Student Name: Karlee Wilson

I. General Information:
Grade Level: 4th
Discipline: Social Studies
Unit Topic: Slavery and the Underground Railroad
Time Frame: 1 day, 50 minute period
Text: Dear Austin: Letters from the Underground
Railroad by Elvira Woodruf
Other Materials: Copies of the book, index cards
II. Standards/Indicators
RL2: Summarize a literary text either orally or in writing. (See CCSS RI.4.2; W.4.9; SL.4.4, 6.)
Determine the key events from the beginning, middle, and end of the text. (See CCSS RI.4.2.)
RL9: Determine patterns in topics, themes ,and events in various works of literature.
W.4.9: 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
5.4.c Describe the growth of the Underground Railroad
IV. Procedures: The class will go over what they have learned
about slavery from Ben and the Emancipation Proclamation
and Henrys Freedom Box.
Teaching/Activities:
1. The class will summarize the letters that were read
yesterday from Dear Austin.
2. Once all pairs re-read their summaries of their letter,
the class will compare the diferent characters and
narrations from the diferent stories we have read.
3. The class will compare and contrast the theme of each
story and how each character showed courage through
their story. This will show how each were brave by
teaching themselves to read (Ben), shipping
themselves to freedrom (Henry), and escaping back
into the South (Austin and Jupiter).
4. The class will compare the diferences between the
characters and how they were treated in the North
versus the South.
Closure: The class will discuss what they think would be
easier, escaping to the North or the South.
VI. Evaluation/Assessment:

Assessment of Objectives: The teacher will assess the

students on the question, Do you think you would be brave
enough to do what these people did? Include details about
what each person dealt with in their story. The students will
be given a index card to respond to the question.
Specifically, the students will give 3 reasons why they would
or not be brave enough and use details from the stories. An
example would be, I would not be brave enough to do what
these people did. Henry shipped himself to Pennsylvania to
escape to the North, and I dont think I could do that. In
addition, Jupiter went to save his sister in the South; if he is
caught, he could be sent to a plantation. Finally, Ben taught
himself to read; the book said that could get him into a lot of
trouble.