Follow the drinking gourd writing activity students will analyze how enslaved african americans used this song and create their own song or poem in code. We started reading this book around valentines day. Oct 29, 2015 looking for something a bit different from all the pumpkin activities of october. Tommy learns that his father has hidden the family in the barn until he can take them across the river at night. Students learn to sing follow the drinking gourd and explore the hidden meaning of the song and the code found in the lyrics. Interactiveresearch national geographic provides several activities including the journey, routes to freedom and a timeline. Gourds can put a unique twist on fall harvest activities for kids. Follow the drinking gourd was based on an askeric lesson plan, which is no longer available on the web. The song was actually a code of directions explaining how to escape from the southern slave states. Copies of follow the drinking gourd lyrics for all students. For the old man is awaiting for to carry you to freedom if you follow the drinking gourd. The entire lesson plan is available online at follow the drinking gourd.
Introductionfollow the drinking gourd betterlesson. Traditional african song follow the drinking gourd. Portions may be reproduced for use in the classroom with. Mar 17, 2003 follow the drinking gourd lesson plan. The drinking gourd refers to the hollowed out gourd used by slaves and other rural americans as a water dipper. Follow the drinking gourd by jeanette winter from the bookflap. Plan your lesson in creative and narrative writing and writing with helpful tips from teachers like you. Ask students to list all of the feelings they see on the characters faces. Student activities the teacher store book clubs book fairs scholastic education. Follow the drinking gourd was a song created by enslaved african americans. Share follow the drinking gourd with the students appropriately based on their age and ability.
Check out all these fun and educational fall gourd activities. A lesson on celestial navigation in class internet access computers for each group of 35 students photocopies of. It is a pretty well known song, but while teaching this month, i found some great books and youtube videos to help with the background info. Montessoriinspired learning activities with gourds healthy beginnings montessori shares a fall. They read a picture book to learn the story of how harriet tubman and peg leg joe led. Follow the drinking gourd lessons, worksheets and activities.
The lesson plan for grades 912 covers the material from this lesson and also goes into latitude, longitude, right ascension and declination. Images from the graue mill one of the stops along the underground railroad, gettysburg, and civil war era photos set to richie havens the. With the help of certified and current classroom teachers, teachervision creates and vets classroom resources that are accurate, timely, and reflect what teachers. Once in canada, slaves gained their freedom and were no longer an object owned by a. A recording of follow the drinking gourd and a music player. Follow the drinking gourd lesson plan for prek 2nd grade. While working for plantation owners, peg leg joe teaches the slaves a song about the drinking gourd the big dipper. See more ideas about underground railroad, five in a row and black history. Through reading follow the drinking gourdand listening to the song, students will gain a better understanding of how slaves pursued their freedom by stealing away to follow the drinking gourd to the north and to freedom. Joel bresler has created an online site, follow the drinking gourd. Because it is black history month in february, i thought i would share some found resources based around the song follow the drinking gourd. Winters story begins with a pegleg sailor who aids slaves on their escape on the underground railroad. Thank you so much for being part of the betterlesson community. Follow the drinkin gourd, we gonna follow the drinking gourd is from the woodum original.
An african american alphabet to discover the secret signal the quilt may have possibly been sending to ben. I have seen some great posts about black history month activities, and i feel like ive done a terrible job the past two years incorporating it into my lessons. This lesson plan was inspired by the music k8 recording of follow the drinking gourd from music k8, vol. The drinking gourd alludes to the hollowed out gourd used by slaves and other rural americans as a water dipper. Used here it is a code name for the big dipper star. Follow the drinking gourd lesson plan for grades 912. Groups examine the lyrics of these and other songs to find reflections of. The story is a poignant and inspiring tale of one africanamerican familys desperate flight to freedom and how they used constellations to guide the way. While the need for secrecy and the oral tradition of slave songs severely limit the amount of information available in slave code songs, we can glean some details about hidden messages in a few spirituals. The code told people who understood it when to leave, where to travel, and how far to go on each part of the journey. Home follow the drinking gourd follow the drinking gourd in this lesson plan, students will learn how african americans escaping slavery on the underground railroad relayed their knowledge of astronomy to one another, and how they used that knowledge to find their way to freedom. This lesson is designed to establish the skill of visualizing for primary students, using the story follow the drinking gourd by jeanette winter.
If necessary, engage a music teachers assistance in order to accurately decipher the musical score. Starting tomorrow afternoon, all videos will be live streamed on youtube since they offer closed captioning and i want to make sure we consider all people who may want to access at home learning. We will examine three of these, as well as revisit following the drinking gourd, in the following activities. However, education world offers a number of lesson plans and activities specifically developed for womens history month. Weber reads frederick douglass and harriet jacobs lesson plan. Help the class learn the follow the drinking gourd song as written in the back of the book. These words go with the follow the drinking gourd unit that we will cover during feb. Fourth graders study the song follow the drinking gourd. Runaway slaves journey north along the underground railroad by following directions in a song, the drinking gourd. Have students study the faces of the runaway slaves as illustrated in the book. Exploring follow the drinking gourd musical explorers. The riverbank makes a very good road dead trees 4 will show you the way left foot, peg foot 5 traveling on if you.
Free follow the drinking gourd activities and classroom resources. When tommys father comes home, they hide the runaways in a. In this dance lesson, 4th graders listen to the book by the same name, listen to the music, and in small groups create a short dance illustrating a stanza from the song. Follow the drinking gourd in this lesson plan, students will learn how african americans escaping slavery on the underground railroad relayed their knowledge of astronomy to one another, and how they used that knowledge to find their way to freedom. Black history month actually began as black history week. Follow the drinkin gourd how spirituals helped slaves. Follow the drinking gourd supposedly encodes escape instructions and a map. Follow the drinking gourd lesson plan for prek 2nd. Students create an art project based on follow the drinking gourd, a song used to guide slaves to freedom during the civil war. Betterlessons unique formula allows us to bring you highquality coaching, a professional learning lab, and a learnbydoing process that embeds pd into the classroom. Much of your classroom studies during black history month may center on the civil rights movement. Levar celebrates the road to freedom paved by the underground railroad, introducing viewers to the history, heroes, stories and music of the african american culture which emerged from slavery.
Follow the drinking gourd by jeanette winter tells the story of captain peg leg joe, who aids slaves on their escape on the underground railroad you can visit to learn more about follow the drinking gourd. By completing the activities the student will explore the nature and implications of the underground railroad as it relates to the slaves. Can the students imagine how they would have felt and what they would have done if they had been enslaved. They are following the drinking gourd, a constellation in the northern sky that points the way to freedom. A couple, their son, and two others make continue reading. Follow the drinking gourd reading rainbow dvd with levar. I planned to row follow the drinking gourd in february since its black history month emphasizing civil rights and treating others with love and kindness valentines day. Goalongs, printables, topical resources, and more for follow the drinking gourd. Follow the drinking gourd takes us back to the days when freedom was nothing more than a dream for those held in slavery. Follow the drinking gourdafrican american spiritual. He would now wait for the next passenger to follow the drinking gourd to his station.
Appendix teachers guide to follow the drinking gourd. Find follow the drinking gourd lesson plans and teaching resources. The river ends between two hills, follow the drinking gourd. When the sun comes back means winter and spring when the altitude of the sun at noon is higher each day. Used here it is a code name for the big dipper star formation, which points to polaris, the pole star, and north. Follow the drinking gourd, clementine, over there, dust bowl blues. Writing skills traits to stress while teaching this lesson. After the story explain to the students that the drinking gourd was a song that had hidden lyrics giving the directions for following the underground railroad.
The most wellknown slave code song is follow the drinking gourd. Comprehension by chapter, vocabulary challenges, creative reading response activities and projects, tests, and much more. Elizabeth behrens follow the drinking gourd facebook. Lesson plan follow the drinking gourd in class internet access. Grades 48 rating americas history level 5, published by ginn and company, 1986 follow the drinking gourd picture book about how slaves used the north star and the big dipper. For the old man is waiting for to carry you to freedom, if you follow the drinking gourd. Students will be divided into 3 groups and will design original choreography for the refrain of the song. The drinking gourd, otherwise known as the big dipper, helped to lead slaves to canada. The drinking gourd was the big dipper which points to the north star. Through the activities presented in this lesson, students will be called upon to examine the coded messages in the song follow the drinking gourd, taught to the slaves by peg leg joe, along with. Black history month lessons, worksheets and activities. In this craft your child will create her own drinking gourd to hang in her window. Follow the drinking gourd writing activity writing.
Follow the drinking gourd vocabulary flashcards quizlet. Copy handout 1, follow the drinking gourd lyrics for all participants, or write the lyrics on newsprint, and post. The teacher will read the book, follow the drinking gourd, by jeanette winter and will remind students of how the song of the same name acts as a coded map to lead slaves to freedom. Some looked for hope to a certain constellation with its bright shining star. It was actually started in 1926 by carter woodson and the goal was to educate americans about notable african americans and their achievements. When tommys father comes home, they hide the runaways in a hay wagon and drive them to the river. For example, your intent with younger students may be to provide an exposure to. For example, a lesson on rosa parks is sure to be memorable to your young students, as is martin luther king jr. A story of the underground railroad study unit worksheets for teachers to print. Mar 02, 2019 as with our other rows, we created a follow the drinking gourd playlist with readalouds, music, science, and other clips.
Share follow the drinking gourd with the students appropriately based on. Follow the drinking gourd classroom guide created as an. An a cappella group, sweet honey in the rock, perform and share their historical. Explain that lesser known spirituals also conveyed hidden messages to slaves. Its a notable time filled with important events and people. This follow the drinking gourd lesson plan is suitable for prek 2nd grade. The underground railroad, the california gold rush, world war i, the great depression. Dec 03, 2008 images from the graue mill one of the stops along the underground railroad, gettysburg, and civil war era photos set to richie havens the drinking gourd from the song of the civil war ken. This craft is an excellent way to learn about africanamerican history, and it also provides fine motor practice. Looking for something a bit different from all the pumpkin activities of october. The drinking gourd song was supposedly used by an underground railroad operative to encode escape instructions and a map. Aunt harriets underground railroad in the sky by faith ringgold is the story of cassie, who, with harriet tubman as her guide. The students will learn about the song follow the drinking gourd, the lyrics, and the meaning through. Prepared by the center for the history of physics at aip 1 lesson plan follow the drinking gourd in class internet access computers for each group of 35 students.
Follow the drinking gourd extension activities scholastic. The lesson plan is 90 minutes long and it includes pre, during, and post reading activities, internet activities, kwl chart, wordfind, vocabulary, background knowledge, reading comprehension questions. Follow the drinking gourd discussion guide scholastic. The teacher will then read the story follow the drinking gourd to the students. This is an original lesson plan for follow the drinking gourd by winter. In this lesson plan, students will learn how african americans escaping slavery on the underground railroad relayed their knowledge of astronomy to one another, and how they used that knowledge to find their way to freedom. Follow the drinking gourd for the old man 1 for to carry you to freedom if you follow the drinking gourd. The three rs, five in a row, cupcake tutorial, enrichment activities, kindergarten lesson plans, arts integration, school. This year, however, my kindergarten3rd graders will be learning about the underground railroad and follow the drinking gourd. They read a picture book to learn the story of how harriet tubman and peg leg joe led slaves to freedom. Once in canada, slaves gained their freedom and were no longer an object owned by a master.
In this lesson, students use clues from the text to create their own images and imagine how characters are thinking and feeling. The american folksong follow the drinking gourd was first published in 1928. Black history week actually became a nationally recognized month in 1976 and is celebrated in february. Feb 24, 2012 theres a new youtube music web player for desktop. After the class has learned the song, reread the text, pausing to have the class sing the song segments.