libraries, The University of Iowa.
Copyright (c) 2000. The University of Iowa. All rights reserved. / John Howard Griffin, author of “Black Like Me” / http://sdrcdata.lib.uiowa.edu/libsdrc/details.jsp?id=/griffinjh/1