Unit 5Family edition: Week 27

Not a lesson in your Grade 1 Social Studies bookNot a lesson in your Grade 1 Science bookGrade 2 · Social Studies · Lesson 15Grade 2 · Science · Lesson 17Not a Grade 1 lesson. Use it as an extra, or see the Grade 1 year.Family edition · Week 27

Harriet Tubman and freedom

Big question: How did knowing things and being brave help people?

Start with Listen

Story time optional

Picture books you can read together on this site.

The Little PlantLook closely at one plant and meet the bees, ants and worms that live there.Read

From the library

Free with a library card. Availability varies.

Minty: A Story of Young Harriet Tubmanby Alan SchroederBorrow in LibbyOver and Under the Pondby Kate MessnerBorrow in LibbyBorrow in Hoopla

Standards this week

The same codes and I Can statements as the printed books.

Books by grade

Grade 1

Social Studies

Not in the Grade 1 Social Studies book this week.

Science

Not in the Grade 1 Science book this week.

Grade 2

Social Studies

Your bookLesson 15 in the Grade 2 Social Studies book
  • 2.5I can explain how people in the distant and recent past helped change other lives.

Science

Your bookLesson 17 in the Grade 2 Science book
  • 2-LS4-1I can compare the variety of plants and animals in different habitats.
Grade 2 Social Studies book, p. 92–93
In your book

Session 1, Read and notice: Returning to help others

Week 27 big question: How did knowing things and being brave help people?

Start with a story (optional) The Little Plant — Read it hereLook closely at one plant and meet the bees, ants and worms that live there.

Tubman was born enslaved, but she had the right to be free.

Harriet Tubman reached freedom, then chose to help others reach it. She was born enslaved in Maryland around 1822, under the unjust system of slavery. People claimed to own others, denied their freedom, and forced them to work. Yet enslaved people had families, skills, hopes, and the right to be free. Laws denied that right, but those laws could not make slavery fair. As Tubman grew, she learned about woods, waterways, and travel on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

After she was free, Tubman went back to help others.

In 1849, Tubman escaped to freedom in Pennsylvania, but she did not stop there. She went back to guide family members and others toward freedom. People who study her life think she made about 13 trips back. They think she guided about 70 people herself. Others helped along the way. Some gave shelter or supplies, while others shared news or helped with travel. Help came through a network of people and places linked to each other. This was the Underground Railroad, not a train under the ground.

Lots of people worked to end slavery, not just her.

Tubman’s choices changed lives, but she did not work alone. Many enslaved people resisted, while others worked to end slavery. No one person could do it all. Later, Tubman worked for women’s right to vote and cared for older people. You can follow her story on a map and a timeline. Along the way, remember the helpers whose names you may never know.

Look and think

Show what you notice

  1. What did Tubman do once she was free in 1849?
  2. Why is it wrong to say “Tubman did it all alone”?

Answer your waypointact it outtell or dictatewrite

Grade 2 Science book, p. 96–98
In your book

Session 2, Investigate: Many kinds in a place

Diversity means the number of kinds.

You spot a line of ants. Would more ants mean more kinds of living things? Ten ants of one kind still count as just one kind. When we look for diversity, we count how many kinds there are. A marsh, a lawn, and a shady patch may each hold different kinds. Think of grass, clover, an ant, and a beetle as an example. That makes four kinds, and extra ants would not add a new kind. In our test, we watch the same size area for the same time. Yet some animals hide, and some plants are hard to name. What might you spot if you came back another day?

Set up the test

Gather paper · pencil or crayons · timer · two safe habitat views or adult-taken photographs

Safety Observe without touching wildlife or unknown plants. Use safe indoor window views or adult-taken photographs. Stay away from roads and water edges.

  1. Pick two safe places, like a lawn and a leafy patch. Watch the same size area for five minutes each.Adult: Or take two photos of equal size for the child to study.
  2. Guess which place has more kinds. Make a plant list and an animal list for each.Adult: Draw any kind you can’t name, and label it “unknown plant A.” You may write the child’s words.
  3. Look at both places the same way. Count each kind once, even if you see many. Write the date and totals.
  4. Compare the number of kinds. Tell one limit, and how another visit could help.

Try the model

A model to try after your real test.

Getting the model ready…

Grade 2 Social Studies book, p. 94Grade 2 Science book, p. 99 and 101

Session 3: Record and make — A person and a place

Compare · Many kinds in a place

1Place 1: kinds I found
2Place 2: kinds I found

Which place had more kinds

Keep your dated lists and totals on the habitat count record, p. 238.

Fill this in on your workbook page.

A person and a place

Make a card about a person and a card about a place. Keep the two kinds of clues apart.

  1. History card: mark Maryland and Pennsylvania. Put “Born around 1822,” “Escaped in 1849,” and “Later helped others” in order.Adult: The child may tell you the words to write.
  2. Show who Tubman helped and one way others helped. Use “about” for her trips and people. Do not make up her thoughts or words.
  3. Habitat card: show your two lists, totals, and one careful claim about how many kinds.

Connect the ideas. What can a place teach us? How can it help us ask good history and science questions?

Look closely

Tap a picture to make it big. Zoom in and find the clues.

Primary source · photographHarriet Tubman, about 1868–69.Benjamin F. Powelson · Public domain

Field trip

Visit with a grown-up. These open other websites in a new tab.

Grade 2 Social Studies book, p. 95Grade 2 Science book, p. 100

My evidence page: Claims with places and dates

Put Tubman’s acts in order. Make a claim about your habitat. Then show what backs up each one.

  • 1Historical action and effect
  • 2Habitat evidence

3Choose and explain · Checkpoint game

Listen, then choose. Finish the game to earn this week’s stamp.

The game needs JavaScript turned on.

For the adult · what each grade shows

Grade 1

Show Tubman’s actions in order and whom she helped, and point to the list with more kinds.

Grade 2

Explain how Tubman helped others in the time of slavery, and how other people helped too.

Showing the Grade 1 line for your book.

Showing the Grade 2 line for your book.

Take a photo of the evidence page or the test. Add your child’s own words. It stays on this device.

Add to my portfolio

Parent corner

How to run this week, in a few minutes.

At a glance

Time

From the workbook: Read and notice about 20 min · Investigate 20–30 min, plus short checks · Record and make 20–30 min.

Core

Put Tubman’s actions in order, and compare the kinds of living things in two places.

Materials
  • paper
  • pencil or crayons
  • timer
  • two safe habitat views or adult-taken photographs
Safety

Observe without touching wildlife or unknown plants. Use safe indoor window views or adult-taken photographs. Stay away from roads and water edges.

Short week

Read together, then do Investigate steps 1–3 and the evidence page.

Next week

Retrieve rural and urban land use. Check that three similar seedlings are ready for week 28; if not, delay that experiment rather than invent results.

Library books

  • Minty: A Story of Young Harriet Tubman by Alan Schroeder. A fictionalized, age-appropriate story of Harriet Tubman's childhood in slavery, informed by historical sources.
  • Over and Under the Pond by Kate Messner. Shows many kinds of living things in one pond.
Answer key (for grown-ups)

Talk together

  1. What did Tubman do once she was free in 1849?
    She returned to Maryland and helped family and others escape slavery. Locate Maryland and Pennsylvania; do not present a single guessed route as her documented path.
  2. Why is it wrong to say “Tubman did it all alone”?
    Helpers, freedom seekers, and antislavery organizers contributed. Tubman’s knowledge and courage were important, not the only causes of change. Avoid escape simulations or assigning enslaver roles.

What to expect in the investigation

Totals may differ or match. Either result is useful if the same method was used. Count kinds rather than individuals and preserve unknown labels consistently. Photographs sample what was visible when the camera was used, not everything living there. Watch each place for the same time and area size. One short visit cannot find every living thing.

Checkpoint question

Choice B. Reteach kind versus individual with several matching counters and one different counter.

Kindergarten this weekSocial Studies: Clara Barton and Patsy MinkScience: Needs and different places