Teaching Civics with Children’s Literature: The Civil War

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The Civil War, written by Georgene Poulakidas is a chronological record of events leading up to and throughout the Civil War.  The book starts off with a well written explanation of “One Country, Two Ways of Life”.  Throughout the book examples are given for each side of the war, the North (Union) and the South (Confederate) with their beliefs and what they fought for.   The book concludes with President Lincoln’s assassination at Fords’ Theatre where he was celebrating the end of the Civil War. 

Curriculum Connections:

This is a very detailed book with just the right amount of material for a child to grasp.  Great vocabulary words are highlighted with a definition following (outstanding teaching aid).  The Civil War would be a great teaching aid for The Civil War (SOL I.9 a,b,c,d,e & f).  The book can introduce the events of The Civil War or be used at the end of the lesson for all of the SOL’s there were taught.   There is a Timeline and a Glossary in the book to aid with highlighted words that are defined in the content of the pages.

 Additional Resources:

1) Students can color a picture of Grant & Lee as they learn about the end of The Civil War.  
2) Civil War activity worksheets are a great teaching supplement with the following worksheets:
    Fill-in-the-blank, Word Search & A Civil War Diary.
3) A Map of 1861 will help students visually see what states were apart of the Union, Confederacy & the territories that were not yet states in 1861.

General Information:

Book: The Civil War
Author: Georgene Poulakidas
Illustrator: N/A
Publisher: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc
Publication Date: 2006
Pages: 24
Grade Range: 2-4
ISBN: 1-4042-2684-2

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