Title: Dinner at Aunt Connie’s HouseGrade Level: Fourth grade
Subjects: Reading, Writing, Social Studies, and Art
Learner Outcomes:
- The students will read Dinner at Aunt Connie's House and comprehend information about famous African-American women by summarizing. .
- The students will research a famous African-American woman using the Internet or encyclopedias.
- The students will summarize and write a brief biographical sketch.
- The students will use Microsoft Word to type the biographical sketch.
Duration of Lesson: 2 hours (one hour for 2 days)
Materials:
Dinner at Aunt Connie’s House by Faith Ringgold, computer and projection device, PowerPoint, slide of book cover, writing paper, research books, drawing paper, crayons or colored pencilsTechnology Tools/Courseware:
Computer, Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, projection device, printerTeacher Notes:
Procedures:
Black History Month is February.
Women’s History Month is March.
1. Introduce the story by projecting the PowerPoint slide of the front cover of the book on the screen. Talk with students about what they think the story may be about.
2. Using Microsoft Word, brainstorm a list of famous African-American people on the projection screen. After brainstorming highlight the women and make them a larger font. Discuss what the students know about each woman.
3. The students will work with a partner and pair read Dinner at Aunt Connie’s House.
4. The pair of students will choose a famous African-American woman to research and write a brief biographical sketch. See list of African-American women.
5. One student will draw a portrait of the woman they are researching while the other student types the biographical sketch in Microsoft Word.
6. Each pair of students will create a question about the woman they researched that they want the rest of the students in class to know.
7. Each pair of students will present their portrait and biographical sketch to the class. They will ask their question and students will write it down in their notes to study for a quiz.
8. Portraits and biographical sketches will be displayed in the hallway titled the "Wall of Fame".
9. Students will take a quiz based on the questions created by each pair of students.Modifications:
- Questions created by pairs of students can be tape recorded for easy access to help with studying.
- Special needs students can be paired with higher level students.
- Students who have difficulty with written language can excel in art and drawing.
Enrichment Activities:After portraits have been displayed on the "Wall of Fame" have an auction of the portraits. Students can purchase portraits with play money by bidding on the ones that they wish to acquire.
Evaluation/Assessment:
- Students will present to the class the African-American woman they researched.
- Students will create one question to ask the class about the African-American woman they researched.
- Students will take a class-compiled quiz of the African-American women.
Fine Arts: 4.1.4, 4.3.1, 4.6.3
Listening/Speaking: 4.3.1
Writing: 4.2.1, 4.2.2, 4.2.3, 4.2.4, 4.2.6, 4.2.7, 4.2.8, 4.2.9, 4.2.10, 4.2.11
Reading: 4.1.4, 4.1.9, 4.1.10, 4.1.11, 4.1.13
Social Studies: 4.1.2, 4.1.4, 4.1.5, 4.2.2, 4.2.3, 4.5.18
Technology: 4.2.1, 4.2.2, 4.5.1
National Standards
Social Studies:
3. Understands the people, events, problems, and ideas that were significant in creating the history of their state
6. Understands the folklore and other cultural contributions from various regions of the United States and how they helped to form a national heritage
Writing:
1. Uses the general skills and strategies of the writing process.
4. Gathers and uses information for research purposes
Reading:
5. Uses the general skills and strategies of the reading process
6. Uses reading skills and strategies to understand and interpret a variety of literary texts
7. Uses reading skills and strategies to understand and interpret a variety of informational texts
Listening and Speaking:
8. Uses listening and speaking strategies for different purposes
References:
Dinner at Aunt Connie's House
African-American Women List
Web Site Resources
Microsoft Word and PowerPoint
Amy Loftis
J.E. Robins Elementary
aloftis@kcs.kana.k12.wv.us
