A third grade learning web

Created by: Monica Shorter and Mary Katras

Problem
Help! When I learned that slaves used the Underground Railroad to escape to freedom, I thought that the train really ran under the ground. My teacher told me that the Underground Railroad was not a railroad and was not underground. I need your help finding out which one of us is right.

Activity 1- What is the Underground Railroad?

1. Use the links below to read about the Underground Railroad. (Comprehension)

2. Is the Underground Railroad really a railroad under the ground? Write each of your answers on a sticky note and bring it to your teacher.

Activity 2- Who is Harriet Tubman?

1. Use the links below to learn about Harriet Tubman. (Comprehension)

2. See what you learned by completing at least one of the quizzes below.

3. Use the link below to answer questions about Harriet Tubman. Make sure to save your answers as your names when you finish.

Activity 3- Tubman Timeline

1. As you read information from the websites below, make a timeline on your paper of the important events in Harriet Tubman's life. Make sure that you have a date to go along with each major event. (Comprehension, Application, Synthesis)

2. Choose one event that you would like to illustrate and describe for the class timeline. Check with the teacher before you begin to make sure that no one else has the same event.

3. You will use one piece of paper to draw a picture of the event. Make sure that the picture uses the entire piece of paper. When the picture is finished, your teacher will scan it into your PowerPoint slide.

4. Open PowerPoint and click on the new page icon like you learned before. You will create one PowerPoint slide about your important event. Your slide will include the picture that you drew, as well as the date of the event, and at least one sentence that describes what happened. Save the PowerPoint slide as your name.

Activity 4- Compose a Poem

1. You have learned so much about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. You now have the chance to teach others about Harriet Tubman by composing a poem about her life. (Comprehension, Synthesis, Application)

2. The poem will contain five sentences. This poem does not have to contain lines that rhyme. The poem will answer the questions who, what, when, where, and why. The five lines can be in any order, as long as it makes sense. You do not have to use complete sentences.

3. Type your poem in the Word document that you can click the link to below. Be sure to save your document as your names. You can change the font, text size, and color if you would like.   

Thank you for helping me find the truth about the Underground Railroad!

1. As you learned about the Underground Railroad, you found that quilts often contained symbols to help guide slaves and their conductors on their path to freedom. Using what you know about the Underground Railroad, create a quilt square that contains symbols to help the slaves in their journey. Be sure to write the meaning of the symbols on the back of the quilt square. (Comprehension, Synthesis)

2. You can use the links below for more information about the use of quilts.

(You will want to use a square piece of paper for the quilt square. See your teacher for help with cutting your paper.)
                 

Rubrics for Activity Assessment

Graphics courtesy of http://abkldesigns.com