In Plain Sight: the Story of the Not-So Underground Railroad
In Plain Sight: The Story of the Not-So Underground Railroad
Plan of Study
Day 1Background Knowledge / Day 2
Underground Railroad / Day 3
“History Happens: On the Underground Railroad” / Day 4
Abolitionists / Day 5
Follow the Drinking Gourd
1. Introduce Underground Railroad by asking students: What do you think the Underground Railroad is? Solicit responses. Give each child a personal freedom journal to write responses to what they have learned throughout the unit. They will draw an illustration of what they think the Underground Railroad is in the personal freedom journal.
2. Complete a KWL chart with the class by having them fill in/tell what they know about the Underground Railroad. I will write what they know and they will list what they want to learn.
3. Introduce unit and vocabulary words. Students complete vocabulary-matching sheet (prediction). / 1. Review information from day one and have students complete Stoplight Vocabulary.
2. Pass out Alphaboxes sheet. Explain to students that as they go through this unit, they will need to list any interesting word, places, characters, etc. This will help when they are doing writing activities and activities at the end of their unit. Model how to use it.
3. Read We The People: The Underground Railroad.
4. Students complete Vocabulary Prediction Chart after reading book. Review responses to see if their predictions were similar to actual definition.
Exit Slip/Ticket Out the Door: Chose one of the vocabulary words students learned and ask them to write down the meaning of one of thevocabulary words they learned. / 1. Review what they learned about UGRR from the book We The People: The Underground Railroad.
2. Watch the music video “History Happens: On the Underground Railroad” at
3. After viewing the video, students will work in pairs or collaborative groups to develop two questions from the video. Then have them exchange questions with another pair/group and answer their questions. List questions and responses in personal freedom journal.
4. Discuss questions and responses as a class.
5. Underground codes and messages-Discuss how codes and messages were used. Students complete Coded Message activity. / 1. Ask if anyone remember the definition of conductors and stationmasters from the previous day. Review terms and discuss how they were abolitionists or people who were against slavery and thought everyone should be free. Explain who the Quaker were and the role they played. Tell them about the famous abolitionistand Quaker from North Carolina name Levi Coffin. Also, discuss other heroes of the Underground Railroad such as Harriet Tubman, Quakers, etc.
2. Read President of the Underground Railroad by G. Swain. It isa fictional account of the life of Levi Coffin, a Quaker from North Carolina considered the president of the Underground Railroad.
2. Read The Drinking Gourd by F.N. Monjo.
3. Use comprehension lesson plan on Character Traits.
Exit Slip/Ticket Out the Door:
Name a group or significant person who assisted slaves on the Underground Railroad. / 1. Have students predict ways in which slaves and abolitionists might have communicated information from one to another. List ideas.
2. Discuss how people on the Underground Railroad used songs and spirituals to relay messages.
3. Give students a list of steps taken by a slave to reach freedom and then have them number the events in sequential order.
4.Explain what a drinking gourd is. Show pictures of the constellation and explain how it looks like what slaves used as a drinking utensil.
5. Play the song "Follow the Drinking Gourd". Divide the students into collaborative groups. Each group will receive a stanzafrom the song and must infer what they think the lyrics mean.
6. Afterwards, they will read the stanza they were given and what they think it meant. Then they will be told the correct meaning.
7. The class will listen to the song again.
Day 6
Quilts / Day 7
Underground Railroad RoutesinNorth Carolina / Day 8
Underground Railroad Routes / Day 9
Children on the Underground Railroad / Day 10
My Escape From Slavery
1. Students complete an anticipation guide.
2. Read Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt by Deborah Hopkinson
2. Discuss how quilting is important to North Carolina and its history. Discuss the story by making a web on the board, which identifies the physical features of land described in the story. Ask the students to explain how these physical features helped Clara make her quilt. Reviewquilt squaresfrom the story and discuss what they mean.
3. Discuss responses from anticipation guide.
4. Give each student a quilt square and have him or her design a map feature that will be later used on a class quilt. In their journal, they are to make a drawing of their quilt square and write a brief statement about what the picture represents.
5. Students will make a map of 4 to 6 blocks like those that Clara did to represent places and things on the route from their home to school. Students make a list of places or things to include in their map (the first place being home and the last place being school). / 1. Give students a map showing the routes of the Underground Railroad, students will label the states they think the Underground Railroad was located.
2. Discuss the states through which the Underground Railroad passed through. Discuss regions of North Carolina and how it may have affected travel on the Underground Railroad.
3. Read Aunt Harriet's Underground Railroad in the Sky by F. Ringgold.
3. In pairs, students will come up with their own Underground Railroad escape routes. Maps must include map keys. They must discuss advantages and disadvantages of traveling their route and what type of transportation that may be used in certain areas.
4. Complete Vocabulary Activity: Frayer’s Model.
Exit Slip/Ticket Out the Door: Tell one new thing you learned from the story Aunt Harriet’s Underground Railroad in the
Sky. / 1. Students will present their escape routes they created the day before and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using their route and some types of transportation that can be used.
2. Show map of Underground Railroad routes throughout the United States.
3. Pair students and have them complete the National Geography Underground Railroad at features/99/railroad/j1.html / 1. Read Meet Addy by Connie Porter.
2. This story takes place in North Carolinanear the end of slavery during the Civil War. Discuss the time period with students.
2. Students will construct a double bubble map or Venn diagram to compare and contrast themselves to slave children and how they lived.
3. Complete Vocabulary Anchor. / 1. Tell students about Harriet Jacobs who spent years hiding out in her grandmother’s house as she planned her escape from North Carolina to New York in 1842.
2. Pass out “My Escape From Slavery” sheet, which is an excerpt from the book Life of a Slave Girl, the Autobiography of Harriet Jacobs.
3. Read the excerpt to the students and have them to respond to the question at the bottom of the page in their personal freedom journals.
*book information is located in the book list if you chose to read the book or a few more excerpts to the class
Day 11
Personal Freedom Journals / Day 12
Underground Railroad Tic-Tac-Toe / Day 13
Was It All that You Thought? / Day 14
Four-Door Book / Day 15
Underground Railroad Products
1. Each student will compose a diary entry either through the voice of a slave in thesouth, passenger, conductor, or stationmaster on the Underground Railroad. They need to mention the Underground Railroad and freedom in their entry.
2. Complete Vocabulary Crossword Puzzle / 1. Each student will receive a Tic-Tac-Toe board with various words representing symbols, coded messages, people, or items that relate to the Underground Railroad. They are to select three boxes across, down, or diagonal to get Tic-Tac-Toe. In the center space, students can choose their own word. The student are to list the meaning of the word/phrase and/or draw an illustration of what the word is to show their understanding of symbols and coded messages. / 1. Discuss L-section on KWL chart.
2. Finish Alphaboxes sheet if not already completed
3. Vocabulary Assessment / 1. The students will make a four door book that tell what, when, where, and why about the Underground Railroad
2. Students work on products for Underground Railroad unit over the next two days. / Students will continue working on products for Underground Railroad unit.
Students work in student packets throughout the unit and turn in today.