Lesson Plan:

Leading up to this lesson we would have read the book Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the
Quarters over a period of several days with corresponding activities.
TEKS 113.14 7 (A), 8 (b) 12 (b) 18 (a) (b) (c)
Students will understand the differences and likeness between the cultures and traditions of slaves and
owners; Students will understand the differences and likeness between themselves and slaves/owners.

Introduction: We have read about the differences between the slaves and the owners in the south prior
to the civil war. Lets recall some of the information from the story by creating a KWL chart. (We would
have completed the K and W side prior to reading the story and are now creating the L).
I will then divide students into groups and hand them yarn and notecards. Their instructions will be to
compare and contrast the Christmas in the quarters to Christmas in the big House. They will lay the yarn
out on the floor in overlapping circles to create a Venn diagram. As a team they will brainstorm what
they noticed in the story to be the same (middle overlapping), slaves only (one side), owners (only).
When students are finished with this exercise they will then draw their own Venn diagrams displaying
what they have in common with either the big house or the slaves (choose one). During this time I am
walking from group to group monitoring and checking for understanding.
Conclusion: Next, we will reconvene to have a discussion. I will invite students to come sit in our story
area to share what they discovered. Obviously students will notice the disparity between the two. We
will discuss how they feel about this and lead in to how we began to set slaves free. If students do not
mention things like the Underground Railroad I will mention them.
Extension: Students will understand how historical figures such as Harriett Tubman changed American
history and the importance of historical figures in history.
Now that we have shown what we learned we want to find out more! We will be doing an activity called
More to the Story In this project we will identify historical figures that played a key role in the freedom
slaves. We will identify how their actions affected the community, what changes were made to the
constitution, why these were important to our country. Lets brainstorm some historical figures from
this time period. (I expect to hear, General Grant, Abraham Lincoln, Sojourner Truth, Frederick
Douglas, Harriet Tubman.,.). Each student will be given a packet with requirements for a project we
will be working on. They will choose one historical figure who aided slaves in the fight for freedom. The
child will research about the persons life story including how they helped slaves to freedom, how this
influenced our community, how the actions of this person changed history. They will write a report,
dress in character and present using pictures, props or other media to an audience of parents, teachers
and other students on a specified date.