The American Revolution: A 2nd Grade Unit

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The American Revolution A 2nd Grade Unit
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Rationale

• The American Revolution plays a key role in the
  understanding of the history of the United
  States. The goal of this unit is to encourage
  the students to ask questions and inquire about
  certain events surrounding the American
  Revolution. This process enables students to
  gain key perspectives on justice, rights, and
  responsibilities. In addition, the students will
  learn about what it means to be free, or if such
  a word even exists, in comparing the rights that
  people had before, during, and after the American
  Revolution. This unit will hopefully serve as a
  bridge between the teaching of one single
  viewpoint of the past and the current belief that
  history should be taught from multiple viewpoints.

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Concept Map
4th of July end of unit party
Monarchy vs. Democracy
American Revolution
Declaration of Independence
Taxation Now and Then
Causes and Effects of the American Revolution
The Geography of the American Revolution
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Essential/Driving Questions

• Why do people revolt?
• Why do we have government?
• What is freedom?

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Enduring Understandings

• Differences between a democracy and a monarchy
• Rights and freedoms that we have now
• People revolt or rebel when their rights or
  freedoms are not protected

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Assessment Strategies

• Re-enact monarchy
• Written response for the simulation activity
• Biography
• Draw a picture of an event
• Class book of the American Revolution
• Sequencing of important events

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Integrating Socially Phases

• Phase 1 Tuning In
• Monarchy vs. Democracy simulation
• Lesson Plan
• Time
• approximately one week
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• Objective
• Students will be involved in a simulation that
  mimics the unfairness of some monarchy
  governments.
•  
• ISBE Standard
• 16.B.2b (US) Identify major causes of the
  American Revolution and describe the
  consequences of the Revolution through the early
  national period, including the roles of George
  Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin
  Franklin.
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• NCSS Standard
• Power, Authority, and Governance
• Social studies programs should include
  experiences that provide for the study of how
  people create and change structures of power,
  authority, and governance.
•  

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Lesson Plan continued
Materials Coins, stickers, stars, etc.
  Procedure In this simulation, the teacher
becomes the king/queen of the classroom. He/She
will make up the rules, collect taxes, and order
subjects to perform tasks with no input from
the students. In the first phase, the teacher
will require the students to do routine classroom
things. Students will abide by the normal
classroom rules. Additionally, they will receive
money for doing normal classrooms jobs that can
be used at the end of the week for certain items
or rewards. In the second phase, the teacher
will become more restrictive and begin adding
rules without input from the students. He/She
will begin collecting taxes from the students.
The taxes will be somewhat reasonable. In the
third and final phase, the teacher will become
very restrictive and unfair. He/she will begin
taking things away from the students (recess,
group time, free time). They will begin adding
more rules and collecting more taxes. Teachers
might even consider privileging some students
and oppressing others. At this point,
students will hopefully begin to recognize the
unfairness going on in the classroom and stage a
revolt. Examples of reasons to collect
taxes         to go to the bathroom for
wearing certain types of clothing (blue shirts,
gym shoes)         to go to recess for
having certain characteristics (brown eyes, long
hair) for not raising your hand
       Examples of additional rules
using king/queen to address the teacher
no drawing or coloring        no recess

bowing before the king/queen      
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Lesson Plan continued
Assessment Students will write in the journals
daily about the events taking place in the
classroom. Also, after the simulation is over,
the class will discuss their feelings about what
happened and make a list of how it felt to live
in a classroom monarchy.   Adaptations It is a
good idea to send a note home to parents before
doing this simulation. Parents should be
notified in case students become upset about the
unfairness in the classroom. Also, all students
should be told that this is only a simulation and
it will only take place for a week. After this
week, students will be treated fairly again.
This simulation could be very upsetting for
students will emotional disabilities. These
students will most definitely need to be notified
of the events before they occur. They could be
used as loyalists and not be subjected to the
same treatment as the other students. Those
students who have trouble expressing themselves
through written work could draw a picture of
their feelings during the simulation. Those
students who have trouble expressing themselves
orally could choose to have their journals read
during whole class discussions.
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Integrating Socially Phases

• Phase 2 Preparing to Find Out
• What is a King?
• As a whole class, the students will brainstorm of
  known kings and qualities of kings. This will be
  tied to the colonial times and how the colonists
  may have felt about their king.
• Show movie, Disneys Robin Hood
• Students will write a journal entry following the
  whole class discussion. The students can then
  draw a picture of a king (i.e. King Henry, Martin
  Luther King, Lion King, Burger King, etc.)

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Integrating Socially Phases

• Phase 3 Finding Out
• The students will read the story, The Boston Tea
  Party, and explore the ideas and concepts
  surrounding the book. The students will re-enact
  the story.
• The teacher will introduce the word, revolt,
  and discuss possible explanations for why the
  colonists revolted against their king.
• As a minilesson, the students will discuss the
  Native Americans role in the Boston Tea Party.

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Integrating Socially Phases

• Phase 4 Sorting Out
• The students will choose one of four books
  Revolutionary War on Wednesday, Katies Trunk,
  George the Drummer Boy, or Sam the Minuteman. In
  small groups, the students will read their
  selected book and then present the book to the
  rest of the class.
• The students will also learn and perform the
  poem, The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere and will
  create an art project afterwards.

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Integrating Socially Phases

• Phase 5 Going Further
• Biographies
• The teacher will work with small groups to
  investigate famous people of the American
  Revolution time period. Examples include
  Phyllis Wheatley, Benjamin Banneker, Betsy Ross,
  George Washington
• The class will discuss these individuals roles
  in the Revolutionary time period.
• The students will present these biographies to
  the whole class through skits, mobiles, written
  reports, posters, etc.

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Integrating Socially Phases

• Phase 6 Making Connections
• Foreshadowing Other Revolutions
• Discuss the phrase, All Men Created Equally.
  For instance, what groups or minorities were left
  out in the concept of the word men. Examples
  women, Native Americans, African Americans, and
  so on.
• As a writing prompt, the students will write in
  their journals about what it means to be free or
  if that word even exists today. Then, as a
  class, the students can create a list of their
  ideas surrounding the word freedom.

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Integrating Socially Phases

• Phase 7 Taking Action
• The Declaration of Independence
• What was the purpose in writing the Declaration
  of Independence? What was the need? How should
  people live their lives? What would happen if
  there were no laws or rules?
• As a whole class, touch on these essential
  questions, possibly generating a list of why the
  students believe that this important document
  exists.

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Literature

• Revolutionary War on Wednesday by Mary Pope
  Osborne
• Katies Trunk by Ann Turner
• George the Drummer Boy and Sam the Minuteman by
  Nathaniel Benchley
• The Boston Tea Party by Pamela Duncan Edwards

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Adaptations

• Students with difficulty sitting still during
  classroom discussions or stories can hold onto a
  stress ball or silly putty in order to release
  extra energy and prevent the student(s) from
  distracting others.
• Students from non-American cultural backgrounds
  can choose to incorporate pieces of their own
  countrys history in the biography portion of the
  unit. Rather than selecting a person from the
  American Revolutionary time period, the
  student(s) can choose an individual during the
  same time period, but from their country.
• During the re-enactment parts of the unit,
  students who are overcome with shyness or stage
  fright can opt to be the director rather than
  an actor/actress.
• As an extension for gifted students, they could
  do a report on a famous king for extra credit.
  They would have to describe in their paper the
  characteristics that make them a king, how they
  became king, and their duties to their country.
  Compare and contrast their king and the king of
  the Revolutionary War.

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THE END!!!!!!!!