The Civil War Battlefield

Review prior knowledge about what led to SC secession and the Civil War.  Discuss these events using detail from prior classes to support their answers.

Anticipatory: Show a short video clip reviewing South Carolina’s secession from the United States.  Discuss how this event led to the Civil War.  Create a list on the board of the events that took place during the Civil War from the students’ prior knowledge.  Have students pull out their SC Social Studies Support Documents and find any additional events that they missed using standard 8.3.CE.  These events should be included in the list: the attack on Fort Sumter, the Union blockade of Charleston and other ports, the early capture of Port Royal, and the development of the Hunley submarine; the exploits of Robert Smalls; and General William T. Sherman’s march through the state.  

Direct Instruction: Show a quick PowerPoint presentation (1 slide for each event) reviewing these events from the Civil War: the attack on Fort Sumter, the Union blockade of Charleston and other ports, the early capture of Port Royal, and the development of the Hunley submarine; the exploits of Robert Smalls; and General William T. Sherman’s march through the state.  Then tell the students that they’ll get to bring these events to life through the creation of a 3-D display board of these events.  You can either have the students work together to create a display board on one topic such as the Hunley, or you can assign each of the 4 students within the group a different event from the list above to create for the display board.  

The board would be sectioned off into quadrants and each of the 4 kids would get their corner to build their event.  Show the students pictures or examples/models from prior years to spark excitement.  

Describe how the students will collect information about their event using primary and secondary sources.  Students will need to gather 8 specific detailed elements from the event for their board including the attack on Fort Sumter, the Union blockade of Charleston and other ports, the early capture of Port Royal, and the development of the Hunley submarine; the exploits of Robert Smalls; and General William T. Sherman’s march through the state.  You can provide the students resources using websites and QR codes, or you can have them search on their own. 

If you have the students look on their own, it will take longer.  

Model for the students where to gather information and the type of information that they will need to include in their research including battlefield arrangement/terrain, technology, union soldier strategies, mapping, confederate soldier strategies, the sequence of events leading up to and through the event chosen event, and important people.

Guided Practice - Research: The students will research their event from the Civil War using either the resources you provided or have the students research on their own.  They can work together if they are researching the same event in order to collaborate about the 8 important elements of their event which separates their event from the others.  Allow about 30 minutes for the students to research their event and collect detail within a provided graphic organizer, if you would like (attached).  You can collect the graphic organizer at the end of the project to give an informal assessment grade.      

Independent Practice: Building the 3-D Display Board

Before this time begins, cut the large white display boards in half with an open blade of scissors or a knife.  Each group of 4 will get a half of the board.  Set up old tablecloths on the classroom floor to contain the mess from the earth material.  You should have sent home the list of supplies 1 week ago so that the student should have brought all of the supplies or a few of the supplies.  

When they get with their group, they’ll share their supplies to make the elements of their board.  If student groups are missing supplies, I always have extras to support their board.  

Pass out the labels on toothpicks for each event (pre-made by you).  If each student in the group of 4 has a different event, then you’ll need to pass out 32 toothpick labels per board. You can have them pre labeled with topics such as terrain, union strategy, confederate strategy, etc. with a blank beneath for the students to fill in the specific details, or you can give them blank labels for each event for the students to fill out on their own.  Once the label is written on, then they’ll stick it into the board.  

Suggestion: Have the student create a foundation on the board with a thin layer of playdough.  All of the white should be covered with the dough.  This way, all the other items that are built can be set inside the playdough to hold it together.  

As the students break off into their groups to create their 3-D display boards, the students should share their materials since what they brought might help out a group member too.  

Pass out string or yarn to be used as arrows for battle paths

Remind the students that their board must include 8 key elements that can be noted by the observer/teacher and labeled with the toothpick labels 
Set up hot glue stations near outlets.  If you have the volunteers, ask parents to come in to run the hot glue guns so that students won’t get burned.

Once the students are done creating their boards which will take about 1- 1 ½ hours, have the students present their boards to class, or they can record their presentation on their iPad using iMovie.  Make sure each student in the group presents information about the event that they built.

Use the rubric to grade the 3-D board.  

How will students share their work?
After the students are done building their 3-D display board of the Civil War, they will share their work through an oral presentation explaining their board to the class.  Each member of the group should be a speaker in ensure that each student can not only bring their section of the board to life, but also elaborate about the elements of their board.  

Extensions/Differentiation:
For homework and a writing extension: Students will create an expository piece to summarize the event that they built while addressing the essential question and 8 key elements of their Civil War event.  

Differentiation: 
High: The students will have to come up with their own headings that need to be written on the labels within their own section on the display board.They can use the SC Support Document as a reference for the most important elements from 8-4.5.

Low: You can provide the students with the labels, pre-made and then the students just have to build the items necessary in their section of the display board.You can give additional blank labels that they can add to provide more detail about their section.  

Instead of students presenting their boards in front of the class, students can record their presentation on their iPad in iMovie and then the students can post it on Google for the whole class to see, peer-assess, or the students can use it to study for assessments.  The teacher can use this to assess their presenting/speaking skills through an additional rubric.  

Evaluations/Assessments
You will evaluate the 3-D display board of the Civil War using attached rubric.  You can also give participation grades for the effort put in by the student while working to build the project.  Students can do self-assessments and peer-assessments too and they can be factored into their final grade.  
Peer Assessment Feedback Sheet
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1O30aYfALpGPNcQdzaq5hpMu47o11OKdGKvxh...
Rubric for 3D Display
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-ZT6y7Tm9NnVSoXe02cuHp9bdeYaE0ykrAx5...