The Underground Railroad

1. The Underground Railroad A WebQuest for 4th Grade (Social Studies) Designed By Audrey Andrews aandrew1@mix.wvu.edu

2. Introduction Have you ever heard of the Underground Railroad? The Underground Railroad could be considered a mystery, a huge secret, even a crime. Who or what kind of people were involved? Where did it take place? Was it really a train? We are going on a journey back in time to the 1800’s to discover all of the secrets of the Underground Railroad. 0

3. The Task As a group we are going to fill in a KWL Chart to find out what we think the Underground Railroad is. We will revisit the KWL Chart when the WebQuest is to finished and discuss what you have learned. Once this is complete, working independently, you are going to investigate key elements of the Underground Railroad. There will be 6 activities. Websites are provided to help you complete your research. For activity 5 you will be placed in a group to compare the information you gathered, and prepare a presentation for the class. Activity 6 requires you to write a 5 paragraph essay describing the journey of a runaway slave to freedom. “Daddy” Hall (1783-1900) Escaped on the Underground Railroad and went to Canada.

4. Before you get started, watch the following video. http://link.history.com/services/player/bcpid7250894001?bctid=7227461001 After you watch the video there will be 4 activities for you to complete independently. You will be given an activity folder to keep your work in. Each day you will return your folder to your teacher. Included in your activity folder will be a Learning Log for you to complete during the last 5 minutes of the class each day. When all four activities are completed, look for the group list to find out which group you are in. You will then meet with your group. Please make sure you have your folder. Activity 5 will be completed with your group. This activity is a group presentation to the entire class. For the final activity, activity six, you will individually write a 5 paragraph essay. Good luck! If you have any problems, please see your teacher!! The Process Harriet Ross Tubman Conductor of the Underground Railroad for runaway slaves

5. Learning Log • Included in your folder will be a Learning Log for you to complete each day. • In this log you will write a short reflection on the material that you researched / learned that day. Be sure to discuss how the information you learned relates to what you originally thought about the Underground Railroad. • Is it different from what you expected? • Did you know this information already? • Does it change your opinion or outlook on the Underground Railroad? • This is a daily activity – you have the last 5 minutes of class to write. • NOTE: If anything that you researched is confusing you, please feel free to write about it in your Learning Log.

6. Activity One To get started we need to know the terms used with the Underground Railroad. Using the Gipe Technique look up the following terms and write the definition in a 4 sentence paragraph. http://www.osblackhistory.com/glossary.php http://pathways.thinkport.org/secrets/language.cfm http://housedivided.dickinson.edu/ugrr/glossary.html http://www.africanaonline.com/slavery_codewords.htm http://www.footnote.com/page/1342_underground_railroad/ http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/ushistory/undergroundrailroad2.htm Four sentence paragraph Sentence 1 – word is properly used Sentence 2 – provides attributes of a word Sentence 3 – defines word Sentence 4 – personal connection to the word Terms • Underground Railroad • Slavery • Quilt • Safe House • Conductor • North Star • Drinking Gourd • Lantern • Spiritual Songs • Passengers • Stations PATROLS Patrols were groups of white men who caught runaway slaves for money. They were people who did not own land and whose only job was to patrol the roads to catch runaways for their masters. Once they were caught patrols would get a good reward. This is how they made living.

7. Activity Two You have decided that you want to help runaway slaves find freedom. You have a friend who owns a station house on the Underground Railroad. He tells you that another station house is needed between his house and the next stop. He says that your house is in a perfect spot for a station house. You and your family have decided to accept the challenge. You need to find a spot in your house to hide the runaway slaves while they are there. • Your assignment is to draw a diagram of the floor plan of the house you live in. Use the graph paper in your folder and a black pencil. • Find a spot to hide the slaves. (You may need to move or add a few walls.) • Add the changes to your floor plan with a red pencil. • Write a paragraph explaining the details of your hiding spot. Be sure to include how it is hidden, how you get into the spot and how many people it will hold. http://www.waynet.org/levicoffin/default.htm http://www.footnote.com/page/1342_underground_railroad/

8. Activity Three • Look up the symbols used by the station houses using the links below. • Write a paragraph identifying the symbols. • Design a quilt square with a hidden message using this website:http://pathways.thinkport.org/secrets/flash/quilt_shell.cfmDraw it on the paper provided in your folder. • On the back, write another paragraph explaining the hidden message in your quilt square. Since you have decided to become a station master, you need to identify your house as a safe station to the conductor. http://pathways.thinkport.org/secrets/quilts1.cfm http://www.osblackhistory.com/quiltcodes.php http://www.reallygoodstuff.com/pdfs/154227.pdf http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/02/0205_040205_slavequilts.html http://www.womenfolk.com/quilting_history/abolitionist.htm http://www1.phillyburbs.com/undergroundrailroad/signals.shtml http://www.foulke.org/history/essays/under.shtml http://educ.queensu.ca/~fmc/may2004/Underground.html

9. Activity Four You are a conductor for the Underground Railroad. You need to pick a state where you want to gather runaway slaves to lead them north. You are going to guide them to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. • Using Google maps identify the path you are going to take. http://maps.google.com/ • Calculate the distance you will travel each day. • Mark the total distance you are going to be traveling on your worksheet. • Using Microsoft Excel, create a line graph showing how many miles you travel each week of your journey and how long the journey will take. Your worksheet will explain how to calculate this information. • Please Note: • The average person walks 3-4 miles per hour in the daylight on a clear path. • Remember you are trying to not get caught, so you need to travel only at night. Also, do not forget that you will most likely be traveling in the woods or on pathless territory – so this might increase the time. • Do not forget that some of the slaves might not be in the best of health or might be injured – so remember to take that into consideration. • Finally, write a short paragraph about what you will be using for your guide on this journey. Travel safe and Good Luck!! http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/underground/detailedroutes.htm http://www.whispersofangels.com/routes.html http://pathways.thinkport.org/secrets/gourd1.cfm http://www.osblackhistory.com/routes.php http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h481.html

10. Activity FiveGroup Activity • In this activity you will be working with a group of 4 people. Make sure that you find out who is in your group from your teacher. • Each person in your group has to choose a role to complete this task. Only 1 role per person. • The role “Discussion Director/Presenter” is a mandatory role which one member must choose. The other roles can be chosen at your discretion.

11. Activity #5Group Activity cont.

12. Activity 6Individual Assignment • http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/persuasion_map/ • http://www.briarwood.issaquah.wednet.edu/Teachers/STARS/writinglinks.htm • http://www.usd267.k12.ks.us/TL%20Student%20Pages/4th5thgradelinks/45writinglinks.html • You are a runaway slave. Write a 5 paragraph essay telling about your journey north. Don’t forget to include details you learned from this Web Quest.

13. Activities Rubric

14. Essay Rubric

15. Conclusion Congratulations! You have completed the Underground Railroad Web Quest. You have worked very hard and I am sure it shows. As a result of this hard work, you can now have an educated discussion about the Underground Railroad. You know what it is, who traveled on it, the key terms and symbols for the railroad, and how the journey was made. I hope you had as much fun completing this Quest as I had making it!! Now go tell everyone what you have learned so you never forget!! If you would like to learn more about the Underground Railroad feel free to investigate some of the books on the next slide.

16. Online Sites Information on Harriet Tubman: http://www.math.buffalo.edu/~sww/0history/hwny-tubman.html Information sites on Underground Railroad, Slavery and Frederick Douglas: http://www.brainpop.com Books to Read Aunt Harriet's Underground Railroad in the Sky By:Faith Ringgold Meet Addy: An American Girl (American Girls Collection Series: Addy #1) By: Connie Rose Porter, Melodye Rosales Henry’s Freedom Box By: Levine Dear Austin, Letters from the Underground Railroad By: Elvira Woodruff Additional Resources

17. Teacher Resource Page The Underground Railroad WebQuest uses three Literacy Strategies. It uses a KWL Chart to obtain prior knowledge (don’t forget to revisit this at the end to discuss what has been learned), the Gipe Technique for vocabulary and the Learning Logs for daily reflections on the information. This quest is a combination of two Taskonomies, the retelling and compilation. Students are basically gathering information and retelling how the Underground Railroad worked. They are doing activities which help them experience what some participants in the Underground Railroad did. They also have to compile information to create a presentation at the end of the quest. In addition to this, students will write an essay which should incorporate everything they learned in the quest. This WebQuest should take about six to eight class periods.

18. Teacher Resource Page Cont. • Additional text resources are: • Aunt Harriet's Underground Railroad in the Sky By: Faith Ringgold. This is a story about a little girl who retraces the steps of the Underground Railroad with Harriet Tubman as her guide. • Meet Addy: An American Girl (American Girls Collection Series: Addy #1) By: Connie Rose Porter, Melodye Rosales. This is story about the experiences of a little girl and her mother as they run away from slavery to freedom in Philadelphia. • Henry’s Freedom Box By: Levine. This story is about a slave named Henry who mails himself to freedom in a crate. • Dear Austin, Letters from the Underground Railroad By: Elvira Woodruff. This story is about a little boy who writes letters to his brother describing his experiences in Philadelphia and with the Underground Railroad.

19. Pennsylvania Academic Standards/Anchors PA Academic Standards/Anchors

20. PA Standards/Anchors (Cont.)

21. PA Standards/Anchors (Cont.)

22. Photo Credits: http://www.hsp.org/default.aspx?id=854 http://www.nationalgeographic.com/railroad/kids.html http://www.footnote.com/page/1342_underground_railroad/ http://www1.phillyburbs.com/undergroundrailroad/signals.shtml http://www.googleimages.com Website Credits Quilts / Lantern/ Symbols http://pathways.thinkport.org/secrets/quilts2.cfm http://www.reallygoodstuff.com/pdfs/154227.pdf http://www.osblackhistory.com/quiltcodes.php http://educ.queensu.ca/~fmc/may2004/Underground.html http://www.womenfolk.com/quilting_history/abolitionist.htm http://www1.phillyburbs.com/undergroundrailroad/signals.shtml http://www.foulke.org/history/essays/under.shtml Vocabulary http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0212661/id39.htm#quilt http://www.osblackhistory.com/glossary.php http://www.africanaonline.com/slavery_codewords.htm http://www.footnote.com/page/1342_underground_railroad/ Underground Website http://www.42explore2.com/undergrd.htm http://www.math.buffalo.edu/~sww/0history/UndergroundRailRoad.html http://www.ohiohistory.org/undergroundrr/ Station Houses http://www.waynet.org/levicoffin/default.htm http://www.nationalgeographic.com/railroad/kids.html http://www.footnote.com/page/1342_underground_railroad/ Slaves http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=626 Information Sites http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/underground/ http://www.antiquequiltdating.com/Quilts_and_the_Underground_Railroad_Revisited_-_Interview_with_Historian_Giles_R._Wright.html Escape Routes http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h481.html http://www.whispersofangels.com/secrets.html Songs http://www.songsforteaching.com/folk/followthedrinkinggourd.htm http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/ltc/special/mlk/gourd2.html Signals http://www1.phillyburbs.com/undergroundrailroad/signals.shtml Video http://link.history.com/services/player/bcpid7250894001?bctid=7227461001 Writing Sites http://www.briarwood.issaquah.wednet.edu/Teachers/STARS/writinglinks.htm http://www.usd267.k12.ks.us/TL%20Student%20Pages/4th5thgradelinks/45writinglinks.html http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/persuasion_map/ Stars http://stardate.org/nightsky/constellations/ http://www.astro.illinois.edu/~jkaler/sow/cm1.html Sources

23. Key Assessment #3: WebQuest Project • Dagen RDNG 622: Webquest Rubric