I Survived the Battle of Gettysburg, 1863

Hi All!

Very few student chapter books surprise me because I have read so many.  However, I was pleasantly surprised after reading the I Survived the Battle of Gettysburg, 1863 by Lauren Tarshis. This was my first I Survived book, as I plan to read the others this summer but felt it was a really well thought out book.

It conveyed the message at an appropriate level for my third graders.  For those unfamiliar with this book, it follows the adventure of an eleven year old slave named Thomas, who takes his 5 year old sister and abandons the plantation they were living on.  Later in the story, the two children meet up with some Union soldiers that form a bond with them. During the book, it gives aspect of the war and emphasizes the importance of the Battle of Gettysburg through several different point of views.

There are many reasons why you should use this book in your classroom. The main ideas the students can take away:

1. Different point of views through the eyes of a slave, soldier, etc.
2.    Why the South wanted to secede from the North.
3. Why Gettysburg was an important battle for the North and a turning point in           the Civil War.
4.    Why President Lincoln pushed for an end of slavery and to keep the South           from seceding.
5.    Why the Civil War was important and about the people who sacrificed their           lives for the freedoms we have today.

I created a literature story that goes along with this book.  In it I felt it was important to include a story that students could write from the perspective of the different characters in the book. When I did this unit in my classroom, the students really got into their character role when writing and were able to hold onto their point of view throughout the story.

Other things that I added were character journals to study character traits, question pages, vocabulary, and more. Here are some examples of the question pages and character journals my students worked on.

If you are interesting in this literature unit follow this link: The Battle of Gettysburg, 1863. You may also want to follow my blog and on TPT as I plan to add many more units over the summer (which is days away, congrats we made it!).

Thanks,

Erin