Lesson Plan: Journey on the Underground Railroad
Subject Area: Social Studies
Grade Level: 6th
Amount of time needed: 60 minutes
Objective/Purpose:
· Students will learn about the Underground Railroad. They will use a web quest to simulate a journey through the Underground Railroad, while keeping a journal and doing other activities that are involved.
Your personal Stake:
· Slavery was a huge part in American history. It is important that students try and understand what African Americans trying to escape slavery went through.
Materials needed:
· Computer Lab
· Possible book selections:
Henry’s Freedom Box by Ellen Levine
· Barefoot: Escape on the Underground Railroad by Pamela Duncan Edwards
Introduction/connecting to students:
Teaching/Learning Procedures:
· The teacher will start out by doing a read aloud of a book of their choice that is about the Underground Railroad.
· Students will then be split into groups of 2 or 3 to share their thoughts about the Underground Railroad and what was going on. They will then be back into large group where the groups can share some things they talked about.
· Students will then be given the rest of the time to work on the web quest.
Closure:
· Students will get a chance to share an excerpt from their journey on the Underground Railroad.
Assessment:
· Students will have finished a 7 day journal and a map of their journey on the Underground Railroad.