Susan L. Norwood
The curriculum unit All American Girl is designed to be used for fourth and fifth grade students. The unit was written to enhance the present Social Studies curriculum for these grade levels. The unit will teach students about the role that women had during the colonial, revolutionary, and Civil War times. The focus of the unit is to teach about these various times through historical literature. Three currently published and popular historical fiction series will be used in the unit. The series are The American Girl Collection, Dear America and American Diaries. The students will read two books from the corresponding historical series about girls living during these three time periods in history. The students will also be given a list of women who played an important role during these times and asked to do research on them and create a timeline. The use of the media center and the Big 6 research skills are encouraged. Each historical time period is also provided with an additional list of historical novels. The teacher may choose to read one of these books aloud to the class. Finally, each area in history has a related field trip in the New Haven area that will serve as a culminating activity to the unit.
