Grade Level:  5th

Teacher Material:

• Video Camera
• Video Tapes
• Encyclopedias, old newspapers, and books on Revolutionary War figures
• Art Supplies
• Construction Paper

• Paper/pencils
• Any other materials they would like to provide for their costumes

My Social Studies Goals for This Lesson:

• Review of key persons in the Revolutionary War
• Knowledge of the life of Revolutionary War figures

12.1  Identify people, symbols, and events associated with the heritage of the United
         States, Canada, and Latin America.

Launch:

    Today we are going to start a project dealing with some of the famous people in the
Revolutionary War.  One person that had a great deal of influence in the Revolutionary
War was mentioned in are Reading book, Buttons for General Washington.  We learned
that George Washington was over the American troop in our book.
     I would like for you to work in groups of two or three and pick one of the
Revolutionary War figures to research.  You will need to find out about their background
and the role they played during the War.
Some people to think about researching are:

 George Washington        Paul Revere
 John Hancock                Benedict Arnold
 Patrick Henry                 Betsy Ross

  After you have finished researching your person, you will pick one group member to be
the historical figure and the other group member/s will be reporters.  You will act out a
short skit for the class of the reporters asking questions and the historical figure
answering. I will video tape the skits!

Explore:

     Place the students into groups based on the person that they would like to research.
Students should brainstorm questions that they would like to find out about that historical
figure.  The some of these questions will be the ones they use in the skit. It is ok if they
can not think of a lot, this is just to get them started in their research. Have students to
began research on the historical figure. They can use newspapers, encyclopedias, books,
as well as the Internet to look up the information.
     As the students are beginning to work, walk around and make sure that everyone is
participating in the groups.  Also, if the students are stumped about what kinds of things
to research, help by giving them some hints/ideas.
     When the research is finished, check to make sure that the students have found
relevant information on their historical figure.  If they have enough information, allow
them to plan out their skit.  They can also began to work on their costumes.
      Have students to present their skits to the class.  Film the skits!  Also, as a wrap up I
would have the students to watch clips from the movie 1776 to learn a little more about
the important people in the Revolutionary War.

Summarize:

• Ask the students to discuss what each one of the figures did in the Revolutionary War.
• Ask students to talk about one thing that they learned about one of the persons that was presented in class.
• Discuss the lives of the people who were prominent in the war, such as their background.

• Look at the videos of the students to see if they really did find out about the person they were to research.
• Ask students to make up five questions for homework that could possibly be on the test about the Revolutionary War figures.