1. Fifth Grade Social Studies
Teaching Unit 4
Reconstruction: The Nation Reunited
Marlo Mong
November 6, 2008

2. Here’s the Curriculum Map…
Don’t forget! You should be on the last couple weeks of teaching the Civil War units. There are more wars to fight in the 20th century! 

3. How do I know what concepts to teach?
Use your curriculum map!
Unit One on every map lists the concepts used for the rest of the year
Every piece of content for the rest of the year is listed under a relevant concept
These are suggestions – make them work for your class!
Keep up with it all using a concept wall.

4. An example of a Content Map for Reconstruction
Many thanks to
Heather Ellington,
Lowndes County Schools,
for sharing her ideas with us.

5. Reconstruction: Did it work?
Rebuilding the southern economy
agricultural vs. industrial
Sharecropping
“40 acres and a mule” – really?
The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (the Freedmen’s Bureau)
Jim Crow laws
“secret” southern societies
Waning support of Reconstruction by the north

6. The Effects of the Civil War
How do you start the unit?
Hook students with real images that show the effects of the Civil War.
All students can make a connection to the images they see. Once they see the images, have your students write a response to how they felt after seeing the devastation of war.

7. Atlanta after the Civil War
Atlanta after the Civil War
Gettysburg, VA
Charleston, SC

8. The Freedmen’s Bureau
After students write the job description they can design a poster to advertise the job. Then have a job fair and have students discuss which jobs they would apply for and why that job would be helpful to the people the Freedmen’s Bureau supports.

9. John Brown and Due Process of Law
The idea is to give students the background they need and then do a task that lets students use what they have learned. Because students will argue both sides in this mock trial, they will use the facts to understand multiple perspectives of how our laws help us. Remember, sometimes the best example is a non-example.

10. Reconstruction and Economics

11. Resources to Teach Reconstruction
America’s Story: From the Library of Congress, this website was created to help younger historians understand the history of the United States through interesting and unique stories that are a part of major historical events. These particular links gives information about Reconstruction.
Digital History: This website was created to make many historical resources and documents available to teachers and students at no charge with limited advertising. There are many universities, museums, and government agencies involved in this project so the resources are pretty well-vetted for historical accuracy and being non-biased. Includes lots of primary source documents, lesson plans, even a quiz. If used as a teacher read resource, it can be used in the classroom with students. Not recommended to be used for independent reading.
From the Library of Congress, this website gives some background on the history of the Freedmen’s Bureau and then links to many of the records that were created and kept from , including census records, marriage certificates, and education reports.
Galileo: Using the databases tab, search for Britannica Elementary. This takes you to the Encyclopaedia Britanica Online School Edition. Many different topics are available including teacher resources and learning materials. This particular link discusses the history of Reconstruction.

12. More Resources 
In this story, a newly freed family must learn what freedom means and how to make a new life for themselves. Follow their journey as they spend time in a Union work camp to their move to South Carolina to join other freed slaves. By using this book, think about how a literature circle or novel study can be the background for teaching not only important reading skills, but Social Studies as well. During mini-lessons, students can use textbooks or nonfiction texts to compare the facts with the story in the book.
The main draw to this book is how the facts are told more as a story rather than an informational text. The author uses primary sources that include political cartoons and photographs to explain the events of Reconstruction. This text also addresses westward expansion, Native Americans, and women’s suffrage. While this book is more engaging than others, this is written for middle grades but can be used as read-alouds for fifth graders.
In this book, the author not only shares the history of Reconstruction, but addresses the economics and politics of the era. Many primary sources are used throughout the text including posters, photos, letters, and many other documents. A unique source also used in this book is interviews collected by the WPA during the 1930s. Reviews of this book commend its readability as well. Like the book Causes, this may be better used as a read-aloud rather than an independent read.
The information in this book tells the history of Reconstruction to a younger audience and does not expect students to have any prior knowledge about the subject. There are several key documents used in the explanation of what Reconstruction was. While this book may not be as exciting to read as some others, students doing research would find this book useful.
This book has been reviewed as part of one of the best series of books about the Civil War in recent years. In this nonfiction account of America after the Civil War, Mettger gives very realistic and “unflinching details” about some of the topics we tend to sweep under the rug that occurred during Reconstruction.