I.

General Information:
Grade Level: 4th
Discipline: Social Studies
Unit Topic: Slavery and the Underground Railroad
Time Frame: 1 day, 50 minute period
Text: Henrys Freedom Box by Ellen Levine
Other Materials: sticky notes and sticky note summary
board, document camera, Smart Board, and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGK04B_Zof0
II. Standards/Indicators
RL1: Demonstrate understanding, either orally or in writing, after reading, viewing, or listening to
a text:
RL4:Consult reference materials (e.g., dictionaries, glossaries, thesauruses), both print and digital,
to find the pronunciation and determine or clarify the precise meaning of key words and phrases in
context. (CCSS L.4.4c)
W.4.9.a: Describeindepthacharacter,setting,oreventinastoryordrama,drawingon
specificdetailsinthetext[e.g.,acharactersthoughts,words,oractions

III. Lesson Objectives

5.4.a- Compare the lives of slave families and free blacks
IV. Procedures:
Introduction The class will go over the word courage,
and what makes a person courageous.
Teaching/Activities:
1.
The class will listen to a reading of Henrys
Freedom Box from a Youtube video while
following along in their own books.
2.
The class will work in pairs, re-read the text, and
discuss the letter, specifically words that are
unknown to the students. Some words I think
that will be unknown to the students will be
beckoned, tobacco leaf, mistress, warehouse,
vitriol
3.
The class will go over unknown words from the
text; if students know a word, they can describe
what the word means. If needed, we will use a
dictionary to look up more difficult words such as
vitriol.
Closure: The class will discuss and describe Henry and how
he was treated from the South to the North.

VI. Evaluation/Assessment:
Assessment of Objectives:
The students will complete a sticky note summary
where they must answer these three questions and use the
text to say where they found the answer: How old was Henry
when he was sold to a different family and had to leave his
parents, where was he when his children were sold, why do
you think the author wrote about Henry injuring himself?