As students begin to understand fiction and nonfiction, introduce the genre of historical fiction which includes examples of both. These lessons and activities show you how.
Included Here:
- Articles (6)
- Collateral (11)
- Lesson Plans (2)
- Unit Plans (1)
Articles
Internet Field Trip: Fiction Illuminating the Past
Provides Web sites with information on historical fiction, including works by Kathryn Lasky, Deborah Hopkinson, and Karen Cushman. In addition to offering guidance in choosing historical fiction titles, this article offers suggestions for teachers of younger and older students.
Steps To Freedom
That's Cheeky!
Students can check their understanding of special English words from history by matching each word with its meaning.
Getting the Historical Details Right in The Ravenmaster's Secret
The Ravenmaster's Secret is a work of historical fiction set in the Tower of London in 1735. How did Scholastic editor Dianne Hess work with Elvira Woodruff, author of The Ravenmaster's Secret, to ensure that each historical detail was accurate and compelling for the story?
Why and How I Teach With Historical Fiction
Read why one teacher uses historical fiction in the classroom, tips for choosing good historical fiction, and strategies for helping students differentiate between fact and fiction.
Dear America Teacher's Guide
Make history come alive for your students with these resources for teaching the Dear America series, covering the Colonial Period, the Revolutionary War, Westward Expansion, the Civil War, the Turn of the Century, the Great Depression, and World War II..
Collateral
My Brother Sam Is Dead Extension Activities
Extension activity for My Brother Sam Is Dead by Christopher Collier Ph.D and James Lincoln Collier.
Back to Paul Revere! Extension Activities
Extension activity for Back to Paul Revere! by Beatrice Gormley.
Catherine, Called Birdy Lesson Plan
In this lesson plan for Catherine, Called Birdy, students will compare society's expectation of women during the medieval ages with society's expectations of women in the new millennium.
Esperanza Rising Lesson Plan
Students will provide examples from the text to illustrate a theme of the book through character analysis.
Dear America: Look to the Hills Booktalk
In spite of her education, her appearance, and her expectations, when she is only twelve, Zettie discovers what being property, what being a slave, really means.
My Brother Sam Is Dead Discussion Guide
This young adult novel, which successfully captures the pain of the Revolutionary War, is a fine example of historical fiction.
Johnny Tremain Discussion Guide
Two dramatic years in his country's history are seen through the shrewd eyes of Johnny Tremain, whose life becomes dramatically bound up with some of the United State's most important patriots.
Esperanza Rising Discussion Guide
This guide features guided student questions with answers provided for an instructor. Thirteen-year-old Esperanza's world changes completely when she and her mother are forced to leave their comfortable life in Mexico and work in a labor camp in California.
Milly and the Macy's Parade Activity
Esperanza Rising: A Flashlight Readers Activity
This Flashlight Readers activity uses the novel Esperanza Rising, by Pam Munoz Ryan, as inspiration to improve student's writing skills.
Henry's Freedom Box Lesson Plan
Students will use Henry's Freedom Box by Ellen Levine to identify new information about slavery and the Underground Railroad, and make connections with story and new information learned.
Lesson Plans
Historical Fiction: A Wealth of Interpretations
Focuses on historical fiction as a writing genre and teaches students to use context to better understand character motivation. Involves reading, comparing and contrasting, and making an album.
A River Ran Wild Lesson Plan
Identify the cause and effect relationships in the events of the story.
Unit Plans
The Prince and the Pauper
Describes a unit plan for learning history through fiction, with a focus on the Renaissance Period of English culture.
