This Unit was excellent! My kids were excited and motivated from the first day to the end. Many parents commented on their children's enthusiasm. I gave each student a copy of page 2 (the objectives) and had a discussion to see what they already knew. I was surprised to learn that most of them had no concept whatsoever as to the causes of the war, when it was fought, and even who won the war. A few students had seen the Hunley movie that was recently on TV.As we covered each topic, I gave the students copies of the student reading sections. They first read the sections to themselves or aloud in small groups. I gave them markers to underline unknown words and also to highlight interesting ideas. Several students highlighted entire pages!
I had the students make up definitions for the words using context clues. We went over the words they underlined and found the actual meanings. The students were fairly accurate with their ideas on the meanings.I have listed comments on each topic from the Unit below. My activities worked well for 6th graders. Students in 7th & 8th grade would be able to do the sections just as you suggest in the plans.
Part 1 Topic 1 Children's Lives The students did activity 4 on page 10. I wrote "plantation owner",'' slave'', ''farmer'', and ''merchant'' on cards and had the students draw a card. They wrote a story, a diary entry, or a poem about their life.Your sections on the clothes the people wore and the medical problems answered all the questions the students had wondered about. They liked the fact that you mentioned Aynor in the section.
This section was easy for the 6th graders to understand. None knew what a tariff was before reading this part. They seemed to understand the concept afterwards. The math problems on page 15-16 were real eye openers for them. They couldn't believe that people used to take such a long time to travel between the cities. They had fun solving the problems, this was a real surprise to most of them! I let them work in small groups with calculators. Part I Topic 2 - Causes of the War
The students used the internet to find answers to questions on page 22. I had brought up the information on the web sites you recommended before class to make it easier for 6th graders. They had to find the answers on the site but didn't have to spend time "surfing" the net to find the information. Part I Topic 3 Start of the War
I was surprised at the lack of understanding the students had on this section. I gave them one map and had them color the Confederate States one color and the Federal states another color. After reading the section and completing the map they had a better picture of the two sides. Part I Topic 4 - Who was Fighting?
This was one of their favorite sections. They each wrote a story in which they were a blockade runner. I mentioned the modern day blockades but the students did not do any of the activities dealing with them. (page 33) Part I Topic 5 - The Blockade
The students didn't realize that people back in the Civil War times liked coffee as much as the people do today. They understood why the blockade caused the shortages and had some interesting ways of bringing in goods to Charleston. Part I Topic 6 - Shortages
The explanation given for buoyancy was clear and easy to understand. I could tell by the students' reactions and comments that they knew why the Hunley could sink and rise. I enlarged the diagram on page 44. At first it was confusing since most of the students had never read a complex diagram. Once they really looked at it carefully they were able to see the purpose for each part and how the parts worked. Part II Topic 1 Section 1 - Building the Hunley
We were able to do the activity on page 45 by using chairs to make an outline of the Hunley interior. I used a long roll of paper to make the top of the boat. Nine students found out that it was crowded inside and that they couldn't stand up straight. Several students made models of the Hunley using soda bottles, Cardboard tubes, or PVC pipe. Part II Section 2 - Diving
The 6th graders had no problem with the part on oxygen and carbon dioxide but were confused by the section on water pressure when they read it themselves. When I read it aloud and explained it they realized what the concept was and really thought it was neat! I've never seen kids so excited by math. They were amazed at how much weight was pushing down on the Hunley and on modern submarines. They found a small error on page 52 of the guide. On the 17th line the answer they got for the math problem was 6,908 pounds. Part II Section 3 - Disaster
I introduced the idea of engineering as an occupation. They students discussed how important it was to figure out how much pressure a submarine hull could take before being crushed.
The students all knew about tides but had never considered why it was necessary for boaters to know the tide schedule. Your explanation was easy for the students to understand. They found the part about the boats using the tides to go back and forth from the plantations to Charleston very interesting. Part II Section 4 - Practicing for the Attack
On page 55 they found that the word "high" was missing from the ninth line up from the bottom of the page.
The class liked this section of the book. I copied the pictures on page 18- 25 and put them together to form a complete picture of the Hunley interior. The students were disappointed that they could not find much information on the Housatonic when they did an internet search. They found that the only information they were able to get was that the Housatonic was sunk by the Hunley. They also looked in the library and found little more than the date it sank. Part II Section 5 - The Housatonic
This was a good introduction to our trip. They felt lucky to live close to Charleston and hope to see the actual Hunley in the museum one day. Part II Section 6 - The Charleston Museum
The class didn't use this because they had already e-mailed you directly with questions. I also had the students write their questions down whenever they had them. Students would let us know if they came across the answer while reading. Part II Section 7 - Ask the Crew
We had some excellent discussions after using this section. I don't think they had ever considered the fact that there is so much controversy in current issues. They keep checking the update page to see when the Hunley will be raised. Part II Topic 2 -The lost Submarine is Found
At this point I had the students write their last story on the Hunley. They detailed the last voyage of the Hunley and gave their explanation for the failure of the Hunley to return
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