Almost to Freedom by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson Grade Level

 Alex Ludwig Dana Nathan Grade K Almost to Freedom by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson Grade Level: Kindergarten Language Arts/Literacy Themes: Characterization, Perspective, Comprehension, Letter Writing Standards: Reading: Comprehension and Analysis of Nonfiction and Informational Text EL.K.3.3. 2006 Identify characters, settings, and important events in a story. Listening and Speaking: Skills, Strategies, and Applications EL.K.7.1 2006 Understand and follow one and two step spoken directions. Social Studies Themes: Culture, Individual Development and Identity, Civic Ideals and Practices Standards: History: SS.K.1.3 2007 Listen to and retell stories about people in the past who showed honesty, courage, and responsibility. SS.K.1.4 2007 Chronological thinking: Identify and order events that take place in a sequence. Geography: SS.K.3.1 2007 The World in Spatial Terms: Use words related to location, direction, and distance, including here/there, over/under, left/right, above/below, forward/backward, and between. Learning Invitations: ● Literacy Invitation: Cultural X­Ray ● Language Arts Invitation: Graffiti Board ● Literacy Invitation: I­Statement Chart ● Literacy Invitation: Picture Walk ● Art Invitation: Make your own rag doll, Sally ● History/Geography Invitation: Underground Railroad Simulation Teacher Notes: Start this inquiry with a picture walk and discuss events of the past related to slavery and the Underground Railroad. Then read the story aloud to the class and pause often to check for comprehension and discuss questions. After completing the story make sure students have plenty of time to engage with the invitations. Each invitation is designed to be completed in small groups with the exception of the picture walk and the Underground 1 Alex Ludwig Dana Nathan Grade K Railroad simulation, which should be done as a whole class. Each invitation should be set out in a file folder or a basket with all materials students will need. The directions included for each invitation are meant to be given to the students. Before letting students begin the teacher should explain and model invitations beforehand, as needed. Materials per invitation: ● Picture Walk: copies of direction sheet, Almost to Freedom ● Cultural X­Ray: copies of direction sheet, copies of x­ray, markers ● Graffiti Board: copies of direction sheet, poster sized paper, markers, ● I­Statements: copies of direction sheet, markers. ● Make your own rag doll: copies of direction sheet, supplies to make doll ● Underground Railroad Simulation: copies of direction sheet, computer/SmartBoard to project simulation, large map of the United States, whiteboard markers 2 Alex Ludwig Dana Nathan Grade K Summary of book: Almost to Freedom is a story told from the perspective of a rag doll named Sally. Sally’s owner, Lindy, takes Sally with her everywhere. The two of them develop a relationship and become best friends as they search for freedom. After a turn of events, Lindy and Miz Rachel, known as Mama to Lindy, decide that they will meet Mr. Henry, Lindy’s father, and run for freedom. They come across a white family who takes them in for the night and hides them in their secret room for the night. Slave catchers have suspected this secret room which forces Lindy and her family to run. As Lindy is running, Sally slips away and is left behind in the darkness of the secret room. Sally spends her days feeling lonely and waiting for someone to come and rescue her. Luckily, another family arrives in the secret room on their journey to freedom and discover Sally. She is taken in with welcome arms and begins a new relationship with her new owner under the name of Belinda. 3 Alex Ludwig Dana Nathan Grade K Picture Walk: Do a picture walk of the book and have children predict events in the story. A picture walk involves students analyzing each page and using their background/previous knowledge in order to make predictions and look at characters expressions to determine how they are feeling. Explain that the book is about the Underground Railroad and have a brief discussion about what that was. Summary of the Underground Railroad (retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2944.html): The Underground Railroad, a vast network of people who helped fugitive slaves escape to the North and to Canada, was not run by any single organization or person. Rather, it consisted of many individuals ­­ many whites but predominently black ­­ who knew only of the local efforts to aid fugitives and not of the overall operation. Still, it effectively moved hundreds of slaves northward each year ­­ according to one estimate, the South lost 100,000 slaves between 1810 and 1850. An organized system to assist runaway slaves seems to have begun towards the end of the 18th century. In 1786 George Washington complained about how one of his runaway slaves was helped by a "society of Quakers, formed for such purposes." The system grew, and around 1831 it was dubbed "The Underground Railroad," after the then emerging steam railroads. The system even used terms used in railroading: the homes and businesses where fugitives would rest and eat were called "stations" and "depots" and were run by "stationmasters," those who contributed money or goods were "stockholders," and the "conductor" was responsible for moving fugitives from one station to the next. For the slave, running away to the North was anything but easy. The first step was to escape from the slaveholder. For many slaves, this meant relying on his or her own resources. Sometimes a "conductor," posing as a slave, would enter a plantation and then guide the runaways northward. The fugitives would move at night. They would generally travel between 10 and 20 miles to the next station, where they would rest and eat, hiding in barns and other out­of­the­way places. While they waited, a message would be sent to the next station to alert its stationmaster. The fugitives would also travel by train and boat ­­ conveyances that sometimes had to be paid for. Money was also needed to improve the appearance of the runaways ­­ a black man, woman, or child in tattered clothes would invariably attract suspicious eyes. This money was donated by individuals and also raised by various groups, including vigilance committees. Vigilance committees sprang up in the larger towns and cities of the North, most prominently in New York, Philadelphia, and Boston. In addition to soliciting money, the organizations provided food, lodging and money, and helped the fugitives settle into a community by helping them find jobs and providing letters of recommendation. The Underground Railroad had many notable participants, including John Fairfield in Ohio, 4 Alex Ludwig Dana Nathan Grade K the son of a slaveholding family, who made many daring rescues, Levi Coffin, a Quaker who assisted more than 3,000 slaves, and Harriet Tubman, who made 19 trips into the South and escorted over 300 slaves to freedom. Some questions/things to consider: ● Let's look at the front cover. What do you think this story is about? ● Do you have any experience with ___________? An experience I had was... ● Turn the page. What do you see? What do you think is happening? ● Use and locate difficult vocabulary words during the activity ● What do you think will happen next? ● Here we are almost at the end of the book. How will the story end? ● What are you curious to know more about in the story? I wonder if... 5 Alex Ludwig Dana Nathan Grade K Cultural Xrays Students should list, draw or write out evidence for the following areas of the body that are shown below. Head: List what the character is thinking about or what is on their mind Heart: List the most important people or things to the character 6 Alex Ludwig Dana Nathan Grade K 7 Alex Ludwig Dana Nathan Grade K Graffiti Board Think about how you feel when you lose something that is special to you. Draw pictures and write words around the picture of Lindy and her doll showing your feelings. This is how Lindy felt when she lost her doll. 8 Alex Ludwig Dana Nathan Grade K 9 Alex Ludwig Dana Nathan Grade K I­statement charts Choose one page from the pages provided and think about how that character feels. Draw what their face would look like on the face and in the bubble trace “I feel” and write one word to describe how they feel. You may use the emotions page to help you. 10 Alex Ludwig Dana Nathan Grade K How does Sally feel in this moment? Use an I­Statement to describe her emotions. 11 Alex Ludwig Dana Nathan Grade K How does Lindy feel in this moment when she receives Sally? Use an I­Statement to describe her emotions. 12 Alex Ludwig Dana Nathan Grade K How does Lindy’s Papa feel in this moment? Use an I­Statement to describe his emotions in this moment? 13 Alex Ludwig Dana Nathan Grade K How does Willa feel in this picture? Use an I­Statement to describe her emotions. Word bubble retrieved from AustismTeachingStrategies.com 14 Alex Ludwig Dana Nathan Grade K Emotions retrieved from Teachers Pay Teachers: Emily Roalfe 15 Alex Ludwig Dana Nathan Grade K Make your own rag doll, Sally! Students would have materials to make their own rag doll similar to Sally from the book. They would be able to use their creativity and make their own unique dolls. The students will come up with one sentence that their doll would say, based off of the book, and the teacher would write a little thought bubble and make it come out of her mouth! Steps to make rag doll: 1) Choose how you want your doll to look. Start with the fabric color. Any plain fabric will do, but you might want to choose something approximately skin­colored, such as cream, brown, tan, white, or pink 2) Draw the outline for your doll on a cloth. Add some extra width (half an inch to 5/8") all around the outside of your outline for a seam allowance. 3) Place a second layer of fabric underneath with the right sides of the fabric together. Cut out both on the outermost line. 4) Pin the fabric and stitch around the outline, leaving an opening for the stuffing. 5) Relieve the seams around curves and corners by cutting triangular notches in the seam allowance. 6) Turn the doll right side out, working the fabric through the opening. 7) Stuff the doll with any fiber stuffing you choose. 8) Turn the edges of the opening under, towards the inside, and stitch it closed by hand or machine. 9) If desired, stitch across the legs and arms to form joints. 10) Decorate the doll. Embroider a face or sew on buttons for the eyes and nose. Hair can be made from yarn; braid it for special effect if the hair is long. 11) Sew doll clothes or it (another great use of found, leftover, or recycled materials), or make no­sew doll clothes (add fabrics onto him/her) *Teacher would most likely prep the dolls as it would take the students too long to make. Another option would be for the students to use a brown paper bag and make a puppet­like doll that would represent Sally that would be more time efficient. 16 Alex Ludwig Dana Nathan Grade K Underground Railroad Simulation: Students will complete this activity as a class (because it will be too difficult for them to read on their own) and will go through an underground railroad simulation. As a class, they will have to decide whether or not they will keep going and see where this journey takes them. The class will mark each destination on a map of the United States to be able to visualize how far they traveled. The class can discuss how this simulation relates to the book and the trip that Lindy and Sally had. http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/multimedia/interactive/the­underground
­railroad/?ar_a=1 17