Freedom Summer by Deborah Wiles and Jerome Lagarrigue, ill. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2001.

ISBN: 0-689-83016-5

In this nostalgic bittersweet story about the South after the formal end of segregation, two friends (a white boy and a black one) learn that just because an equal rights law exists doesn’t mean people will obey it.

Rating: 5Q/5P

Posted by LA 4/9/8 

freedom summer by Deborah Wiles and Jerome Lagarrigue, ill. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2001.  0-68-983016-5

Annotation: In 1964, Joe is pleased that a new law will allow his best friend John Henry, who is colored, to share the town pool and other public places with him, but he is dismayed to find that prejudice still exists.

Media: chalk

Rating: 5Q/5P

Curriculum Connection: Upper elementary; a human interest story can be used to  embellish upon Social Studies content of Black history in the United States.

Lesson Plan 3 - From Five Lesson Plan Unit “Learning history through picturebooks about people who lived it” See The Bracelet.

•    Seat like time periods together or like topics from different time periods together.

        Example: Students who read Ida B. Wells: Let the Truth Be Told and A Picture Book of Harriet Tubman might be paired for the time period of the Civil War. Or those same two students might sit with readers of Richard Wright and the Library Card and freedom summer, to explore the issue of the plight of African Americans.

        Example: A group of four might be created from students who read Home on the Range, When Marian Sang, Jazz, My Music, My People, and John’s Secret Dreams. This group would explore the effect of history on the music of different periods.

    NOTE: Teacher must be prepared to group students in a manner fitting the books he/he has chosen for the class.

•    Grouped students will plan and design a collage/poster that will feature their books and how those books fit into their topic or time period. Encourage creativity. No holds barred on materials, organization used. Encourage students to get use their books’ illustrators medium and style.

•    As students work, Teacher walks through, looking over the 2-paragraph homework (with gradebook in hand) and making suggestions for the posters.

•    Homework: Each student is together materials and prepare his/her part of the collage/poster design. Teacher makes sure to let students know what art materials she/he can supply (i.e. poster paper, colored pencils, markers, chalk, gluestick, scissors, etc.) 

lvanburen/6-09