Text Type:
Fiction

Word Count:
3,027

Pages:
26 

Text Summary
Charlotte's mother is secretly involved in the Women's Suffrage Movement, even though Charlotte's father objects to it. When Charlotte is inspired by her mother and another suffragist, Mrs. Pierce, to have a protest at her school, Charlotte puts her mother's suffrage work in jeopardy, yet she sparks the spirit and forges the ties that will allow her to vote someday herself. 

Reproducibles
Worksheet 1—Fact and opinion
Worksheet 2—Context clues 

Lesson Objectives

Comprehension
You will likely address a number of comprehension skills as students work to understand the text, for example, students could discuss point of view. The targeted comprehension strategy for this lesson is: identifying fact and opinion. 

Word Work

Content Vocabulary
afoot
beleaguered
brownstones
corsets
dawdle
gadding
mentholatum
namesake
paddy wagon
pestering
prejudices
ratification
serviceable
suffrage
unseemly
vaudeville

Context Clues
Understand how context can help readers understand meanings of difficult words

Grammar
Understand how to identify and form both regular and irregular past tense verbs 

Before Reading

Build Background
Involve students in a discussion about voting. Ask them who they think should have the right to vote and why. Ask for their thoughts on the idea that along with the right to vote comes responsibility. Write the words women’s suffrage on the board. Ask students what they think the words mean. Explain that less than 100 years ago, women did not have the right to vote. Ask how they think this law was changed. 

Introduce the Book
Introduce the book by showing students the front cover and reading the title.
Ask: What do you see on the cover? Who do you think Mrs. Pierce is? What do you think might happen in this story?
Record students' predictions on the board. 

Give students their copies of the book and have them turn to the table of contents.
Ask: What is a prologue? What is an epilogue?

Skim and Scan
Have students skim the book, previewing the illustrations. Ask them to predict what might be happening in each illustration. Ask them who they think the people shown in the illustrations are and what their connections to the story might be. 

Point out the bold-faced words in the text. Explain to students that often they can use the context of the sentence or paragraph to figure out the meaning of the word. Point out the glossary at the end of the book. Have them find the word suffrage and compare the definition in the glossary to the definition they gave during the Build Background discussion. 

During Reading

Set the Purpose
Tell students that you want them to read the story to find out if their predictions on the board are correct. As they read, you want them to take note of words in bold. They should see if they can work out the meanings of the words from the context before they turn to the glossary for help. 

After Reading

Building Comprehension
Guide students to differentiate fact and opinion in the story.
Say: This story contains both facts and opinions. Facts are true statements that can be verified and checked. An opinion is the feeling or personal ideas of a character or of the author. Good readers know how to differentiate between statements that are facts and statements that are opinions. This is an interesting story because it is based on true events from history. Some of the events included in the story are facts. Let’s look at this statement on page 5: “On July 19 and 20, a group gathered in Seneca Falls, New York, for a Woman’s Rights Convention.” This is a statement of fact. It does not express the feeling or ideas of the author. It is something that can be verified. Facts often contain dates, times, and places. Let’s look at the statement on page 10: “The woman led the way to a green Ford Town Car, which was the prettiest, shiniest thing Charlotte had ever seen.” This is Charlotte’s opinion about the car. Not everyone would agree that it was the prettiest or shiniest car. 

Give students worksheet 1 and explain what they are to do.
Say: I want you to read each statement and decide whether the statement is a fact or an opinion. I want to you explain why you think it is a fact or an opinion. The statements are from the book. You can look back in the book for more information if you need to.
After students have completed the worksheet, have them share their ideas and discuss how they decided which statements were facts and which were opinions. 

Discuss the author’s purpose and point of view for writing this story.
Ask: What do you think the author wants you to understand about women’s suffrage? What point of view do you think this author has on whether women should have the right to vote? Which of her characters have good qualities and characteristics? Are there any characters who don’t have such good qualities? Why do you think she included the interaction between the father and the daughter?  

Word Work
Context Clues
Explain that readers can use context clues to help them figure out unfamiliar words. Explain that there are different types of context clues: sometimes an example gives a clue to the meaning, sometimes a description of the word is provided in the sentence or paragraph, and sometimes the word is compared to a familiar word. Tell students that they often have to read the whole paragraph or section to find the meaning, while other times they can find the meaning within the sentence. In some cases, they will have to use a dictionary to help them. 

Have them turn to page 4 and read the last sentence. Point out that the word or is a clue that the text will provide a definition for the word suffrage. The text is saying that the word suffrage means the same thing as the right to vote. 

Have them read the sentence on page 9, beginning, “Father muttered. . . .” Ask how they can work out the meaning of the word gadding. Explain that they can think about the context of the story: the women have gone out, and the father is angry with them for doing so. The text says, “gadding everywhere.” Based on what is happening, students can work out that gadding means "going out for fun." Point out that this is not a particularly complimentary word, and it helps to communicate that the father was angry.

Give students worksheet 2. Explain that they are to work out the meanings of the underlined words by using the context. Ask them to explain how they were able to work out the meaning and what context clues they used. 

Grammar
Past Tense Verbs
Explain that the story happened in the past, so the past tense is used. Write the words muttered, raced, took, and rode from page 9. Remind students that some past tense verbs are formed by adding -ed to the word. Other past tense verbs are irregular and use a different form of the verb for past tense. These are verbs that students have to learn to recognize and become familiar with. Have students select a page and jot down the past tense verbs they find. Have them circle the irregular verbs and underline the verbs that are formed by adding -ed. 

Writing Link
Have students create posters that promote women’s suffrage. Use the following steps:

• Talk about the kind of information that should be included on a poster that is designed to sway people’s opinions. Discuss the type of language that would be used. Discuss whether it would include facts, opinions, or both.
• Have students revisit the text to find examples that the women put on their signs when they marched for suffrage. Then have them brainstorm other words, slogans, and information they could use on a poster.
• Have students create their posters, using persuasive language. 

Assessment

• Review students’ completed worksheet 1 to assess their ability to differentiate between fact and opinion. Note if they are able to explain how they were able to differentiate between fact and opinion.
• Review completed worksheet 2 to assess if students can use the context to work out meanings of difficult words. Note if they can explain how they were able to use context clues.