American Revolution

I teach fourth grade so you may want to modify some of these ideas. However, they may match the reading levels of you students.

I have had students create a power point presentation of two different Revolutionary War figures (not sure if this is a take home project or at school- we did it at school). I found several links with information (but not primary sources) and asked students to use these pages to research. I did this last year with a good deal of success. Then we watched all the power point slides shows like a movie with the creator "talking" about it. We have a firefly that projects images from the computer that I projected on my overhead. Kids loved it.

Another option is to create an ABC book. Students find a person, place or thing that fits each letter of the alphabet, writes a paragraph and illustrates the page and binds it as a book.

Or, a shorter project is an Alpha boxes-like activity. Take a large sheet of chart paper and divide it into boxes. Students label each box with a letter of the alphabet and then write one sentence using a Revolution War term (person, place or thing) and then illustrate the box.

Here is a link to the project that I do on power point if you would like to check it out:

The website:
http://www.gwinnett.k12.ga.us/CentervilleES/mholland/reference_rev_war.html

Description of Project:
http://www.mandygregory.com/Social%20Studies/Revolutionpowerpointproject.doc

Good luck!!!

Some ideas- two good books are George Washington's Socks & Winter of the Red Snow. There are some great Jean Fritz books & videos that accompany them. I'm going to do my biography box again this year (As soon as the Science Fair is over!) The students use a new pizza box (I purchase these from Domino's for 25 cents each.) They fill it with research of the life of a Rev. War figure. To get started we make a round circle of white art paper, divide it into fourths or sixths, your choice. They use this as the "fact wheel" and add other items. Some examples- they write a poem, do a fact sheet, create a 3-D art project, draw a map, write a pretend interview with their person, write a diary entry, etc. You can really get some good projects, I require that everything has to fit inside the box. When it is opened the entire box & contents can be displayed on a shelf & easily stored in your room. If you have any questions, just email.

You MUST use the read aloud My Brother Sam is Dead!!! 5th graders love the book. I read it aloud and my students take notes on whatever the mini-lesson is for the day. The book is great for developing characters, compare and contrast, character traits, Loyalists vs. Patriots, lots of information about how colonists handled the war. At the end I have my students write Bio-poems as if they were one of the main characters - Sam, Tim, Mom or Dad. I've also had them write a two-voice poem choosing 2 of the main characters and having a conversation among themselves in somewhat of poetry format. This idea stemmed from the picture book Knots on a Counting Rope. Let me know if you want further information - this is my favorite SS unit to teach and I LOVE integrating my read aloud into it!

There are so many wonderful picture books related to the Revolutionary War. I use them with my fourth graders every year and they really help the students to get a feel for what it is like. One of the books is called Charlotte's Trunk about a young patriot boy who saves a loyalist girl. I can't remember the names of the other two books that I use. I haven't gotten that far yet. There is also an incredible book called Toliver's secret that either works as a guided reading book or a read aloud. I have created a whole packet of materials to go with this book. I also assign the students a character from the American revolution and we do biographies. This doesn't have too involve too much writing as it could be as simple as completing resumes for the characters but it does wonders for personalizing the war for students. They really perk up when you talk about their character. There is a wonderful resource for this project called Heorines of the American Revolution that is currently in the Social Studies section of Scholastic book clubs.
I also use a simulation game near the end of the unit where I divide the students into groups of three or four. Each student secretly receives a card that identifies them as either a patriot or a loyalist. One patriot is chosen to deliver a message to the next group. If the student succeeds in finding another patriot then the message gets through. If the message is passed to a loyalist then the students is captured as a spy and another student must try to get the message through. I follow up this activity by asking the students to write about how they felt while they were participating in the activity and how they feel it must have felt to live during the time of the American Revolutionary War.

You did not say what grade you are teaching. Here are 2 different approaches and a closing idea that might help.
If this just a Social Studies class. Invite the kids to a Sons of Liberty meeting, where you go over the problems the colonists were having with England. Guide the children into the plan of dumping the tea complete with the vote. My first year teaching this lesson I was a student teacher, I even made invitations that I wrote out on brown paper and wax sealed the notes. I put all the notes in the desks before the kids came in and kept them in suspense all day. ( I don't have the time to do that anymore.)
If you are intergrating, this is a point of view lesson. Read What led to the Revolution? From If You Lived During the Time of The American Revolution. Then read from Can't You Make Then Behave,King George? just section on the Boston Tea party. Each is about 2 pages with illustrations.Then we discuss the two positions.
In either case a way to get them to remember the tea party is to play them No More Kings from The Schoolhouse rock sereies of dvds or cds. Give then a copy of the words to follow along. I've worn out my copy of the video.
Hope this helps.:)

I'm just wrapping up our Revolution unit. Students do two projects in class during this unit. Small groups design, layout and write articles for a front page newspaper as it would look and report on this period in American history. Each group is given a poster board on which they layout their articles, illustrations, advertisements, letters to the editor, political cartoons, etc. The project provides great writing skills, research skills, and group collabiration. The kids also do an individual project. Each student chooses 10 events leading up to America's independence. On a large, white, construction paper a wide and winding path is drawn. The path is divided into ten sections. Each section is titled, dated (sequentially), one sentence about event and illustrated. Background is filled in by their choice .. . city, countryside,etc. Titled . . .e.g.The Road To Independence. It is a road map of the Revolution (timeline in disguise). The kids do a terrific job and have a great time learning while being creative . . .great combination! Specific criteria and a rubrics is used with this activity. Hope these help . . .adds fun to my hours spent on the Revolution.

WELL, I THINK THAT THE STAMP ACT IN 1765 SHOULD BE ENACTED. FOR EXAMPLE, YOU SHOULD TELL ALL OF THE STUDENTS THAT THEY HAVE TO PAY IN ORDER TO TAKE BOOKS OUT OF THE LIBRARY. PERHAPS, YOU CAN SAY THE PRINCIPAL WARNED YOU TO TELL HTE STUDENTS OR YOU CAN SAY THAT THEY MUST HAVE ADDITIONAL TAXES ON THEIR MILK BECAUSE OF THE DISOBEDIENCE OF OTHER CLASSES TO FOLLOW THE SCHOOL'S RULES. ANYWAY, INTRODUCE THE LESSON WITH AN EXPERIENCE THAT THE CHILDREN CAN RELATE TO. THEN, I BELIEVE THAT YOU SHOULD DISCUSS HOW THEY FELT ABOUT THIS EXPERIENCE AND CONNECT IT TO HOW THE COLONISTS FELT WHEN THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT INFLICTED THESE TAXES WITHOUT THEIR CONSIDERATION. ASK THE CHILDREN HOW THEY FEEL WHEN SOMEONE MAKES DECISIONS FOR THEM? I'M SURE THEY WILL HAVE A RICH NUMBER OF THINGS TO SAY! THEN, I THINK THAT EACH STUDENT SHOULD READ ABOUT THE STAMP ACT THROUGH A PRIMARY SOURCE DOCUMENT. fOR EXAMPLE, WHERE IS THE DOCUMENT THAT WRITES ABOUT THE STAMP ACT BEING PASSED? ANYWAY, ASK THEM HOW THEY WOULD HAVE REACTED TOWARDS THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT... THEN, MAKE SURE TO COVER WHY THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT PASSED THIS LAW IN THE FIRST PLACE. THIS WILL HELP THEM TO UNDERSTAND THE LOYALIST, NEUTRAL, AND PATRIOTIC PERSPECTIVES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. ALSO, YOU CAN LET THEM DEBATE THE STAMPE ACT THE NEXT DAY OR WRITE AN ARTICLE IN THE NEWSPAPERS OF THE 1760S THAT ACT TO OPPOSE THE STAMP ACT!

GOOD LUCK...I HOPE THIS WAS OF SOME HELP.

MARIA

I taught my 5th graders about taxation without representation first hand. Before teaching the unit I began giving each students plastic tokens for good behavior, good answers, participation, etc. They could then use their tokens to buy candy at the end of the day. After a few days of this I began taxing bathroom trips during class. As the week progressed I added other taxes as well such as chair tax, talking without rasing their hand tax, tax for not calling me queen etc.

The tax that raised the most uproar was the stamp tax. Students must come an pay me one token to recieve my royal stamp on all papers that must be graded. Any paper without the "royal" stamp would not be "legal" and would not be graded.

The kids could repeal any tax by creating a petition signed by every member of the class. I did tell them their might be consequences for signing the petition.

The kids separated themselves into three groups- those who were loyal to me and would do what I asked, those who didn't care, and those who protested.

On Friday I introduced the causes of the American Revolution and the taxes. The kids were very interested and could relate to the colonist's cause. Many of them even said, "Hey, that's what you did to us!"

It was really fun and the kids learned quite a bit about the feelings and emotions of the colonists because they had experienced those same feelings first hand.

I am in my third year teaching social studies and it has ranked #1 with the 5th grade class (of 100 kids) for the last two years. The reason why is because the subject matter that you teach is like a play already typed and ready to go. I can incorporate lots of fun things in to every chapter we do. For example, for the American Revolution I have students grab paper from a cup which is labeled either, native american, parliament, loyalists, or colonist. (I am the king of England). Then i give all students 5 buttons ( i got them at a yard sale). Everytime we discuss a new tax law, I send my tax collectors (loyalists) to collect from the colonists. I then give some of the "money" to parliament. The kids love to pretend that I am an evil king. It's little things like that that make a big difference in you r teaching. Look for any opportunity to dress up or put the students in to the position of the people your learning about.

We created a short "narrator" lead play that told the story of the Boston Tea Party. One person verbally told the story, while other members of the group acted it out, wearing name tags, paper hats (for colonists) paper guns (for red coats) etc...The kids wrote the play and acted it out. (in groups) It came out really cute and the kids never forgot all about that "party"!

Many of my students can't relate to why anyone would care about tea to begin with...so we have a tea party when studying this event. I bring in a number of teas for the kids to try. They really enjoy this and it makes more of a connection for them.

I do not know about the particular lesson that you are asking for, but I do know of some other interesting S.S. ideas. I had a teacher once that showed us a Social studies simulation. It was about the events that led up to the Boston tea party. Give each student a container that has the following in it: plastic cup with 10- 20 m&m's in it, a slip of paper that tells them their part ( 1 king(or queen), 2 tax collectors, 1 member of parliment, and the rest will be colonists). The number of M&M's that the student gets depends on what part they have. King- 20, parliment- 15, tax collectors- 13, Colonists- between 5 and 12( some colonists are rich and others are poor). Then the king, parliment, and tax collectors go to the front of the room. The parliment will choose an item they would like to "tax". ( The parliment will have slips of paper with things written on them that the students will have at their seat, for example: backback, pencil, marker, blue jeans, red shirt, etc. Each item will have a certain amount of tax. For example, If you are wearing a red shirt you must pay taxes of 4 M&M's, if not wearing a red shirt you pay nothing.) The parliment chooses which item they would like to tax and then take it to the king for approval, the king reads it to the class. The tax collectors will go around the room and collect the taxes. After a few rounds of taxes the kings decides that he wants to get paid. He will pay himself, 50% of the M&M's (math involved), the parliment, 25% of the M&M's ( they must then split it) and the tax collectors, 10% of the M&M's (they must also split it) The king can decide how many times he wants to tax or the teacher can put a limit on it. At the end the students can eat the M&M's. IT will be necessary to give the colonists additional M&M's to eat. After, the simulation, it will be a lot more interesting for the students to read the chapter. They will be able to relate it to themselves. I have been told that their are resource books availiable with many other simulation activities in them. I hope this helps and make some sense.

I really enjoy Johnny Tremain. I think it's a great book that brings to life the heroism of that time. I've read this book several times, most recently this past July, and the first time as a fifth grader at home. It may have been a bit over my head as a fifth grader, but as I was reading it on my own, I didn't really have the chance to discuss with an adult some of the stronger, more adult themes in the book. I've never used it in the classroom, but my mother has used it as a read-aloud with her fifth graders. She says it works pretty well as long as you are able to discuss it with the kids. There is also a Disney movie, which takes out some of the more adult themes and emphasizes the excitement of the story, particularly the Boston Tea Party. There is a book, A Guide for Using Johnny Tremain in the Classroom, by Jean L. Haack. It's available on Amazon.

I have my students create a political cartoon for the Boston Tea Party. At first I thought this was a difficult activity for the children, but you would be amazed what they can accomplish working in cooperative groups. If you have access to Scholastic News you can introduce the concept of political cartoons. If you want to try the debate have the students create a decision making tree first. I know it helps my students think it through. In the debate you can give the students names of famous Americans or roles from Parliament. Maybe even have the children create a Mohawk Indian costume, while the other side where red coats or British uniform. The more creative I become with Social Studies the more my students enjoy it. Finally if you haven't read it yet maybe do a simulation. I am sure you can find many on the Internet. Good Luck!

To help the students understand the Boston Tea Party, I bought a small plastice pool. I fill it with water. Make ships to hang on the wall outside my classroom. We dress up like Indians and each have an open tea back. We sneek out to the pool and dump our tea into the water. It is a fun activity to do. I will go through my unit on the War when I get back to school and see what else I do that is interesting.

Currently my class is reading Johnny Tremain-
Students are making Freedom Mobiles(must choose, create and describe at least 10 traditional and modern symbols of freedom.
Also we are divided into groups of 4 and are designing Boston Tea Party Indian costumes/tools made entirely from newspaper. Students will write script for fashion show which will be a "Tea Party". Always lots of fun!

To introduce the unit we discuss the words dependence, interdependent and independence as the stages the colonies went through until they became independent from "Mother England." To start this lesson I divide students into small groups. Each group gets a picture of me growing up (they love this) and we put them in chronological order. Then I write up a three column chart. One column is labeled dependence (infant), the other interdependent (teenage) and independence (adult). I have students put the pics in this order, identify with each term. Then they brainstorm in small groups what people do at this age. For example infants can't feed themselves, need someone to care for them. Teenagers are rebellious, can work a job and contribute to the family income, and adults take care of themselves and their own families. I relate this to how the colonies changed. I hope this makes sense.

The next activity I do is read If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. We discuss cause/ effect and how some causes have many effects and chain reactions. Then I give them dominoes and they get to create a "chain of events." Then while they are having fun building, I build a chain as well BUT label it with: the French and Indian War, Tea Act, Boston Massacre and so on. I talk to the kids explain the labels and then knock down the dominoes until they realize the last dominoes is labeled WAR!

I hope this helps! Sorry for any typos! I have the rest of my lesson plans for the Rev War at
http://www.mandygregory.com/SocialStudiesActivities.htm