Conclusion

We have come a very long way with this unit. This is the last thing we will be doing with our unit, the Civil War. We will work together in groups to present the most important information from the unit. At the end of the presentations, we will schedule a test. We will have plenty of review time. We have worked so hard on this unit and I have a lot of confidence in everyone. Thank you for working so hard on this unit. We have really enjoyed learning together!
~ Miss Levine

Primary Sources

It is important for us to remember what makes a good source. We have been doing so much work and researching and it is time that we find out what makes a good source. Together our class will explore sources and what makes them wonderful. We are lucky enough to live in a time of technology. Now we will learn how to use that technology in a way that is safe and beneficial to what it is we are trying to learn. Let's dive in to a new lesson with a whole new group of things to learn about the Civil War, and the Internet! See you there!
~Miss Levine

Fact, Fiction or Folklore

As a class we will be traveling the stories of the Civil War through literature. First your child will learn what fact, fiction and folklore means. After a class read-aloud, discussion, and a quiz your child will be reading and excerpt of literature from the Civil War. After they read their passage they will decide which category it falls under, fact, fiction or folklore, and will then add a pamphlet about the passage they read to a class bulletin board. The bulletin board will allow the your child's peers to check out their work!

Letters of the Civil War

Hello again time travelers! For this lesson your child is going to be putting themselves into someone else’s shoes. The whole point of this lesson is for the students to use multiple perspectives when thinking about a situation in addition to using historical resources. Your child will read two REAL letters from the Civil War; one that was written by an occupant of the south and another that was written by a northern occupant. They may be reading a letter that was written by a slave, civilian, soldier, or a politician. As an accumulating activity each sixth grader will make a poster that compares/contrasts letters from the north and south and will present them at our mini-fair. We hope that this activity will help the students relate themselves to the people of our past as well as realize that those who were in conflict with each other often have some similarities. Be sure to ask your child about the letters that they have been reading!

Causing an Effect

This week's lesson focuses on cause and effect. We have used cause and effect in many areas in the classroom. It is only fitting that we discuss the causes and effects of the Civil War on us today. Students will be assigned an event to research. We will post all of our information on a wiki that can be read and edited from school or home. Students will then update information as they learn more about their "cause" and begin to discover its "effect". Some of the effects we find will have effected a time in our past, and many will still have an effect on us today. I encourage students to brush up on the cause and effect knowledge and get ready to apply it. I am looking forward to this lesson and I think we will all learn something new by the end!
~Miss Levine

The Big Picture

Hello Parents! This lesson will help your students define different branches of social studies. As a class we will define, civics, geography, history and economics. Then the class will be divided into four groups. Each group will travel through all four of the learning stations in a matter of four days. The students will use primary sources to learn about each area of the Civil War. The purpose of this lesson is for students to learn about the different disciplines of social studies and learn the context of the Civil War; or to see the big picture. All of the students will be write in their journals as a means of reflection on each learning station. Be sure to check out what your child learned by taking some time to read their journal!

Take a Tour of the Civil War

The places in history are just as important as the events that took place there. Together, we will use programs such as Google Earth and googlemaps to discover the places that were important to the Civil War. These programs are wonderful ways to take a virtual tour of the places that were so influential back in the time of the Civil War. Each student will research ten places and identify them using googlemaps. After each student has had a chance to learn all about their ten places, they will present them to the rest of the class using both googlemaps and Google Earth. I am so excited to introduce these programs to you! Both of them can be used in many ways in the future and I hope this project inspires your own ideas for the further use of googlemaps and Google Earth! So join me on our virtual tour of the Civil War!
~Miss Levine

People and Events

Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world - Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman was just one of many people who was influential during the time of the Civil War. Together, we will learn about many people who have been important in the outcome of our country today. After learning about this individual, we will write an autobiography from the point of view of them. Our class will use the many resources available to us to find out as much as we can about these individuals. As a class, we will create a blog and post all our new information on the site for everyone to see. I cannot wait to work on this project together. The Internet will be a great asset to this project! Put on your thinking caps and get ready to become an individual from the Civil War period.

~Miss Levine

Time Traveling

Hello fellow time travelers! I am so excited to be traveling back to a time that shaped out countries history, the Civil War! Our very first lesson is going to be about time lines. During this lesson the students will learn the definition of timeline and construct their very own timeline. After the students have a good understanding of time lines they will work independently and as a class in order to create a classroom timeline. Each student will be assigned to a monumental event of the Civil War. They will research the event and create a part of the timeline that will include a picture, date and a brief overview of the event that will be part of a whole class timeline. In addition to this project, the students will eventually be making the timeline in an electronic format in order to post it on the blog. the purpose of teaching students about time lines is so that they can understand the sequence and context of an event. This lesson will engage your child into the history of our country.
Thanks for your time and interest!
Miss Beaver

Our New Unit - Civil War

The next unit we will be studying focuses on the Civil War. We are very excited to start this unit because this time in history was crucial to forming who we are as a country. As a class we will look at this very influential war in many perspectives and by using many different resources. The sixth grade will be taking trips to the library and computer lab in an effort to learn all we can about this time in our history. We ask that you as parents prepare your students to learn about this time by sharing your thoughts and recollections of the Civil War with your children. As students, we ask that you begin reading up on this time in our history to better understand what we will be focusing on for the time ahead. So open your minds and get ready to travel back in time to the late 1800s!

1. Timelines - Timelines are a great way to outline the important days of an event. As a class we will be looking at a number of resources to great our own timeline for the classroom. This will serve as a resource for students as it will hang on the wall. A visual like this well help the students to see the whole picture.
2. People and events in time – It is important to understand the people and the events that took place during the Civil War. We will take a detailed look at the people who influenced the outcome and made their mark in history during this time. As a class, we will also discover events that changed the way our country runs forever.
3. Context of Events - As we study the Civil War, we will study the social life, economics, and politics in order to better understand the circumstances of the war. It is important for the students to understand that there are a number of factors that influence the outcome of the war.
4. Data in historical and contemporary maps, graphs and tables (geomapping and Gettysburg) – Using exciting new developments in technology, we will travel to the places where the Civil War took place. We will look at places such as Gettysburg on the map and discuss their relation to where we live today. Together we will take a virtual look at modern day cities and towns that were involved in the Civil War.
5. Multiple Points of Views - One of the state standards requires that students learn to use multiple points of views to interpret an event. The way that the sixth grade will be doing this is by examining real letters from soldiers, civilians, politicians, and slaves. After reading a number of these primary sources they will pretend that they are traveling back in time and will write a series of letters from a variety of perspectives.
6. Causes and results – In many of our subjects we look at the causes and effects of what we are studying. This unit is no different. We will apply our expert “cause and effect” skills to determine the event that took place and its impact. The Civil war is a great place to explore causes and effects; we are living some of the current effects!
7. Facts, Folklore, and Fiction - For this section of the unit we will be focusing on literature from the time period. We will study the definition of these literary terms and classify different works under each category.
8. Primary Sources – There are many sources of information about the Civil War. Thanks to technology and our brains, we could research this topic until the end of time! It is such an interesting point in our history and it has truly made us who we are as a country today. It is important to understand and look at as many sources as we can in order to get varying perspectives. By going to our library and using the computer, we will be able to dig deep into our country’s past, leaving no rock unturned!
9. Gettysburg - The Battle of Gettysburg was a turning point in the Civil War and is a great resource at our fingertips. We will use the World Wide Web and video clips to experience the battle field. There will be a group project for this lesson. The class will be divided up into the different battles of Gettysburg and will collaboratively create a Wiki page about Gettysburg.
10. Conclusion/Review: Create a project demonstrating your knowledge of the Civil War – At the end of our journey through the Civil War, I will ask all sixth graders to present a project that shows their new knowledge on the Civil War. We will spend plenty of class time preparing and researching together. Students will have the option of working together or by themselves. In order to stray from the monotony of the same information over and over, students will all be assigned specific topics from the Civil War era. We look forward to learning from each other!

As a teacher, I expect that this unit will be one that impacts our thoughts and views for a long time to come. Exploring our history as a nation builds us as a person and will bring us together as a class. It is my hope that we will work together to learn about what our country has come through for our rights and freedoms that we have today. I expect students to work diligently and honestly while keeping an open mind. We will work responsibly and with respect to ourselves and others as well as the property we are being trusted to use in our research. Thank you in advance for all your hard work and cooperation. I believe that if we work together as a class, we can truly experience this time in our history and what it means to us.

Welcome to Our Blog!

Welcome, parents and students, to our sixth grade classroom blog! This blog will be used as a way for us to communicate with you about what your students will be learning during the Civil War Unit. We will use this blog to post pictures, helpful websites, and pieces of your child’s work. Please feel free to use this blog to post comments as we will be checking this blog daily. Hopefully, this blog is helpful to you as you can have an inside view of the classroom. Just a reminder, please do not rely on this blog as a means of primary communication about your child.