In order to integrate 5th grade Social Studies and Language Arts I read the story, Can't You Make Them Behave, King George? By Jean Fritz to my Social Studies class. We had just learned about the events leading up to the Boston Tea Party and the First Continental Congress.
I thought this would be the perfect book as a read aloud. The kiddos participated by saying, "God save the king!" very enthusiastically with an "English accent". They also chimed in with a loud, "Huzzah" after the American colonists dumped the tea into Boston Harbor.
After listening to the story, I asked the students about the character traits they could think of that reminded them of King George III of England. How did he act, speak, feel, and act towards other people? This was my jumping off place.
This is the worksheet that I gave to my students. The character trait is written in the box on the left side of each section. I like to add some kind of graphic to my worksheets. A picture is worth a thousand words.
Here are some samples of my students' work.
I do hope some other teacher can use this idea in their Social Studies or Language Arts class. It helps the students understand that this was a real person, not just another character in a story. King George made a huge impact on the American colonists.
You can also find this featured on Teach Junkie.com
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Please leave a comment if you have an extra minute. I'd love to hear from you. Enjoy your day!
Beti
