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Looking for the History in Historical Fiction: An Epidemic for Reading
Combine informational reading skills with fictional text in an innovative historical fiction lessons. After reading a fictional text related to diseases, class members read non-fictional text to gain knowledge about specific infectious...
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Writing a Historical Fiction Story
What is historical fiction? After explaining the difference to your learners, it's time to give each learner a try! With your support, encourage them to research, plan, and write their own historical fiction story. Don't forget to have a...
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Civil War Literature Circle
Historical fiction can be a valuable asset when learning about the past. Integrate several novels written about the Civil War into your social studies unit, with groups of four working collaboratively to comprehend the novel from...
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Disney's Pocahontas: Fact or Fiction?
Did you know that Pocahontas was 12 when Jamestown was established? Did you know that she later married John Rolfe? Did you know that she lived in London for two years? Did you know that she died of small pox? Class members study the...
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Historical Fiction- Thanksgiving
Students write a story. In this historical fiction lesson, students research how Thanksgiving began. Students write a fictional story where they are a main character of this time period.
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The Adventure Begins: A Historical Fiction
Seventh graders create a piece of historical fiction documenting the immigrant experience in New Brunswick, Canada in the 1800s. Using Internet research from a web exhibit, 7th graders synthesize historical facts with their description...
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Historical Fiction
Students discover how to identify historical fiction. In this historical fiction lesson plan, students read the story Meet Addy: An American Girl by Connie Porter. Students listen to the first chapter of the book read aloud. Students...
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Story Starters For Historical Fiction Story
High schoolers author their own historical fiction stories. In this writing skills lesson, students use the 10 provided story starters to write fiction stories that incorporate facts from history.
Civil War
Civil War Medicine: Fact or Fiction
Young historians compare the presentation of medical care during the Civil War in passages from fictional and nonfictional texts. They examine passages from Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell and Soldier's Heart by Gary Paulsen, and...
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Reliving History through Slave Narratives
Helpful for an American literature or history unit, this lesson prompts middle schoolers to examine slavery in the United States. They read slave narratives that were part of the Federal Writers' Project and then conduct their own...
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American Colonial Life in the Late 1700s: Distant Cousins
Students research how early colonists lived. They investigate late 17th century colonist's lives from Massachusetts and Delaware. Using their research, students write historical fiction in the form of friendly letters between the two...
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Historical Fiction - Based on facts or purely fiction?
Students, after reading an Accelerated Reader historical fiction book, research the actual historical time period portrayed in the book. Then, working in a cooperative learning group, they create a HyperStudio presentation.
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Dramatizing History in Arthur Miller's The Crucible
Students study the effect of history on fictional or dramatic works of art by reading, Arthur Miller's, The Crucible. They examine the ties between a nation's history and culture with the literature it produces.
Indiana University
World Literature: "One Evening in the Rainy Season" Shi Zhecun
Did you know that modern Chinese literature “grew from the psychoanalytical theory of Sigmund Freud”? Designed for a world literature class, seniors are introduced to “One Evening in the Rainy Season,” Shi Zhecun’s stream of...
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Separating Fact From Fiction In Historical Fiction
For this language arts worksheet, learners look for the facts and fiction in the novel Number The Stars. They separate them into the two different columns.
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An Immigrant's Story
Students discuss famous examples of historical fiction as a genre and why it is used so often. They create an original piece of historical fiction by developing a character who is an immigrant to the United States. They are assessed...
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1984: How Much Fact in Fiction?
Students compare and contrast the society in Orwell's 1984 with modern society. In this 1984 activity, students research the historical climate in which Orwell wrote the novel. Students create a comparison chart of privacy issues in the...
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Historical Fiction: Introducting Novels into History
Ninth graders read a novel for their foreign language class which is also used in their history class. In groups, they work together to complete stations and other assignments.
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American Colonial Life in the Late 1700s: Distant Cousins
Students explore daily life and its influences in the late 1700s for two families in different colonies- Delaware and Massachusetts by becoming historical detectives. After gathering information from artifacts to make inferences about...
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History: Fact of Fiction?
Students find a historial novel online and distinguish between fiction and nonfiction books. They research three historical events related to their novel and write a letter to a figure from their novel's time period.
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Pre-Reading Preparation
Students explore a given historical fiction story. In groups, they research selected topics dealing with the story and determine what is fiction and what is fact. Students create a multimedia presentation about their findings and...
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Lesson Plan - The Barbara Frietchie Story – Fact or Fiction?
Young scholars differentiate between fact and legend. In this Barbara Freitchie lesson, students read poetry and non-fiction accounts regarding the story of Freitchie. Young scholars analyze the story of the American patriot to determine...
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Teaching the Holocaust through Literature
Centered on the short story "The Tenth Man" by Polish Holocaust survivor Ida Fink, here is a solid one-day resource to support study of World War II or Nazi history, short stories, or to complement any ELA unit on The Diary of Anne Frank...
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Writing American Diaries
Young scholars examine the concept of historical perspective in writing. They read the diary of Sally Wister, a young Patriot from Philadelphia during the Revolutionary Era. Additionally, they must include different points of view in...