Build Background

• Involve students in a discussion of slavery. Write the questions Who, What, When, Where, and Why? on the board. Ask who the slaves were and where they originally came from, what slaves were used for, and when and where slavery occurred. The question of why slavery occurred is an interesting topic for research and debate. Theories include European racial prejudice against Africans, European attitudes toward poor people, and the declining Native American and indentured servant work forces.

Preview the Book

Introduce the Strategy: Retell

• Explain to students that one way to understand a book is to remember what they read so they can tell the story to someone else.
• Show students the front and back covers of the book. Tell students that the title of the book is Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. Ask the students what they think the book will be about.
• Think aloud: On the front cover, I see an old person in a chair. I think it is a woman because of the clothing, but I'm not sure. My guess is that this person is Harriet Tubman since that's whom the book is about. I'm going to start reading so I can find out. I'll try to remember what I read so I can tell what happened.
• Show students the title page. Ask students if they have ever seen a memorial marker similar to this. Ask why markers like this are used. Talk about the information that is written on the page (title of book, author's name, illustrator's name).
• As students read, they should use other reading strategies in addition to the one presented in this section. For a review of additional reading strategies, click here.

Introduce the Vocabulary

• Remind students of the strategies they can use to work out words they don't know. For example, they can use what they know about letter and sound correspondence to figure out the word. They can look for base words, prefixes, and suffixes. They can use the context to work out meanings of unfamiliar words.
• Model how to apply word-attack strategies. Point out a word in bold, such as the word perilous on page 13. Model how they can use the context to figure out the word's meaning by looking for a word or phrase in the sentence that might provide a clue. Point out that the word is 1 of 2 adjectives that tell about the trips Harriet made to the South. Ask students to read the second part of the sentence and look for a clue that provides more information about the trips she made. Ask students to tell in their own words what Harriet's trips were like (dangerous). Have students follow along as you substitute the word dangerous or filled with danger in the sentence to confirm the meaning of the word.
• Remind students that they should check whether words make sense by rereading the sentence.

Set the Purpose

• Have the students stop and silently review what they have read at the end of each chapter so that they can retell what happens and why.

Student Reading

• Guide the reading: Have students read the first chapter titled "Born a Slave." Ask a volunteer or volunteers to retell what has happened so far in the story. Have other students fill in details for the volunteers' retellings. Aim for as complete a retelling as possible.

    Tell the students to make a small question mark in their books beside any word they do not understand or cannot pronounce. These can be addressed in the discussion that follows.

Reflect on the Reading Strategies

• Ask students what words they marked in their books. Use this opportunity to model how they could read these words using word-attack strategies and context clues.
• Have volunteers retell individual chapters or the entire book. Encourage students to recall as much as possible while retelling, including the answers to the who, what, when, where, and why questions you used in the "Build Background" section.
• Reinforce that retelling encourages retention of information and deeper understanding because that information is recast in a student's own words.

Comprehension: Cause and Effect

• Direct the students to page 6 in the book. Ask them to tell why Harriet was whipped cruelly (she did not mind her owner). Explain that one thing causes the other thing happen, and provide the following sentence: Harriet was whipped cruelly because she did not mind her owner. Underline Harriet was whipped cruelly and tell the students that this tells the effect, or what happened. Underline because she did not mind her owner and explain that this tells the cause, or why.
• Check for understanding: Direct students to page 7. Read the paragraph to the students. Ask them to find the sentence that tells what happened as a result of Harriet trying to help an escaping slave. (The slave's master threw a metal weight that hit her in the head.) Then ask the students to complete the following sentence: The slave's master threw a metal weight that hit Harriet in the head because_____. (She was trying to help an escaping slave.) Tell students that the word because is like a flashing red light. It tells them that what follows explains why something happened. Direct the students to the last sentence on page 7. Ask them to tell the person sitting next to them what word is the flashing red light that lets them know that the rest of the sentence tells why something happens (because). Then have them identify the cause (her injury) and the effect (she had headaches and sleeping spells) in the sentence.
• Independent practice: Introduce and explain how to complete the Cause and Effect worksheet.
• Extend the discussion:

    Instruct students to use the inside cover of their book to list 4 cause-and-effect relationships about prejudice. Have students share their list with the group.

Grammar, Mechanics, and Usage: Subject and Predicate

• Explain that a sentence has 2 parts. One part is called the subject. It tells the person, place, or thing the sentence is about. The other part is called the predicate. The predicate tells what the subject is, does, or was. It is the part of the sentence that contains the verb. Write the following sentence on the board: Harriet was born as a slave around 1820. Ask students to identify the subject. Point out that in this sentence the subject is only one word, but in other sentences the subject may be several words. Ask students to tell what the subject is, does, or was (was born). Explain that the entire phrase is the predicate.
• Reinforce by directing students to page 13. Read the last sentence. Ask students to identify the subject (the slaves) and predicate (rode from place to place).
• Hand out and have students complete the Subject and Predicate worksheet.

Vocabulary: Content Vocabulary

• Tell students that many of words in the book are used to tell about slavery. Provide opportunities for the students to talk about difficult words such as abolitionists or meager. Provide opportunities for the students to say the new vocabulary words, talk about their meanings, and use the words in sentences.
• Click here for a Content Vocabulary worksheet.

Independent Reading

• Allow the students to read their books independently or with a partner. Partners can take turns reading parts of the book.

Home Connection

• Give the students their books to take home to read with parents, caregivers, siblings, or friends.

Writing Connection

• Provide additional resources for students to research slavery and the Underground Railroad. Have students select a person who fought for the rights of slaves or helped slaves travel the Underground Railroad and write a short report about him or her. Have the students share their reports with the class.

Social Studies Connection

• Have students research and make a map of states that slaves fled from and the free states that they traveled to. Have them mark known stops for slaves traveling the Underground Railroad.

Monitor students to determine if they can:

• identify cause and effect.
• identify subject and predicate.
• recognize and use content vocabulary.