Grade 5 Lesson at a Glance: Chapter 13, Lesson 4

Houghton Mifflin Social Studies
America Will Be

Lesson at a Glance
Chapter 13, Lesson 4: Everyday Life in the Young Nation (pp. 329-334)

The Big Idea
Framework Concept: Change Influence of religious groups and the changing roles of free blacks and women, and changes in education altered the shape of the culture of the United States.

Draw a concept web titled Change in a Young Nation and list the following categories: Religion, School, Free Blacks, Women, Education. Then preview the chapter with students, looking at the pictures and reading the captions. Have them predict what they think the changes will be in the everyday life of Americans during this time and record their responses. Have them add to the web after reading.

Lesson Outline
Use the Lesson Outline to preview the content of the lesson. You may wish to print it for your students as a guide during reading.

Check for Understanding

Ask students to imagine what it may have been like to be a free black living in a city in the early 1800s. Have them write letters to friends or family members describing what their lives are like. Encourage them to include such details as what they do for a living and what their homes are like.
Organize your classroom the way a common school may have been organized, with some students role-playing young children and other role-playing older children. Remind students that in this type of school, everyone learned together in one room, and that older students may have helped younger students. Try to teach a spelling, reading, or mathematics lesson as it may have been taught in a common school.

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