Units on African-American Culture

Culture Through Literature
by Donna Ness
Unit Goal:

The students will gain a better understanding of the African American culture through a vast assortment of literature and through activities and experiences within the classroom. The students will be introduced to many African American people who have contributed to the growth and changes in America today.

Grade: 4th

Theme: African American Culture through Literature

Week One: Introduction to the unit
1- Africa/history Social Studies, Map Skills, Cultural
Awareness, Writing, Critical Thinking
2- Addy - an American Girl Listening, Reading, Extended Book
3- Follow the Drinking Gourd/
Harriet Tubman Technology (video) Social Studies
4- Sweet Clara, and the Freedom Literature
Quilt Art, Math, Cooperative Learning
5- Timeline Technology

Week Two:
6- Steal Away, Get on Board Little
Children Music, Vocabulary
7- Segregation Simulation, Role Playing
8- Cost of Freedom/Poetry Writing, Poetry
9- Christmas in the Big House, Literature,
Christmas in the Quarters Creative Thinking
10- Kwanzaa Celebration Writing, Drawing

Week Three:
11- Jump the Broom, Emancipation
12- Juneteenth Drama
13- Ask Abe Writing, Brainstorming
14- Seeds of Hope Science
15- Reconstruction/Starting Over Art

Week Four:
16- City Life/13th Amendment Research, Cooperative Learning
17- Famous African Americans Art, Research, Social Studies
18- More Famous Afr.-Americans Art, Research, Social Studies
19- The Liberators Listening, Technology
20- The Liberators, cont. Listening, Technology
Play Presentation Speaking


Classroom Environment:
Bulletin Boards:
#1 - Freedom Quilt - Day 4
#2 - Famous African Americans - Days 17 & 18

The bulletin boards will be done as part of a cooperative learning lesson and will be produced by the students.

Learning Center:
The learning center will have a variety of trade books, that will be changed as the weeks progress. Products from their activities will be placed in the learning center as well, such as: games, science projects, recipe books, Kwanzaa articles, and notebooks.

Cooperative Learning Projects:
· Freedom Quilt
· Segregation
· Juneteenth Play
· Science Experiment
· City Life/ 13th Amendment
· Famous African Americans

Timeline: Will be begun on Day 5 and details will be added as we go along

Extended Book: Addy - An American Girl by Connie Porter, Books 1-6
Every day we will be reading one or two chapters from the Addy series. This will be done right after the noon hour during a "teacher reading time". Every few days the students will participate by volunteer reading. Following the days reading the students will write a short paragraph summary in their "Notebooks".


Introduction to the Unit:
Tell the students that February is African American month. We are going to learn a lot about their culture in the past up until now. We will also learn about African Americans who have contributed to the American culture in many different and important ways. We will also study about African American celebrations and important points in history.
During the month our after lunch reading time will be the Addy - An American Girl series, written by Connie Porter. I think they will find these books very enjoyable and will learn from them too. These books will help us travel through history.


Day 1
Title: Africa, and their folk tales Social Studies, Cultural Awareness
Time: One Social Studies Class - Two parts Math
Materials Needed:
· Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters
· worksheets
· OHORO game materials, egg cartons, dried beans
· Map, globe

Objectives: The students will learn about Africa, their languages and how their culture is expressed through folk tales. The students will listen to a folk tale and be able to make predictions about the characters, the problem, and the solution.
The students will be given the opportunity to play an authentic African game called OHORO, which involves counting.

Pre-Lesson: Pull down the world map and set out the globe. Ask the students if they know where Africa is. Who lives there?(What kind of people? Blacks) What language do they speak? (many kinds)
Select some of the vocabulary words from the story book and have them written on the board. Let the students read a word to the class and define it if they can. Have them use the word in a sentence to see if they have the correct meaning. If it isn’t correct, have the student look the word up in the dictionary and give the correct definition to the class.
Words: Yams, Bountiful, Transfixed, Silhouetted, Descended, Foretold, Chamber, Chanted, Enclosure
Ask the students if they remember what a folk tale is? Discuss how folk tales express values of a particular culture and how some of these values are common to many cultures. Tell them that some folk tales are similar to ones of our own, and that this one is similar to Cinderella in our culture.

Lesson: Show the students the cover of Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters. Have them make oral predictions about the setting, characters, and story. Write these predictions on the board so they can be referred to later. Read the story to them, or have them read it if you have more than one copy available to you. Discuss predictions that were made. Were they correct?
Write the names Manyara and Nyasha on the board. Ask the students, "Do our names mean something that might tell us something about ourselves?" Have a name book handy or have the definition of their names ready to read to them. Then, ask if that meaning tells something about them? Is it a characteristic of theirs? The two girls in the story were very different. If their names meant something that described their characters, what would it be? Have the students list characteristics about each one on the board below their names, as the students give them to you.
Talk about the many different languages that come from Africa. Relate the languages to the Addy series they are about to hear. Tell them that Addy is really Aduke in an African language. (Yoruba) Explain that there are words we still use today that were African American. Examples: Yam, Canoe, Banjo

Post-Lesson: Show them some books from the Discovery Center that are African American tales and folk tales that they may read or look at when they have spare time.
Introduce the OHORO game that African Americans play. Demonstrate the game with a volunteer. Allow them time to play one game independently. After the game is over, have them put their game materials away on one of the tables set up in the Discovery Center.
Have the students start their African American Notebooks by writing about what they learned today.

Evaluation: Observation, Participation, Notebooks


Day 2
Title: Addy - An American Girl by Connie Porter
Time: Reading class
Materials Needed:
· Addy, An American Girl (book one) If possible, have enough copies for every two students to share one copy.

Objectives: The students will be able to identify characters, time, and setting of the story. The students will become aware of the differences between the ‘Quarters’ and ‘The Big House’ on a plantation.

Pre-Lesson: Ask the students how the African American’s became slaves? (They were brought as servants from Spain and Africa) (Many were forced to come to America on ships, and some were lured here with promises that were never kept)

Lesson: Identify the characters from the book and tell their connection to Addy. Ask for reader volunteers to read a section of Chapters 1-2. Have them read loud and clear so everyone can hear and follow along.
Put the word Plantation on the board and ask them if they know what this is. Discuss the differences between where the slaves lived (Quarters) and where the owners lived (Big House). List these differences on the board.
Plantation
Quarters Big House
Foods Foods
Work Work
Education Education
Family -sell off People
Toys
People
and more….

Post-Lesson: Have the students get out their notebooks, and write plantation on the top of the page. Then have them draw the two types of homes as they imagine them to have been like. Have them define plantation in their notebooks.

Evaluation: Text Readings, Labeling and Defining of plantation and what the two places are like.

***Teacher Reminders:
Explain to the students we read the book in class today, but from now on throughout the rest of the month it will be read during our after lunch reading time.

***All lessons taught from now on will follow what we are reading in the series.
***Add a few books on slavery, or about slaves to the Discovery Center.

Schedule for Addy reading time: Mostly teacher read but there may be time to include the students in the reading time too.
Book One-
Day 2 - Chapters 1-2
Day 3 - Chapters 3-4
Day 4 - Chapter 5
Book Two-
Day 5 - Chapters 1-2
Day 6 - Chapters 3-4
Day 7 - Chapter 5
Book Three-
Day 8 - Chapters 1-2
Day 9 - Chapters 3-4
Day 10 - Chapter 5
Book Four-
Day 11 - Chapters 1-2
Day 12 - Chapters 3-4
Day 13 - Chapter 5
Book Five-
Day 14 - Chapter 1
Day 15 - Chapter 2
Day 16 - Chapters 3-4
Book Six-
Day 17 - Chapter 1
Day 18 - Chapter 2-3
Day 19 - Chapter 4


Day 3
Title: Follow the Drinking Gourd / Harriet Tubman
Time: Social Studies Class
Materials Needed:
· Paper on Harriet Tubman
· Follow the Drinking Gourd video by Rabbit Ears
· Song from video on paper / music on cassette

Objectives: Through watching the video and reading the paper on Harriet Tubman, the students will gain a clearer understanding of what the Underground Railroad was and what its purpose was.

Pre-Lesson: Give them the vocabulary word Abolitionist and ask them for a definition. Discuss what abolitionists did and how they helped many slaves become free. Hand out the papers on Harriet Tubman. Have them read the few paragraphs and answer the questions. Go over the answers in class. Leave #7 for later if time allows. Give the class Harriet Tubman’s Underground Railroad name which was "Moses".

Lesson: Introduce the film, Follow the Drinking Gourd and explain that this was part of the Underground Railroad system. Ask the students to pay close attention to the song.
Watch the film. (About 30 minutes long)

Post-Lesson: Ask the student’s if they know why songs were important to the slaves? (gave them messages, gave them directions) Slaves were not allowed to learn how to read or write, so a lot of their communication was done through song and story telling. Hand out the words to the song. Have them read through them and sing it once or twice with the music. Ask them if they know what the song was telling the slaves? (Where to go to get to freedom)
Have the students add their song paper and the vocabulary word to their notebooks.

Evaluation: Participation, Answers to questions on paper, Recollection

*Add books to the Discovery Center

Day 4
Title: Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt
Time: Art Class and Math
Materials Needed:
· Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt (A Big Book would work best)
· Markers, Crayons, Pencils
· Rulers
· Scissors
· Construction Paper in a variety of colors.

Objectives: Through application and illustration the students will create their own "freedom quilt" as part of a bulletin board display.

Pre-Lesson: Introduce the book, Sweet Clara, and the Freedom Quilt to the students. Show them the title and author. Ask them to make predictions about the story. Read the story to

Evaluation: Application of the story to their art work. Use of math skills to determine size of squares so that everyone had room on the bulletin board for their square.

*Add books

Day 5
Title: Timeline
Time: Social Studies Class
Materials Needed:
· Basic Timeline Started
· Pictures that represent events or dates
· Spelling Lists

Objectives: The students will review materials covered within the week and be able to pinpoint times on the timeline when these things might have occurred.

Pre-Lesson: Put the basic timeline up along the top of the blackboard. Explain what a timeline is, and how it can help us have a clearer picture of the events that happened.
______________________________________________________________________
| | | | | | | | | | | |
1400 1450 1500 1550 1600 1650 1700 1750 1800 1850 1900 1950

Lesson: Review through a question/answer discussion of our materials from the week.
Africa - put a picture of the book cover(mini) or the title, or of Africa as a representation on the time line, around 1450.
We can add Columbus discovering America in 1492, with a picture of a boat.
Slavery - Anywhere between 1492 and 1863. Could be any type of picture the students felt represented it well enough for them all to remember what it is.
Underground Railroad - 1830 - 1863 - Could use a picture of a map of routes, a drinking gourd, or railroad tracks.

Have discussion about people and anything else they remember from the classes. If they want to add something else - have them come up with some form of representation and put it on the timeline.

Post-Lesson: Give the students a spelling list like those used for a spelling bee. If they don’t understand what a spelling bee is, tell them they will find out on the following day. Ask them to glance through the words enough to have a good idea how to spell a good share of them by the following day.
The students can write in their notebooks: what was the most important thing to them that they learned about in this past week?

Evaluation: Notebooks, Participation in discussion.

*Add books to the Discovery Center

Day 6
Title: Steal Away/Get on board lil’ children
Time: Music class and some spelling class
Materials Needed:
· Words and music of African American songs
· Spelling lists

Objectives: Two-fold: 1) the students will hear and participate in music and songs that were sung by African Americans or written by them. 2) the students will compare the similarities and differences between black schools and white schools.
The students will participate in a spelling bee similar to that in the Addy series.

Pre-Lesson: Identify the songs that have been collected. Point out some of the wording and how it might be spoken differently.
-Rise up shepherd and foller
-Go down Moses
-I wanna be ready to walk in Jerusalem
-Go tell it on the mountain
-Steal away
-Get on Board
-Sometimes I feel like a motherless chile

Lesson: Listen to the songs on the tape. The students can sing along with the music at least once, perhaps twice.
Give them some examples of rap, and show them the way they could make a short rap about anyone or anything. Try a few of them. This is a good time to discuss all types of music and some musicians and entertainers that were African Americans.
Display information cards or papers at the Discovery Center about musicians and entertainers, that they can read and do in their free time.
Switch gears: The students can get out their spelling word lists and go through a spelling bee. This can be done orally just as it was done in the reading book. Make two groups where they can compete against each other and themselves.

Post-Lesson: Bring the two subjects together - with class discussion about words. The words in the music and in the spelling. Ask them how some are different and how some are the same? Why?
Put up a vocabulary list: patriotism, servitude, segregation, freedmen, seceded, emancipated. Have them write these words in their notebooks and as a class define them. Have them put the definition in their notebooks too.

Evaluation: Class participation, notebooks, spelling bee

*Add books and information cards to the Discovery Center
*Add any new items to the timeline if there are any

***Field Trip***
This could be done at any time, even after the unit.
Ray Charles performed frequently on radio. Take your students to visit a radio station. Tell the students that the music in automobiles comes from radio stations. When they are there they can ask their tour guide if they could show them the music files from African American musicians.

Day 7
Title: Segregation
Time: Entire Day
Materials Needed:
· Fabric or elastic wristbands in the colors white and black

Objectives: The students will experience through role playing what it is like to be different and looked upon as less than human. This will give them a better understanding of what segregation was like for African Americans.

Pre-Lesson: Explain to the students that they will be role playing today. Have the word segregation up on the board and review its meaning and how it affected African Americans, even after they were free. Explain that 1/2 of the day half of the class will be African Americans. (represented by the black wristbands) The other half will be white Americans. (represented by the white wristbands) Tell them this can be fun and they can learn a lot from it, but they will not be allowed to be mean! When the day is half over they will switch roles with their partner so that they have opportunity to see both sides. Pair the students up. Remind them that we are not thinking Girl/Boy at this time but Black/White.

Lesson: Make sure there are a variety of times throughout the day where the experience can become "real" to them. Take the "whites" aside and discuss with them what their actions might be throughout the day. Take the "blacks" aside and discuss with them what the actions and responses might be throughout the day.
Go through the normal classes and activities of the day. Some may be added to help them clarify segregation.
-bathroom usage
-games
-recess
-getting materials or bringing papers away

Post-Lesson: About a half hour before preparation begins to go home, have the students remove their bands and have an open class discussion of the days events. Were they good things? Bad things? What did they learn?
Have the students write a thought or two about their experiences in their notebooks.

Evaluation: Notebooks, Participation throughout the day, Attitude

*Add books
*Add timeline materials


Day 8 Highlight an Author - Langston Hughes
Title: Cost of Freedom / Poetry
Time: One class
Materials Needed:
· Poetry sheets
· Poet papers
· Rhyming Wheels
· Six American Poets, an anthropology edited by Joel Conarroe

Objectives: In the Addy series we have heard the saying "Freedom isn’t Free" quite a few times. The students will be able to express what this means based on our readings.
The students will be able to create a poem of their own after discussing poetry and its many styles.
The students will be able to tell about the poet Langston Hughes.

Pre-Lesson: Hand out papers on Langston Hughes and introduce him to the class. Read one or more of his poems. Examples - Aunt Sue’s Stories, Water-Front Streets, Hope, Still Here.
Let them read through the information about Langston Hughes and complete the sequencing activity on the bottom.
Turn to the second sheet and read through the two poems given. (Explain what alliteration means and give an example) Have the class answer the questions as a class.

Lesson: Give them examples of different types of poems they can write. Focus on cinquains, clerihews, and couplets. Explain each style and give them an example. Let the students choose which style of poem the would like to write and have them select the papers that go along with that style of poem.
Give them several topics to choose from and let them write a poem on their sheet. Some of the students may need to rhyme words for their poems. Have enough copies of the rhyming wheels available for usage.

Post-Lesson: Have the students read their poems to the class if they would like too. Have the students rewrite their poems into their notebooks. If there is enough time left in the class, or instead of writing it into their notebooks, have the students write their poems on half pages to compile them into small booklets. The title page can read:
Poetry is wonderful
Exciting as can be.
Here are some poems
Written just for me.

Evaluations: Poem writing, participation, recall about Langston Hughes

*Add poetry books
-by African Americans
-add activity/introductory sheets about African American poets and authors.
*Add the book, Coming Home, which is written about the life of Langston Hughes (pinpoint this to the class
*Timeline

Day 9
Title: Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters
Time: One class
Materials Needed:
· Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters
· Copies of Christmas dinners
· Materials for no-bake cookies or other recipe

Objectives: The students will be able to describe the Christmas celebrations of the slaves and their owners. They will also be able to compare those times to now from hearing about the foods, celebrations, and traditions.

Pre-Lesson: Have the students open their notebooks and write Christmas at the top and under that they can begin two lists: one of them labeled Quarters and the other one labeled Big House. Read the story a section at a time and allow them time to identify and tell which things happened at which place. Some activities will be combined together. An important difference of the two groups is their foods. Have the students take special note of these foods, especially what they like or don’t think they would like.

Lesson: Have the students create their own menu for Christmas Dinner. Put them into groups of four and give them a copy of the menus fro the Quarters and the Big House. Have the students think of all their favorite things to eat for Christmas dinner and write them down. Then, they can take their list and pick what they want as their Christmas Dinner menu.

Post-Lesson: Do something fun. You could have all the ingredients for no-bake cookies and let the students mix it up and put the ingredients in by following the recipe (receipts).
If there are a lot of students that don’t like or cannot have chocolate an alternative would be to dip large marshmallows into melted caramel and roll in rice krispies. They can have their menus copied and put in their notebooks.

Evaluation: Group participation, class participation, listening skills

*Add books
*Add to timeline

Day 10
Title: Kwanzaa
Time: One class and technology
Materials Needed:
· Green, red, yellow, black, and brown construction paper
· Tape/glue
· Scissors
· Kwanzaa worksheets

Objectives: The students will understand that this African American holiday was started so that they could celebrate the richness of their heritage. They will learn the seven principles of Kwanzaa and complete activities about the holiday.

Pre-Lesson: If the school has Internet availability, you can go to the computer lab and help the students find the Kwanzaa Information Center.
http://www.melanet.com/melanet/kwanzaa/#saba

Lesson: The students will be making a kinara which is Swahili for the candle holder for Kwanzaa. It contains 3 red, 3 green, and one black candle. The students will learn what the colors represent and construct one from construction paper.
The brown base can be cut using a template. Using red and green and black and a template they can make the seven candles. Using the yellow and a template they can make the flames. It can all be glued on a white background sheet of paper. After investigating further, the seven principles can be written by the students on the candle.


Post-Lesson: There are several activities the students will do.
1- A word search of the seven principles written both in African language and in English.
2- A maze game on paper - through Africa
3- A crossword puzzle of foods enjoyed at the Kwanzaa feast
4- A coded message paper that gives the name of the man who created the Kwanzaa holiday in 1966.
In their notebooks they can write what the Kwanzaa holiday celebrates and other facts they recall.

Evaluations: Use of technology, papers, class participation.

*Add books
*Timeline

Day 11
Title: Jump the Broom / Emancipation
Time: One class
Materials Needed:
· White paper

Objectives: The students will be able to create an illustration about the Broom Jumping ceremony. The students will be able to identify the time that the Emancipation Proclamation was given and how it affected the slaves.

Pre-Lesson: Show the students the materials you found on the Internet about Jumping the Broom. Ask them what the ceremony was for? Who performed the ceremony? Why didn’t they have regular weddings?
Show them the information about many of today’s African American weddings an how they are still doing the Broom Jumping.

Lesson: Give the students a clean sheet of white paper and have them draw an illustration of a broom jumping ceremony.

Post-Lesson: Display their illustrations on the wall and discuss with them the Emancipation Proclamation, its time, and how it affected the slaves. Did the slaves even know that they were free? Did their master set them free immediately after hearing of the Proclamation?
Have them write in their notebooks how they think it affected the slaves.

Evaluation: Notebooks, illustrations

*Add books
*Timeline

Day 12
Title: Juneteenth
Time: One class
Materials Needed:
· A copy of the Juneteenth play for each student

Objectives: The students will understand role playing and be able to actively participate in the play Juneteenth. The students will have a clearer understanding of Emancipation.

Pre-Lesson: Introduce the play to them by giving them some background information on the Emancipation Proclamation. A review of what was covered yesterday will help.
Explain that the play is partly during the time of slavery and part of it is set in 1995.

Lesson: Select students randomly to read parts. There are 12 parts, 5 girls, and 7 boys. There may be time to read through it a couple of times giving everyone in the class a chance to have a part. Let them write down the character they most would want to play on a piece of paper. Collect them. Include the positions of stage makers, costume finders, directing, etc. Tell them you will assign them parts and jobs.

Post-Lesson: List characters on board, and have the class help in deciding what everyone’s costumes should be. Also decide what is needed for stages. Find out what can be brought in with their help and by the end of the day give them a list of who will be doing what. Tell them they will practice the play, and work on the sets throughout the week in free time.

Evaluation: Participation, Cooperation

*Add Books
*Timeline

Day 13
Title: Ask Abe
Time: One Class
Materials Needed:
· A copy of the Emancipation Proclamation

Objectives: The students will understand what the Emancipation Proclamation meant for African Americans.

Pre-Lesson: Read a copy of the Emancipation Proclamation to the class. Ask if they understand what it is saying and if there are any words or phrases they don’t understand.

Lesson: Tell the students they are going to pretend that they are living in the time of Abraham Lincoln and he has just passed the Emancipation Proclamation. He is having a press conference abut the Proclamation. Your class has been transported back in time. Ask them to work in pairs to prepare questions to ask President Lincoln.

Post-Lesson: Once they have their questions ready, let them write a newspaper article as if they had interviewed the President and he had answered their questions.

Evaluation: Articles, questions

*Add books
*Timeline

Day 14
Title: Seeds of Hope
Time: Science class
Materials Needed:
· Cherries and Cherry Pits by Vera B. William
· Mixture of seeds
· Magnifying lens
· Variety of canned goods
· Variety of fresh fruit
· Large bowl
· Lemonade concentrate
· Non-fat vanilla yogurt
· Eating utensils
· Knife

Objectives: The students will be able to identify foods that contain seeds. They will be able to distinguish between edible and non-edible seeds.

Pre-Lesson: Introduce the book, Cherries, and Cherry Pits to the students. Read the title and author to them and ask them what they think the story might be about? As the story is being read to them you can ask them other prediction questions, such as, "What could be in the little bag?" or "Why do you think Bidemmi saves her cherry pits?" After the reading you can ask someone if they would like to retell the story or summarize it.

Lesson: In the story the little girl saved her cherry pits an planted them, so they would grow. Many foods contain seeds. Scientists call these fruits because they contain seeds. Grains such as rice, wheat, and oats also come from seeds of plants. Seeds come in different colors, shapes and sizes. Have the students examine different kinds of seeds to find out how they are the same or different.
The students can feel them, and look at them with a magnifying lens.
The students can sort the seeds into two groups and explain how the seeds in each group are alike. Are there any other ways they can sort their seeds?
Bring out a variety of canned goods an fresh fruits and vegetables. Let the students decide which have seeds and which are seeds. Let them make a list of foods that have seeds or are seeds.

Post-Lesson: Take all the fruits you have brought and pass one out to each student or every two students. Ask these questions:
Where in each fruit are the seeds located?
Which fruit has the largest seeds?
Which has the smallest?
Which fruit has the most seeds?
Which has the fewest?
Did any fruits not have seeds?

Let the students write the answers in their notebooks under the title, Seeds.
Cut up the fruits into small pieces and put them into a large bowl. You can add 3 + tablespoons or so of frozen lemonade concentrate. You can also ad some low-fat vanilla yogurt, mix well and serve to the students who would like some.

Evaluation: Participation, Answers to questions

*Add books
*Timeline

Day 15
Title: Reconstruction/Starting Over
Time: One class
Materials Needed:
· Nine spools per student with one having a hole drilled through the opposite direction
· Jute or yarn
· Paints
· Brushes

Objectives: The students will learn about raising money to help former slaves starting over.

Pre-Lesson: Review what has been happening in the Addy series, how the families were starting over and how many coming North had no money, food, clothes or any furnishings to start over. Talk about the fund raising they were doing to help these families.

Lesson: Show a finished product (spool doll) to the students. (Have it completed prior to class so they have an example to use). Let them get their materials for the doll and return to their desks. Give step by step directions and stop when someone is having difficulty. Complete the dolls.

Post-Lesson: Make paints available on small palettes for the students. Allow them time to paint their dolls. Set aside when completed so they will dry.

Evaluation: Participation, cooperative learning

*Add books
*Timeline

Day 16
Title: City Life / 13th Amendment
Time: One class
Materials Needed:
· Copy of the 13th Amendment

Objectives: The students will be able to define and use the vocabulary words. The students will understand what the 13th Amendment contains and what it means to African Americans and all people. The students will understand what city life was like for Addy after the Civil War was over.

Pre-Lesson: Review material from Addy books about the city life. What has changed for blacks after the Civil War was over? What rights do they have?
Vocabulary Words:
Reconstruction Sharecroppers
Segregate Civil Rights
Amended Citizenship

Have them define and use them in a sentence.

Lesson: The students can put themselves in the place of a free slave. What do they think of everything happening? Do they understand everything?
Write a short paragraph from the perspective of the free slaves.

Post-Lesson: The students can share their paragraphs and include them in their notebooks.

Evaluation: Paragraphs

*Add books
*Timeline

Day 17 and 18
Title: Famous African Americans
Time: Two classes
Materials Needed:
· Bulletin Board Materials
· Materials that include African Americans

Objectives: The children will do research to find out as much as possible about famous or well known African Americans. The students will compile the information in the form of a Bulletin Board.

Pre-Lesson: Present the bulletin board with the various categories. Show them the categories already begun with people introduced earlier in the month such as, Harriet Tubman, and Langston Hughes. Explain to them that they are going to use a variety of resources to find out information about more famous African Americans. They will try and fill half the categories today with 4-6 people in each area. The areas are:
Civil War - *During Slavery and After, *Literature, Politics,* Science,* Education, *Sports, Jazz, Entertainment
*done on the 17th
rest done on the 18th

Lesson: Give them a variety of resources: encyclopedias, Encarta, a variety of educational books etc.
Let them work in 4-5 groups and give a category to each group. Ask them how they’ll begin and assist them as they go along.

Post-Lesson: Have the students write the Name of the person, what they were most known for, when they lived, and a piece or two about the individual on a cut section of the picture. All the people in one category will be in one "frame". Share the information they found with the rest of the groups. They can show pictures and share the resources they used to find the information.

Evaluation: Finished product, completeness, oral reports to the class

*Add books
*Timeline

Day 19 and 20
Title: The Liberators
Time: Two Classes
Materials Needed:
· The Liberators by Walt Disney Productions

Objectives: The students will be able to explain what happened in the Underground Railroad based on what they see in this movie. They will be able to draw conclusions about the rightness and /or wrongs of the positions taken by the North and the South. The students will be able to take what they have learned this month and give examples of how this affected the American Culture.

Pre-Lesson: Day 19 - Introduce the film - The Liberators as a Walt Disney film. Tell them they are going to watch it in two parts and will conclude the month on African Americans the following day. Day 20 - Review what they’ve seen the day before.

Lesson: Day 19 - Watch the first half of the film.
Day 20 - Watch the second half of the film, allowing them popcorn and juice during this half.

Post-Lesson: Day 19 - Summarize what they’ve seen so far, in their notebooks.
Day 20 - Have an open class discussion about the second half of the movie and whether they feel it was right for the slaves to run away. Also have them do some brainstorming about how our culture today has African American influences.
They can use the discussion material to write a summary in their notebooks.

Evaluation: Class participation, notebooks, listening skills

***The students can present their play, Juneteenth to another class on this final day or later on if they need more preparation time.


Trade Books:

By African Americans:
Why Mosquito’s Buzz in People’s Ears by Verna Aardema
Poetry:
Poems that Live Forever selected by Hazel Felleman
The Top 500 Poems edited by William Harmon
American Negro Poetry by Arna Bontemps
Six American Poets edited by Joel Conarroe
The Dream Keepers and Other Poems by Langston Hughes
Phillis Wheatley - 1st African American Poet by Carol Greene
Stories about African Americans:
Africa:
My Painted House, My Friendly Chicken, and Me by Maya Angelou
Misoso-Once Upon a Time Tales from Africa retold by Verna Aaardema
Sudiata, Lion King of Mali by David Wisniewski
Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughter - An African Tale by John Steptoe
The New King by Doreen Rappaport
Slavery:
Tancy by Belinda Hurmence
Nightjohn by Gary Paulsen
Sweet Clara, and the Fredom Quilt by Deborah Hopkinson
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Many Thousand Gone by Virginia Hamilton
Two Tickets to Freedom by Florence Freedman
To Be a Slave by Julius Lester
Civil War:
Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco
Underground Railroad:
Follow the Drinking Gourd by Jeanette Winter
Miscellaneous:
The People Could Fly-American Black Folktales by Virginia Hamilton
Always My Dad by Sharon Dennis Wyeth
The Patchwork Quilt by Valerie Flourney
Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold
Cherries and Cherry Pits by Vera B. Williams
Breadsticks and Blessings by Candy Dawson Boyd
War Comes to Willie Freeman by James Collier and Christopher Collier
Who is Carrie by James Collier
The Glory Field by Walter Meyers
Extended Books:
Meet Addy by Connie Porter
Addy Learns a Lesson by Connie Porter
Addy’s Surprise by Connie Porter
Happy Birthday, Addy by Connie Porter
Addy Saves the Day by Connie Porter
Changes for Addy by Connie Porter
Famous African Americans:
Martin Luther King by Rosemary L. Bray
I Have a Dream by Jim Haskins / Intro by Rosa Parks
The Day Martin Luther King Was Shot by Jim Haskins
Martin Luther King by Troll Associates
If You Lived at the Time of Martin Luther King by Ellen Levine
Coming Home by Floyd Cooper
The Novels of Harriet Beecher Stowe by Alice C. Crozier
Harriet Beecher Stowe by John Adams
Harriet Beecher Stowe - and American Literature by Ellen Moer
Martin Luther King, The Peaceful Warrior by Ed Clayton
Book of Black Heroes by Wade Herdson
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Sojourner Truth, Ain’t I a Woman? By Patricia and Frederick McKissack
Wanted - Dead or Alive (Harriet Tubman) by Ann McGovern
Amos Fortune, Free Man by Elizabeth Yates
Malcolm X, By Any Means Necessary by Walter Dean Myers
Meet Nelson Mandela by Bobbie Katz
Meet Nelson Mandela by Barry Denenberg
Frederick Douglas - Fights for Freedom by Margaret Davidson
Marching to Freedom (MLK) by Joyce Milton
Two American Generals by Katherine Applegate
Freedom Train (Harriet Tubman) by Dorothy Sterling
One More River To Cross by Jim Haskins
Escape From Slavery - The Boyhood of Frederick Douglass edited and illustrated
by Michael McCurdy
Thurgood Marshall - 1st African American Supreme Court Justice by Carol
Greene
Charlote Forten - A Black Teacher in the Civil War by Peter Burchard
Extraordinary Black Americans by Susan Atman
History:
Liberty For All by Joy Hakim

Videos:
Follow The Drinking Gourd - A Story of the Underground Railroad
Told by Morgan Freeman
Music by Taj Mahal
Illustrated by Yvonne Buchanan
by Rabbit Ears
ISBN 1-57099-001-8
30 minutes ages 5 and up

The Liberators by Walt Disney

Race to Freedom - movie

Technology:
Encarta
Software - CD’s:
Africa Trail, grades 3-8 Educational Resources
African American History/Slavery to Civil Rights, grades 5 + ""
African American History: Heroism, Struggle, and Hope, grades 4-9 ""
Cultural Contributions of Black Americans, grades 7-12 ""
African American Heroes ""
Cassette: Harriet Tubman, 47 minutes

Web Sites:
http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/special/kay/afro.html - African American images revealed in picture books
http://www.igc.apc.org/africanam/dates/January.html - Dates of African American people and events
http://www.lib.virginia.edu/etext/readex/readex.html - rewritten speeches or newspaper articles written by famous Black Americans eg. W.Burghardt Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, Frederick Douglas
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/aapd.html - African American poetry
http://www.melanet.com/melanet/kwanzaa/#focus - Kwanzaa Information Center
http://utahonline.sltrib.com/95/DEC/29/tci/23482213.htm - Kwanzaa: Pride in the past, pride in the Future
http://shops.net/shops/Kwanzaa/item-1.html - Kwanzaa workbook review
http://www.rit.edu/~nrcgsh/bx/bxpre.html - Black experience in America
http://we.got.net/docent/soquel/afamer.htm - African American Links Page
http://www.melanet.com/melanet/wedding/friend.html - African Wedding guide
http://www1.trib.com/CUMBERLINK/localnews/march/local.news.3.25.html - ‘Broom Jumping’

Resources:
Young Children Rap - by Chris Meissel ISBN 0-86530-265-0
The Poetry Corner - by Arnold Cheyney ISBN 0-673-16461-6
Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughter - by John Steptoe ISBN 0-8454-2803-9
Famous Americans - Cards with Leader’s Guide ISBN 0-590-53556-0
Literature Works/Silver Burdett Ginn, Grade 4, Vol 1
Book of Black Heroes, from A to Z - by Wade Hudson ISBN 0-590-45757-8
Meeting the Challenges - Biographies of African Americans - by Mark
Falstein ISBN 0-8454-2543-9
Forty Famous Black Americans - cards 1988 Media materials
America’s Story - The Civil War Years, 1850-1876 book 5 - by David C. King
Sundance Publishers