ALEX Classroom Resources

   View Standards     Standard(s): [SS2010] GHS (3) 12 :

12 ) Explain the significance of representations of American values and beliefs, including the Statue of Liberty, the statue of Lady Justice, the United States flag, and the national anthem.

[SS2010] ALA (4) 14 :

14 ) Analyze the modern Civil Rights Movement to determine the social, political, and economic impact on Alabama.

•  Recognizing important persons of the modern Civil Rights Movement, including Martin Luther King, Jr.; George C. Wallace; Rosa Parks; Fred Shuttlesworth; John Lewis; Malcolm X; Thurgood Marshall; Hugo Black; and Ralph David Abernathy

•  Describing events of the modern Civil Rights Movement, including the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, the Freedom Riders bus bombing, and the Selma-to-Montgomery March

•  Explaining benefits of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and Brown versus Board of Education Supreme Court case of 1954

•  Using vocabulary associated with the modern Civil Rights Movement, including discrimination, prejudice, segregation, integration, suffrage, and rights

[SS2010] USS5 (5) 11 :

11 ) Identify causes of the Civil War, including states' rights and the issue of slavery.

•  Describing the importance of the Missouri Compromise, Nat Turner's insurrection, the Compromise of 1850, the Dred Scott decision, John Brown's rebellion, and the election of 1860

•  Recognizing key Northern and Southern personalities, including Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson, William Tecumseh Sherman, and Joseph Wheeler (Alabama)

•  Describing social, economic, and political conditions that affected citizens during the Civil War

•  Identifying Alabama's role in the Civil War (Alabama)

Examples: Montgomery as the first capital of the Confederacy, Winston County's opposition to Alabama's secession (Alabama)

•  Locating on a map sites important to the Civil War

Examples: Mason-Dixon Line, Fort Sumter, Appomattox, Gettysburg, Confederate states, Union states (Alabama)

•  Explaining events that led to the conclusion of the Civil War

[ELA2021] (3) -3 :

R3. Expand background knowledge and build vocabulary through discussion, reading, and writing.

[ELA2021] (3) 18 :

18. Demonstrate content knowledge built during independent reading of informational and literary texts by participating in content-specific discussions with peers and/or through writing.

[ELA2021] (3) 39 :

39. Gather and evaluate information about a topic from a variety of sources, including digital sources, and utilize it to create a project, report, or presentation.

a. Avoid plagiarism by using their own words and utilizing digital sources ethically.

[ELA2021] (4) 32 :

32. Respond in writing to literature and informational text, including stories, dramas, poetry, and cross-curricular texts, both independently and with support, demonstrating grade-level proficiency.

[ELA2021] (5) 16 :

16. Demonstrate comprehension of varied literary and informational texts by utilizing its content when discussing or writing in response to the text.

[ELA2021] (5) 32 :

32. Respond in writing to literature and informational text, including stories, dramas, poetry, and cross-curricular texts, independently and with grade-level proficiency.

[ELA2021] (5) 37 :

37. Write about research findings independently over short and/or extended periods of time.

In this unit, students tell their own stories and explore the stories of other Americans. Hearing and telling these stories helps students realize that social studies is not simply the study of history, but an exploration of real people and their lives. Students begin by telling stories about their personal experiences. They then explore the character traits that promote democratic ideals and tell stories about family members who exemplify these traits. Finally, they conduct research and share stories about famous Americans. Practiced skills include reading, researching, visually representing, writing, and presenting.

   View Standards     Standard(s): [SS2010] LWT (0) 11 :

11 ) Identify symbols, customs, famous individuals, and celebrations representative of our state and nation. (Alabama)

Examples: symbols—United States flag, Alabama flag, bald eagle (Alabama)

customs—pledging allegiance to the United States flag, singing "The Star-Spangled Banner"

individuals—George Washington; Abraham Lincoln; Squanto; Martin Luther King, Jr.

celebrations—Fourth of July, Memorial Day, Veterans Day

[SS2010] LWT2 (2) 2 :

2 ) Identify national historical figures and celebrations that exemplify fundamental democratic values, including equality, justice, and responsibility for the common good.

•  Recognizing our country's founding fathers, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Patrick Henry, John Adams, John Hancock, and James Madison

•  Recognizing historical female figures, including Abigail Adams, Dolley Madison, Harriet Tubman, and Harriet Beecher Stowe

•  Describing the significance of national holidays, including the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.; Presidents' Day; Memorial Day; the Fourth of July; Veterans Day; and Thanksgiving Day

•  Describing the history of American symbols and monuments

Examples: Liberty Bell, Statue of Liberty, bald eagle, United States flag, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial

[SS2010] GHS (3) 12 :

12 ) Explain the significance of representations of American values and beliefs, including the Statue of Liberty, the statue of Lady Justice, the United States flag, and the national anthem.

[ELA2021] (0) 2 :

2. Actively engage in teacher-led reading experiences and collaborative discussions with peers to build background knowledge needed to be successful as they learn to read and, later, read to learn.

[ELA2021] (0) 30 :

30. With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in literary and informational texts.

[ELA2021] (2) 4 :

4. Orally answer who, what, when, where, why, and how questions about a text or conversation, using complete sentences to provide key ideas and details.

[ELA2021] (3) 18 :

18. Demonstrate content knowledge built during independent reading of informational and literary texts by participating in content-specific discussions with peers and/or through writing.

[ELA2021] (3) 22 :

22. Describe literary elements within a story, including setting, plot, characters, and themes.

a. Describe in detail the characters' behavior, emotions, and traits and explain how their actions influence events in the story.

b. Explain how the characters' actions and dialogue contribute to the meaning of the story.

c. Identify the central message, theme, or moral in a story, including myths, fables, and folktales, and explain the meaning conveyed in the passage.

d. Compare and contrast the themes, settings, and plots from two texts.

In this activity, students will read The Flag Maker by Susan Campbell Bartoletti, a story about the creation of the first American flag. Students will be able to answer questions based on key details from the story. Students will explore the main character's emotions throughout the story and try to guess what she is feeling.  

   View Standards     Standard(s): [SS2010] GHS (3) 12 :

12 ) Explain the significance of representations of American values and beliefs, including the Statue of Liberty, the statue of Lady Justice, the United States flag, and the national anthem.

[ELA2021] (3) 34 :

34. Write informative or explanatory texts about a topic using sources, including an introduction, facts, relevant details with elaboration, and a conclusion.

[ELA2021] (3) 39 :

39. Gather and evaluate information about a topic from a variety of sources, including digital sources, and utilize it to create a project, report, or presentation.

a. Avoid plagiarism by using their own words and utilizing digital sources ethically.

In this activity, students conduct a web quest with provided websites to research the history of the Star-Spangled Banner.  Then, students play the role of a reporter and write a newspaper article using their research.

   View Standards     Standard(s): [SS2010] GHS (3) 12 :

12 ) Explain the significance of representations of American values and beliefs, including the Statue of Liberty, the statue of Lady Justice, the United States flag, and the national anthem.

[ELA2021] (3) 27 :

27. Read prose, poetry, and dramas, identifying the literary devices used by the author to convey meaning.

Examples: personification, imagery, alliteration, onomatopoeia, symbolism, metaphor, simile

In this activity, students will be able to recite the first verse and paraphrase "The Star-Spangled Banner."  Students will also be able to explain why Francis Scott Key wrote the words to "The Star-Spangled Banner" in 1814.  

   View Standards     Standard(s): [SS2010] LWT (0) 11 :

11 ) Identify symbols, customs, famous individuals, and celebrations representative of our state and nation. (Alabama)

Examples: symbols—United States flag, Alabama flag, bald eagle (Alabama)

customs—pledging allegiance to the United States flag, singing "The Star-Spangled Banner"

individuals—George Washington; Abraham Lincoln; Squanto; Martin Luther King, Jr.

celebrations—Fourth of July, Memorial Day, Veterans Day

[SS2010] GHS (3) 12 :

12 ) Explain the significance of representations of American values and beliefs, including the Statue of Liberty, the statue of Lady Justice, the United States flag, and the national anthem.

[ARTS] VISA (0) 5 :

31. Apply knowledge of grade-appropriate phoneme-grapheme correspondences and spelling rules (or generalizations) to encode words accurately.

a. Encode vowel-consonant (VC) and consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words, while using some knowledge of basic position-based rules for spelling English words in closed syllables.

Examples: /k/=k before i, e, or y as in kit; /k/= c before a, o, u, or any consonant as in cup, cat, cop; /k/= -ck after an accented short vowel as in duck, back, rock, pick, deck

b. Encode consonant-vowel (CV) words using knowledge of open syllable patterns.

Examples: he, me, she, go, no

c. Encode words with two-consonant blends in beginning position, including blends that are commonly confused with other spellings, by distinguishing the placement and action of the lips, teeth, and tongue during articulation.

Examples: cl, bl, sl, tr, cr, sk, st, sl, sm, sn, sp, sw, dr, br, bl

Note: Many students spell the tr blend with digraph ch because of the confusion of the coarticulation of the /t/ and /r/ sounds. Many students spell the dr blend with the letter j because of the confusion of the coarticulation of the /d/ and /r/ sounds.

d. Encode words with consonant digraphs using knowledge that one sound may be spelled with two letters.

Examples: sh, th, ch, wh, ng, ck

e. Encode words with vowel-consonant-e syllable patterns.

Examples: hike, spike, joke, dime, make

f. With prompting and support, encode words with the common vowel teams and diphthongs.

Examples: ee, ea, oa, ai, a, au, aw, oi, oy, ou, ow, oo, igh

g. With prompting and support, encode words with vowel-r combinations ar, or, er, ir, and ur.

h. With prompting and support, encode words with final /ch/ sound spelled -ch and -tch.

Examples: /ch/= ch after a consonant, vowel-r, or vowel team as in munch, bunch, porch, smooch
/ch/= tch after a short vowel sound as in hatch, crutch, ditch

i. With prompting and support, encode words with final /f/, /l/, and /s/ sounds in one-syllable base words by doubling the final consonant when it follows a short vowel sound.

Examples: cliff, hill, pass

j. Encode words with final /v/ sound, using knowledge that no English word ends with a v.

Examples: have, give, save

k. Encode grade-appropriate high frequency words that follow regular phoneme-grapheme correspondences.

Examples: am, at, can, he, we, be, in, it, came, like

l. Encode grade-appropriate high frequency words that follow regular phoneme-grapheme correspondences and patterns in all but one position, pointing out the part of the word that does not follow the regular pattern.

Examples: said, are, to

m. Encode words with suffixes -s, -es, -ing, -ed, -er, and -est.

Examples: dogs, wishes, jumping, jumped, faster, fastest

n. With prompting and support, encode words with common prefixes re-, un-, and mis-.

o. With prompting and support, encode frequently confused homophones, using knowledge of English and meaning to facilitate learning.

Examples: hear/here; for/four; to/too/two.

Note: To is a preposition which begins a prepositional phrase or an infinitive. Too is an adverb meaning "excessively" or "also." Two is a number. Many other words in English which reflect the number two are spelled with tw: twin, twice, between, tweezers.

[ARTS] VISA (3) 11 :

11) Discuss the meanings and messages communicated by visual imagery.

In this activity, students create their own family flag using colors and pictures that have personal meaning.

   View Standards     Standard(s): [SS2010] LWT (0) 11 :

11 ) Identify symbols, customs, famous individuals, and celebrations representative of our state and nation. (Alabama)

Examples: symbols—United States flag, Alabama flag, bald eagle (Alabama)

customs—pledging allegiance to the United States flag, singing "The Star-Spangled Banner"

individuals—George Washington; Abraham Lincoln; Squanto; Martin Luther King, Jr.

celebrations—Fourth of July, Memorial Day, Veterans Day

[SS2010] LWT2 (2) 2 :

2 ) Identify national historical figures and celebrations that exemplify fundamental democratic values, including equality, justice, and responsibility for the common good.

•  Recognizing our country's founding fathers, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Patrick Henry, John Adams, John Hancock, and James Madison

•  Recognizing historical female figures, including Abigail Adams, Dolley Madison, Harriet Tubman, and Harriet Beecher Stowe

•  Describing the significance of national holidays, including the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.; Presidents' Day; Memorial Day; the Fourth of July; Veterans Day; and Thanksgiving Day

•  Describing the history of American symbols and monuments

Examples: Liberty Bell, Statue of Liberty, bald eagle, United States flag, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial

[SS2010] GHS (3) 12 :

12 ) Explain the significance of representations of American values and beliefs, including the Statue of Liberty, the statue of Lady Justice, the United States flag, and the national anthem.

[SC2015] (0) 7 :

7 ) Observe and describe the effects of sunlight on Earth's surface (e.g., heat from the sun causing evaporation of water or increased temperature of soil, rocks, sand, and water).

In this activity, learn about preserving the flag by comparing what happens to paper that has been left in sunlight with paper that has been left in the dark.

   View Standards     Standard(s): [SS2010] GHS (3) 12 :

12 ) Explain the significance of representations of American values and beliefs, including the Statue of Liberty, the statue of Lady Justice, the United States flag, and the national anthem.

In this learning activity, students explore the significance of the Statue of Liberty. Students gain a deeper understanding of the meaning of the Statue of Liberty after visiting an interactive website, viewing lithographs, and visiting the Ellis Island website. Links to these websites are included.