Teaching Guide
Curriculum Plan
- Subject Matter Description
- Learner Description
- Prerequisites
- Learning Objectives
- Materials
- Concept Map
Introduction
This Curriculum Web is designed to help students explore the American Civil War by focusing on the causes, major events, and consequences of the Civil War.
The American Civil War helped to define our nation. The country struggled with its identity in the times leading up to the war. These struggles lead to the war. These activities will help you understand how.
Through exploration of the causes, students will understand how geography, climate, and economics played a role in the start of the Civil War. Major events will shed light on the war's dynamic and what lead to its eventual end. The American Civil War affected the entire country. However, different areas were affected in entirely different ways. Research of the Civil War's consequences will lead students to understand the challenges faced by both sides of this war.
Curriculum Standard
SS5H1 The student will explain the causes, major events, and consequences of the Civil War.
a. Identify Uncle Tom’s Cabin and John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry, and explain how each of these events was related to the Civil War.
b. Discuss how the issues of states’ rights and slavery increased tensions between the North and South.
c. Identify major battles and campaigns: Fort Sumter, Gettysburg, the Atlanta Campaign, Sherman’s March to the Sea, and Appomattox Court House.
d. Describe the roles of Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, Jefferson Davis, and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson.
e. Describe the effects of war on the North and South.
Aim/Purpose Statement
This Curriculum Web guides students through the exploration of the American Civil War to find the causes, major events, and consequences.
Through the examination of the causes, students will understand how geography, climate, and economics play a role in the start of the Civil War.
Major events and important people of the Civil War shed light on how the war's causes were spread, campaigns developed, and what lead to its eventual end. Many of the events and people studied are connected to Georgia and the Atlanta area. These connections will be examined through this curriculum web.
The Civil War affected both the North and the South. However, both were affected in much different ways. Research of the consequences of the Civil War will lead students to understand the challenges faced by both sides after the war's end.
Rationale
These activities will guide students to information which will assist them in making connections about the American Civil War.
There is a direct relationship between the geography, climate, economy, and population of the United States in the years before the Civil War that fostered tension in the country. The graphs and maps presented in the WebQuest within this Curriculum Web will illustrate how the United States of America looked during the 1860s while other research will help students understand how this relates to the causes of the Civil War.
The major events studied in this Curriculum Web will show how the United States was divided, then how key battles determined the course of the war and, eventually, its end. Students will research and ascertain key facts about each event that illustrates the event's importance to the Civil War.
Key players from the North and the South during the Civil War will be studied through online research by accessing pages predetermined in the WebQuest contained within the Curriculum Web. Fact sheets will enable students to discern important information regarding the subjects and their contribution to the Civil War.
General Education Goals
This curriculum web was developed to help students make connections between research and real events. Fact sheets included in this curriculum guide students in how to find pertinent information and form it into an informative essay. Maps and graphs included in the curriculum web help students understand the concept of creating each while illustrating facts. Online research through pre-selected sites help students to discern important information online.
The activities in the curriculum web will build steps towards future projects this year. When students are able to make their own maps and graphs from information found through research, they will be able to read maps in future units more effectively.
Fact sheets in this web help students to practice the skills of finding important information in their research and organize it for future informational essays.
This Civil War curriculum web helps students find important information regarding this period in American history while developing skills needed for the remainder of fifth grade and beyond.
Subject Matter Description
This curriculum web will be subject-centered and focus on bringing the students into contact with the Civil War subject matter while working creatively to understand relationships in their research.
Students must develop research skills while understanding the relationships of factors and consequences (cause and effect) in regards to history.
Skills and information essential to completing this curriculum web:
- Creating a map from research sources
- Creating a graph from research sources
- Discerning important facts from research sources
- Making connections from facts to understand cause and effect
- Creatively present important information discerned from research sources
Learner Description
My targeted learner is male or female, age 10-11 years old and in the 5th grade. The learner group is made up of mixed social and cultural backgrounds, with a wide variety of ethnicities. The socio-economic background is generally average income and higher. Special needs are varied from learning disabled to gifted learners. Learning styles are varied. The cognitive background is that of a child beginning to work with abstract thoughts and connections. Skill level includes children beginning to work with computers and web-based activities up to advanced learners. Prior experiences would include computer familiarity, but mastery not necessary. Motivation is necessary to maintain engagement and complete the activities.
Prerequisites
Prerequisites to complete this curriculum web are to be able to navigate web pages, read at a third grade level or higher (research links are at that level). Students must know how to open documents from links, save as a different file name, and post assignments to their Edmodo account.
Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this curriculum web, students will be able to
- Create maps from online research
- Create population graphs from online research
- Create informational graphs from online research
- Create an online digital presentation (glog) based on online research
- Discern facts about important events regarding a specific time period through online research
- Discern facts about important people regarding a specific time period through online research
- Make connections from maps, graphs, and facts to understand relationships in history (cause and effect)
- Create vocabulary flashcards online
- Create historically accurate diorama using art programs online
- Create timeline using online drawing site
- Create political cartoon online based on research of era politics
- Navigate links to specific points on the web
- Save online documents under different file names
- Post documents to their Edmodo accounts for grading
Materials
The materials needed to complete the Civil War curriculum web would be:
- Computer
- Access to internet
- Colored pencils, crayons, or markers for the maps and graphs
- Printer to print maps and graphs
- Class and individual accounts on Edmodo
- Class and individual accounts at edu.glogster.com
- http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/bhistory/underground_railroad/map.htm
- http://www.pbs.org/civilwar/war/map1.html
- http://www.historyplace.com/civilwar/index.html
- http://eservices.eduplace.com/epe/hmss05/SP50/SP52-NA5B/common/frames/eb_f2.html?s=GA&a=t&es=t
- http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_were_the_effects_of_the_Civil_War_and_its_aftermath
- http://www.civilwarhome.com/statesrights.htm
- http://americanhistory.about.com/od/civilwarmenu/a/cause_civil_war.htm
- http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p1550.html
- http://www.shmoop.com/civil-war/abraham-lincoln.html
- http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/civilwar/p/marchtosea.htm
- http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2958.html
- http://www.quizlet.com
- http://www.ehow.com/how_8088947_do-political-cartoon-kids.html
- http://www.olemiss.edu/courses/his105/lectures/politics_1820-60.pdf
- http://www.history.com
Instructional Plan
This curriculum web is designed for individual work since each child must develop their own research skills.
Teachers must first set up a class at http://edu.glogster.com and http://www.edmodo.com along with student accounts on each. Students should be given a chance to explore each site prior to beginning curriculum web. After this, explain to the class prior to beginning curriculum web the steps involved in saving documents from a website, renaming the files, and posting to their Edmodo accounts. Each activity has specific instructions with it on the curriculum web. Rubrics for glogs guide the students in what information to include and how to design their presentation. Fact sheets have specific information to include on each sheet. Maps must be created based on the given link and completed on the blank map page provided.
Graphs must be completed on the provided blank graph sheets, for the time period listed, and use the research links provided.
Glogs must be completed at edu.glogster.com and follow the rubrics to be considered complete.
Fact sheets have blanks for specific information that should be completed. The subject should be listed, time period studied, birth/death date for people, and contributions to the Civil War should be detailed. All information should pertain to the Civil War time period only and be found on the provided research links.
Flashcards should be completed online at www.quizlet.com and a link provided by the student through their Edmodo assignment.
Students should create their online diorama based on a Civil War battle using edu.glogster.com and follow the rubric for accuracy.
A timeline should be created through edu.glogster.com and a link provided through the student's Edmodo account.
Political cartoons should be created with Microsoft Paint and uploaded through the student's Edmodo account.
Plan implementation will take place in the classroom over the first nine weeks with the laptop cart providing a computer for each student. If the cart is not available, the computer lab will be reserved. In the instance that both are not available, this plan can be implemented as a center. Elements of the plan can be completed offline, while others can complete the online components.
Students will not be grouped for this curriculum web.
This curriculum web plan will be implemented into the classroom as past project-based curriculums were implemented. In the case of technology failure, we will rely on class resources available such as encyclopedias, non-fiction reference books, media center, and print-outs of the websites we would have used.
When implementation takes effect, the students will have been familiarized with Edmodo, Quizlet, Glogster, and basic computer skills. Orientation with these sites begins the first week of school. The ideal computer ratio is 1:1. However, when equipment is not available for the class, we can make use of the three desktop computers in class, as well as the media center and neighboring classes.
Student progress will be assessed by the Edmodo submitted assignments. Deadlines will be in place throughout the unit to guarantee progress.
Students not on-task during this unit will be given alternate text/paper assignments.
All assignments will be graded and uploaded to online gradebook within 2 days of submission (based on previous experiences with project-based curriculum).
Assessment Plan
Maps and graphs will be assessed for accuracy regarding the Civil War time period.
Fact sheets will be assessed on whether facts are correct and information refers only to time period specified.
Glogs will be assessed using the following rubrics.
Consequences of the Civil War on the North glog
0 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
Glog contains no consequences of the Civil War on the North |
Glog contains 1 consequence of the Civil War on the North |
Glog contains 2 consequences of the Civil War on the North |
Glog contains 3 or more consequences of the Civil War on the North |
Glog contains no pictures regarding consequences of the Civil War on the North |
Glog contains 1 picture regarding consequences of the Civil War on the North |
Glog contains 2 pictures regarding consequences of the Civil War on the North |
Glog contains 3 or more pictures regarding consequences of the Civil War on the North |
Glog is not completed or is cluttered, too busy, or has too many variations in color. |
Glog is not very neat, some clutter, and has too many variations in color |
Glog is mostly neat, some clutter, and good use of color |
Glog is neatly designed, uncluttered, and has good use of color |
Glog has 5 or more grammatical or spelling errors |
Glog has 3 - 4 grammatical or spelling errors |
Glog has 1 - 2 grammatical or spelling errors |
Glog has no grammatical or spelling errors |
Total Points (must exceed 9 points) |
|
||
Consequences of the Civil War on the South glog
0 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
Glog contains no consequences of the Civil War on the South |
Glog contains 1 consequence of the Civil War on the South |
Glog contains 2 consequences of the Civil War on the South |
Glog contains 3 or more consequences of the Civil War on the South |
Glog contains no pictures regarding consequences of the Civil War on the South |
Glog contains 1 picture regarding consequences of the Civil War on the South |
Glog contains 2 pictures regarding consequences of the Civil War on the South |
Glog contains 3 or more pictures regarding consequences of the Civil War on the South |
Glog is not completed or is cluttered, too busy, or has too many variations in color. |
Glog is not very neat, some clutter, and has too many variations in color |
Glog is mostly neat, some clutter, and good use of color |
Glog is neatly designed, uncluttered, and has good use of color |
Glog has 5 or more grammatical or spelling errors |
Glog has 3 - 4 grammatical or spelling errors |
Glog has 1 - 2 grammatical or spelling errors |
Glog has no grammatical or spelling errors |
Total Points (must exceed 9 points) |
|
||
Other glog rubrics
0 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
Glog contains no information regarding the subject pertaining to the Civil War |
Glog contains 1 fact regarding the subject pertaining to the Civil War |
Glog contains 2 facts regarding the subject pertaining to the Civil War |
Glog contains 3 or more facts regarding the subject pertaining to the Civil War |
Glog contains no pictures regarding the subject pertaining to the Civil War |
Glog contains 1 picture regarding the subject pertaining to the Civil War |
Glog contains 2 pictures regarding the subject pertaining to the Civil War |
Glog contains 3 or more pictures regarding the subject pertaining to the Civil War |
Glog is not completed or is cluttered, too busy, or has too many variations in color. |
Glog is not very neat, some clutter, and has too many variations in color |
Glog is mostly neat, some clutter, and good use of color |
Glog is neatly designed, uncluttered, and has good use of color |
Glog has 5 or more grammatical or spelling errors |
Glog has 3 - 4 grammatical or spelling errors |
Glog has 1 - 2 grammatical or spelling errors |
Glog has no grammatical or spelling errors |
Total Points (must exceed 9 points) |
|
||
Political Cartoon Rubric
0 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
Glog contains no information regarding the politics of the 1860s. |
|
Glog contains information from the 1860s but not politics. |
Glog contains political information from the 1860s. |
Not a political cartoon. |
|
|
Proper political cartoon format is followed. |
Glog is not completed or is cluttered, too busy, or has too many variations in color. |
Glog is not very neat, some clutter, and has too many variations in color |
Glog is mostly neat, some clutter, and good use of color |
Glog is neatly designed, uncluttered, and has good use of color |
Glog has 5 or more grammatical or spelling errors |
Glog has 3 - 4 grammatical or spelling errors |
Glog has 1 - 2 grammatical or spelling errors |
Glog has no grammatical or spelling errors |
Total Points (must exceed 9 points) |
|
||
Diorama Rubric
0 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
Diorama does not portray a real Civil War battle. |
Diorama portrays real Civil War battle, but not accurate. |
Diorama portrays real Civil War battle accurately . |
Diorama portrays real Civil War battle accurately . |
Diorama is not accompanied by information. |
Diorama contains only 1 to 2 pieces of required information. |
Diorama contains only 3 to 5 pieces of required information. |
Diorama contains the generals involved, who won, where battle occurred, the dates it started and finished, and number of casualties. |
Diorama is not completed or is cluttered, too busy, or has too many variations in color. |
Diorama is not very neat, some clutter, and has too many variations in color |
Diorama is mostly neat, some clutter, and good use of color |
Diorama is neatly designed, uncluttered, and has good use of color |
Diorama has 5 or more grammatical or spelling errors |
Diorama has 3 - 4 grammatical or spelling errors |
Diorama has 1 - 2 grammatical or spelling errors |
Diorama has no grammatical or spelling errors |
Total Points (must exceed 9 points) |
|
||
Timeline Rubric
0 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
Timeline not completed. |
Timeline contains 1 to 5 significant dates within the 1850 to 1865 range. |
Timeline contains 6 to 9 significant dates within the 1850 to 1865 range. |
Timeline contains 10 significant dates within the 1850 to 1865 range. |
Timeline dates do not include short (1 sentence) explanation of what occurred. |
Timeline dates include 1 to 5 short (1 sentence) explanations of what occurred. |
Timeline dates include 6 to 9 short (1 sentence) explanations of what occurred. |
Timeline dates include 10 short (1 sentence) explanations of what occurred. |
Timeline not completed. |
Timeline is not very neat, or segments are not accurate. |
Timeline is mostly neat, some clutter, and only one inaccurate segment. |
Timeline is neat and segments are accurate. |
Timeline has 5 or more grammatical or spelling errors |
Timeline has 3 - 4 grammatical or spelling errors |
Timeline has 1 - 2 grammatical or spelling errors |
Timeline has no grammatical or spelling errors |
Total Points (must exceed 9 points) |
|
||
Evaluation Plan
This curriculum web is evaluated using the following rubric.
|
0 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
Inquiry-based activities |
No inquiry based activities |
Rote memorization of facts in activities. No higher-order thinking skills involved in activities. |
Some higher-order thinking skills involved in activities. |
All activities are higher-order thinking skills. |
Student-directed |
All teacher-directed activities |
A couple teacher-directed activiies |
Several, not all, teacher-directed activiies |
All student-directed activities |
Student Choice |
No choices given |
A couple of choices given to students |
Several activities involving student choice. |
All activities involve student choice. |
Design |
Design is cluttered, busy, and not visually pleasing |
Design is somewhat cluttered, busy, and in places not visually pleasing |
Design is neat, clean, but not visually inviting |
Design is neat, clean, and visually inviting throughout |
Navigation |
Navigation is not clear |
Navigation is confusing at times |
Navigation is clear most of the time |
Navigation is obvious throughout |
Total Points |
|
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Contact Information
This curriculum web was designed by Shane Brazile. Please contact for more information or to report problems with the website including broken or inactive links. Email address is: shane.brazile@cobbk12.org.
Bibliography
Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War (2011). Shmoop. Retrieved June 18, 2011 from http://www.shmoop.com/civil-war/abraham-lincoln.html
America and the Civil War. (2011). The History Channel website. Retrieved 1:48, June 28, 2011, from http://www.history.com/videos/civil-war.
America's Civil War: Sherman's March to the Sea (2011). About.com. Retrieved June 18, 2011 from http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/civilwar/p/marchtosea.htm
Compare Two Worlds: North vs South 1861 (2011). Scholastic. Retrieved June 18, 2011 from http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/bhistory/underground_railroad/map.htm
Confederate States of America Map (2002). PBS. Retrieved June 18, 2011 from http://www.historyplace.com/civilwar/index.html John Brown (1998). PBS. Retrieved June 18, 2011 from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p1550.html
Fort Sumter Overview. (2011). National Park Service website. Retrieved 1:49, June 28, 2011, from http://www.nps.gov/fosu/photosmultimedia/videos.htm.
Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad (2011). The History Channel website. Retrieved 1:51, June 28, 2011, from http://www.history.com/flash/VideoPlayer.swf?vid=7053389701.
Legacy of the Civil War. (2011). The History Channel website. Retrieved 1:46, June 28, 2011, from http://www.history.com/videos/legacy-of-the-civil-war.
Slave Narratives and Uncle Tom's Cabin (1998). PBS. Retrieved June 18, 2011 from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2958.html
States' Rights (2002). Civil War Home. Retrieved June 18, 2011 from http://www.civilwarhome.com/statesrights.htm
The Effects of the Civil War (2011). Answers.com. Retrieved June 18, 2011 from http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_were_the_effects_of_the_Civil_War_and_its_aftermath
Top Five Causes of the Civil War (2011). AmericanHistory.About.com. Retrieved June 18, 2011 from http://americanhistory.about.com/od/civilwarmenu/a/cause_civil_war.htm
United States History: Civil War to Today (2005). Houghton Mifflin eBooks. Retrieved June 18, 2011 from http://eservices.eduplace.com/epe/hmss05/SP50/SP52-NA5B/common/frames/eb_f2.html?s=GA&a=t&es=t
Click the link above to see the concept map.
Click to see the Curriculum Web Tour.
Click to see the Teaching Guide Tour.
Last updated July 17, 2011 by Shane Brazile