American Revolution

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Home : 2005 : March : 2

American Revolution
By Maureen

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!