Student+Activities+Page

**Student Activities Page**  This week we will read //My Brother's Keeper// and learn about the Civil War! This wiki is where you will find all of your in-class assignments for the week. Please follow instructions carefully. Have fun! :)

Day One: **  For part one of this activity you will need to use Inspiration9 to create a diagram. If you need help in using this program, click on the following link to view the tutorial video: [|Tutorial]. IMPORANT: After following the link, scroll down the page and select “Diagram View Overview.” When you feel comfortable with using Inspiration9 to create a diagram, open the program, select “Diagram” and follow these step-by-step instructions: 1. Create a central bubble and label it “Characters in //My Brother’s Keeper//.” 2. Create three bubbles stemming off of the “Characters in //My Brother’s Keeper//” bubble. Choose three characters from the book other than Virginia. Label each of these three bubbles with a different character’s name (For example: “Becky Lee,” “Jed,” and “Mrs. McCully”). 3. Create at least two bubbles stemming off of each character’s bubble. Identify at least two character traits for each of the three characters you chose. Label each bubble a different trait. Hint: Character traits might include how old the character is, what they look like, things they do, challenges they face, and so on. 4. Choose one the three characters in your diagram that you would most like to write about. Add two or three more trait bubbles stemming from their character bubble. Hint: You should have four or five trait bubbles in total for the character you choose and at least two trait bubbles for the other two characters in your diagram. 5. Save your diagram to your flash drive under the file name: “My Brother’s Keeper-Character Map”
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For part two you will write a journal entry just like Virginia, but from the perspective of the character you chose in part one. When writing this journal entry, you ARE the character. You will write what you hear and see as well as what you feel and think. 1. Open Microsoft Office Word 2007. Begin by typing a date at the top of the document. Hint: Choose a date that is close to when Virginia wrote her journal entries. 2. Identify your character somewhere at the beginning of you journal entry. (For example: “My name is Jane Ellen.”) 3. Write at least a paragraph. Remember, your character is living during the Civil War. This is an exciting, frightening, challenging time. Have fun putting yourself in your characters shoes and be creative! Hint: Remember that a paragraph is at least five complete sentences. 4. Save the document to your flash drive under the file name: “My Brother’s Keeper-Journal Entry”

If you finish all your work early, you may open up your character map and play with the design, adding pictures, and so on. You may also continue to write your journal entry, or even add more journal entries to the same document. Make sure to save all changes to your flash drive! 



**Day Two: ** To complete this activity, you will need to click on the link, and follow my instructions to navigate through the interactive map. As a group, write down the answers to the questions on a piece of paper. Each group will only turn in one set of answers. 1. Go to the [|Civil War interactive map]. Locate the map key. Hover your mouse over the states. How many Union states can you count? How many Confederate states can you count? Hint: Be careful when counting because some states are very small. Border states count as Union states. 2. In //My Brother’s Keeper// you read about the Battle of Gettysburg. Which state was this in? Click on that state. 3. Hover over “Gettysburg” in the list of battles. Click on the dot that lights up. 4. Use the information on this page to answer the following questions: a. When did the Battle of Gettysburg take place? b. Who was the general of the Union army? Who was the general of the Confederate army? c. On which side did most soldiers fight in this battle? Which side had the most casualties? Hint: A casualty is when a soldier is wounded, killed, captured, or missing. d. Which side won the battle? 5. Read the description of the battle that is on this webpage. Open //My Brother’s Keeper// to the journal entries with the same dates the Battle of Gettysburg took place. Skim through these entries and write down at least three similarities you find between Virginia’s observations and the description on the website. Hint: Dates do not count as a similarity. ;) 



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Day Three: ** //My Brother’s Keeper// is historical fiction. The book is fiction because it is a made-up story about made-up people. It is //historical// fiction because some parts of the story really happened and some of the characters really existed. While Virginia, Jed, Mrs. McCully and many other characters in the book were not real people, President Abraham Lincoln, General Robert E. Lee, General John Buford, General George Gordon Meade, an General George Edward Pickett all really did exist!

For this activity I will assign your group to one of these Civil War leaders. I will log you in to our class’s wiki where you will create a wiki page about your assigned Civil War leader. Find the historical figure I assigned to your group below. Follow the link and read all about this person of the past. Follow the guidelines below when creating your wiki page. ** President Abraham Lincoln ** Follow this link: [|Abraham Lincoln]

Bibliography: Wayne. (2000). //Leaders of the Civil War//. Retrieved April 23, 2010, from The Civil War for Kids website: http://www.pocanticohills.org/civilwar/leaders.htm ** General Robert E. Lee ** <span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Follow this link: [|Robert E. Lee]

Bibliography: Darrielle. (2000). //Leaders of the Civil War//. Retrieved April 23, 2010, from The Civil War for Kids website: http://www.pocanticohills.org/civilwar/leaders.htm <span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: left;">** General John Buford ** <span style="color: #14c216; display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Follow this link: [|John Buford]

Bibliography: Downey, Brian. (2010). //Brigadier general John Buford//. Retrieved April 23, 2010, from the Antietam on the Web website: [] General George Gordon Meade ** Follow this link: [|George Meade]

Bibliography: Warner, Ezra J. (2005, July 13). //George Meade//. Retrieved April 23, 2010, from the Frank Harrell history website: [] General George Edward Pickett ** Follow this link: [|George Pickett]

Bibliography: Faust, Patricia L. (March 9, 2010). //George Edward Pickett//. Retrieved April 23, 2010, from The Home of the American Civil War website: http://www.civilwarhome.com/pickettbio.htm GUIDELINES ** : 1. After reading about your Civil War leader, bring up the web browser window with Wikispaces on it. Find the left side bar and click “New Page.” 2. In the “Page Name” field, type the name of your group’s historical figure. Then click “Create.” 3. Highlight the sentence that says “Type in the content of your page here.” Delete this sentence. This is where you will put all your information as you create your wiki page. 4. Type the title of your wiki page here. Make sure you use correct capitalization. Hint: Your title tells us what your page is all about. 5. Bring up the web browser window with your person’s information. Save a picture of your person of the past to the desktop. 6. Bring up the web browser window with your wiki page. Locate the “Editor” tool bar at the top of the page. Click on “File.” Click “Upload Files,” then click “Desktop,” and open your picture. 7. Double click your picture. It should now appear on your wiki page. If it is not, please ask me for help. 8. Bring up the web browser window with your Civil War leader’s information. Select three to five key facts about your person and type these facts onto your wiki page. Hint: If they fought in any major battles you recognize (hint, hint), you should include this information on your wiki page. 9. Above, underneath your person’s website link, I pasted a bibliography for that website. Copy and paste the bibliography information onto your wiki page. Hint: Bibliography information tells other people where you got your information. It gives the author of the website credit for their work. 10. When you are finished, click “Save.”

Once each group finishes their wiki page, I will show you how to log out of the wiki and view each other’s pages! <span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; text-align: left;">

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**<span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%; text-align: left;">Day Four: ** <span style="color: #110dab; display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> Today is Thinking Cap Day! I will display PowerPoint slides that have quotes, facts, and questions on them. Read the slide, think about the questions, and write down your answers. When it seems like everyone is ready we will share our answers with each other. Remember to be polite and courteous. Raise your hands and wait for me to call on you before you speak. Someone may have a different answer than you. Share your thoughts with us anyway! I am asking for your //opinion//! We can all benefit by listening to each other’s ideas.

If we finish our discussion with time to spare, I will ask you to get out your journals and write a new journal entry from your character’s perspective. You can use the topics we discuss today as ideas for your writing!

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**<span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%; text-align: left;">Day Five: ** <span style="color: #404040; display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> <span style="color: #5d0d87; display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Today we will finish our Civil War unit!

I will ask the following questions aloud during class. Please raise your hand and wait to be called on before you respond. 1. What did you like best about //My Brother’s Keeper//? 2. Who was your favorite character and why? 3. What is historical fiction? Is this book historical fiction? Why?

At the end of class I will ask you to get out a piece of paper and pencil. Think about everything we’ve done this week and everything you’ve learned. On your paper please list five facts about the Civil War that you did not know before. Then write a short reflection telling me what your favorite activity was this week, as well as which activity you like the least. Remember to use complete sentences!

I hope you learned a lot this week, and I hope you’ve had fun doing so! <span style="color: #404040; display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; text-align: left;">



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