African-American Heroes

Grade Levels: 3 - 5

Objectives

• Students will use vocabulary related to important African Americans.
• Students will read the biographies of several famous African Americans.
• Students will appreciate the honor associated with having a stamp named after someone.
• Students will identify an important African American and write a letter recommending that this person be honored with a postage stamp.

Materials

• African-American Heroes worksheet
• Access to African-American History websites

Procedures

1. Introduce key vocabulary: accomplishments, excelled, honor, invention, obstacles.
2. Have students work with a partner to complete the African-American Heroes worksheet while they explore websites about African-American history.
3. Encourage pairs to brainstorm lists of African Americans who deserve to be honored with postage stamps.
4. Have students select one person and write a letter recommending this person for a stamp, citing specific reasons why the person should receive such an extraordinary honor.
5. Set aside a time to share the letters of recommendation with the rest of the class and then mail the letters to the postmaster in each student's community.

Assessment

• Use students' worksheet responses and letters of recommendation to evaluate their ability to synthesize information and form opinions backed by facts.
• Find a variety of assessment techniques to use with this lesson.

Extension Activities

• Discover a huge collection of lessons and activities for Black History Month.
• Choose from a large collection of cross-curricular activities for all grade levels.
• Have students work with partners to make up their own black history quizzes and give them to each other.

Standards Correlations

Standards for the English Language Arts
Students:

• employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.
• participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities.

National Educational Technology Standards
Students:

• are proficient in the use of technology.
• practice responsible use of technology systems, information, and software.
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