Curriculum / ELA / 4th Grade / Unit 6: Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans / Lesson 8
ELA
Unit 6
4th Grade
Lesson 8 of 25
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Write a multiple-paragraph essay about how courageous individuals create and drive change.
Book: Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans by Kadir Nelson
Book: Let It Shine: Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters by Andrea Davis Pinkney
Book: Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America by Andrea Pinkney
Rubric: Grade 4 Informational Writing Rubric
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Tasks that represents the peak thinking of the lesson - mastery will indicate whether or not objective was achieved
How can courageous individuals create and drive change? Support your answer with details from either Harriet Tubman or Frederick Douglass’s life.
An example response to the Target Task at the level of detail expected of the students.
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W.4.2 — Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
W.4.2.a — Introduce a topic clearly and group related information in paragraphs and sections; include formatting (e.g., headings), illustrations, and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension.
W.4.2.b — Develop the topic with facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples related to the topic.
W.4.2.c — Link ideas within categories of information using words and phrases (e.g., another, for example, also, because).
W.4.2.d — Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic.
W.4.2.e — Provide a concluding statement or section related to the information or explanation presented
Standards that are practiced daily but are not priority standards of the unit
L.4.1 — Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
L.4.2 — Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
L.4.3 — Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.
L.4.6 — Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, including those that signal precise actions, emotions, or states of being (e.g., quizzed, whined, stammered) and that are basic to a particular topic (e.g., wildlife, conservation, and endangered when discussing animal preservation).
W.4.5 — With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, and editing.
W.4.9 — Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
W.4.10 — Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.
Lesson 7
Lesson 9
Explain who is speaking in the prologue and why the author would choose to write this way.
RI.4.6 RI.4.8
Explain the significance of the statement: "It should have been a proud moment for everybody, but, honey, we didn’t have much to celebrate." (p. 13)
RI.4.3 RI.4.5 RI.4.7 RI.4.8
Explain how the author uses details and illustrations to build a deeper understanding of slavery.
RI.4.7 RI.4.8
Analyze what evidence the author includes to support the statement that abolitionists "lit a fire inside many a slave to take their freedom."
RI.4.3 RI.4.7 RI.4.8
Explain where Frederick Douglass found his inspiration and drive.
RI.4.3 RI.4.5 RI.4.8
Analyze the details an author includes to support a quote by Harriet Tubman.
RI.4.3 RI.4.8
Explain the significance of the quote "Harriet Tubman’s name will never lose its distinction."
Informative Writing – 2 days
W.4.2 W.4.2.a W.4.2.b W.4.2.c W.4.2.d W.4.2.e
Explain the events that led up to the South being ready for a fight.
RI.4.3 RI.4.5 RI.4.7
Explain why the chapter was titled "Lincoln’s War" and if Lincoln’s actions helped or hurt the conditions for enslaved people.
RI.4.3 RI.4.7 RI.4.8 SL.4.1
Discussion
Analyze and discuss unit essential questions by stating a claim and supporting the claim with details from multiple sources.
RI.4.9 SL.4.1 SL.4.4 W.4.9
Informative Writing
Write a multiple-paragraph essay to answer a unit essential question.
Defend how Reconstruction was supported by segregationist beliefs.
Explain what life was like on the frontier for Buffalo Soldiers and freed Black people.
Explain what effect the Great Migration had on the lives of African Americans and the challenges they faced in their new communities.
Describe the progress African Americans made in the early twentieth century.
Describe how the experience of fighting in World War II changed the people who returned home and how it changed the country.
Explain why the author titles the chapter "Black Innovation."
RI.4.8
Explain how Jim Crow was dying.
Explain why the author titles the last chapter "Revolution" and why what happened was a revolution.
RI.4.3 RI.4.8 SL.4.1
Explain the significance of the final quote in Heart and Soul.
Debate and discuss unit Essential Questions.
Write a multiple-paragraph essay to answer a unit Essential Question.
Informative Writing – 6 days
Research and present about an African American leader.
RI.4.3 RI.4.5 RI.4.7 RI.4.8 SL.4.1 SL.4.4 SL.4.5 W.4.2 W.4.2.a W.4.2.b W.4.2.c W.4.2.d W.4.2.e W.4.7 W.4.8 W.4.9
Assessment
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