If You Lived at the Time of the Civil War

The Book:

Moore, K. (1994). If You Lived at the Time of the Civil War. New York: Scholastic Books, Inc.

Summary:
This book is a straightforward look at the civil war using developmentally appropriate language. The book is formatted in a question and answer way. The questions range from basic questions regarding the war such as Who fought?, How did it start?, to more lifestyle questions such as How did life change after the war? and Did children continue to go to school?

This book could be used in a variety of ways in the classroom. It can be used in a strictly reference capacity or as a read aloud. I have decided to build students summarizing ability in order to share a large amount of information with the whole class using their own words.

Lesson: Summarizing the Civil War

SC Social Studies Standard 3-4: The student will demonstrate an understanding of the events that led to the Civil War, the course of the War and Reconstruction, and South Carolina’s role in these events.

Indicators:
3-4.7 Outline the course of the Civil War and South Carolina’s role in significant events, including the Secession Convention, the firing on Fort Sumter, the Union blockade of Charleston, and Sherman’s march through South Carolina.
3-4.8 Summarize the effects of the Civil War on the daily lives of people of different classes in South Carolina, including the lack of food, clothing, and living essentials and the continuing racial tensions.

Objectives:
The student will summarize the answer to a major question about the Civil War.

Assessment:
The student will be assessed on their summaries using a rubric.

Materials:
Copied sections of If you Lived at the Time of the Civil War
Computers with Internet access

Procedure:
1. TTW find out what the students already know about the civil war. TTW tell the class that they are going to be finding out answers to several questions about the civil war- and the teacher will list these pre-made questions from the book onto the board.
2. TTW split the students up into groups of 2 or 3 and distribute the pre-printed sections of the book. Each section will contain at least 2 questions and the information answering the questions. The students will work together to read through the information and summarize their answers in order to share with the rest of the class the answers.
3. Students should be encouraged to find more out about their questions in order to fully understand their answers.
4. The class will come back together to share their summaries and information with the whole class.