Students are currently reading “Toliver’s Secret” in language arts and studying the Revolutionary War in social studies. In the book, 11-year old Ellen Toliver is asked by the Patriots to deliver an important message for General Washington, which is hidden in a loaf of bread. Students will be “recreating” Ellen’s mission by creating a fictional character and write a “coded” letter that is based on facts they have learned/researched about the War. The letters will then be decoded by their classmates.

Instructional Goals

• Using information they have learned about the Revolutionary War, students will create a fictional historic character, and then write a “coded” letter from that character based on facts they have researched in print and online sources.

• Students will read and “decode” a classmate’s letter and summarize what the letter was about.

 

Learning Objectives

4th grade students will be able to:

• imagine a fictional character.

• locate at least four appropriate facts for “coded” letters in both print and electronic resources.

• create a method to “code” and successfully complete their letter.

 

Motivational Goals

• Students creativity and imagination will be reinforced.

• Students will develop confidence in the research process and be satisfied with their accomplishments.

• Students will develop an interest for research.

Credits: Spy Letters of the American Revolution: From the Collections of the Clements Library, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan; Teachers’ Lounge Classroom Activities (http://www.si.umich.edu/spies/)

Introduction

Show students a letter that arrived in the mail today for the library (letter should be coded in some manner - example: letter_for_library.jpg).  Pass the letter around and ask if anyone can make any sense of what the letter is about.  Tell students that the information in the letter was meant for only the person it is addressed to, and that person must have some information to crack the code that allows them to read the it.

 

Explain to students that, just like in Toliver’s Secret, the British and Colonial Soldiers would intercept the mail to find out what the other side’s strategies were for the war, so people found various ways to disguise their messages incase these letters ever got into the wrong hands.  In the book, Ellen hid a secret message in a loaf of bread, but there many other ways people disguised their messages.

 

Tell students the goals of the lesson, describing that they will be creating their own fictional characters and will be exploring the library for real facts that could relate to their character.  They are then to write and create their own disguised letter for a classmate to decode and read. Give students a “timeline” of events for the assignment; creating their character, exploring historic facts about their character, writing their letter in “plain text”, looking at and discovering coded letter techniques and determining which method they want to use, creating their final letter, then reading a classmates letter for assessment.

 

 

Body

Day 1

Do a quick recap and discussion of historical fiction, and what characteristics the genre has.  Explain to students how their letter is a form of historical fiction because it is based on real historic events, but the characters are made up.

 

As a class, brainstorm potential characters they can create as their letter writers.  As students come up with characters, write them on a whiteboard or large pad so students can use as a reference.  Characters examples are: British Soldier, Colonial Soldier, farmer, student, family member hiding a soldier, blacksmith, nurse, etc.

 

Pass out worksheet (character.pdf / .doc) where students can work on creating their characters main characteristics.  Have a few students share the character information they have created.

 

Any remaining time can be used to start research (web, print and reference materials).

 

Day 2

Provide students with a goal for the day, to complete their historic research and have 4 solid facts that they can incorporate into their letters.  Students’ begin/continue research, and use worksheet for notes.  Students are expected to work on and complete their “plain text” letters in their classroom or on their own time.

 

Day 3

Now that students have completed their letters in “plain text”, it is time to figure out how they want to “code” their letters.  Guide students through the “Methods” section of the website Spy Letters of the American Revolution (http://www.si.umich.edu/spies/index-lounge.html), discussing each of the techniques briefly.  Then allow students to search spy books, the web or more closely examine the techniques discussed to come up with how they will code their letters.

 

After students have thought of a technique, they can begin to write their letters. Provide students with plain paper, construction paper, “invisible ink” and writing instruments and scissors.

 

Completed letters, worksheets and decoding instruction can go in large envelopes and then deposited into a “mail” bag.

 

 

Conclusion

Day 4

(Note: Classroom teacher and librarian have removed worksheets from envelopes and left only instructions.  Assign each student a number and put that corresponding number on their letter so student readers don’t know who’s is who’s for assessment)

 

Provide students with a letter from the “mail bag” to, using the instructions provided, decode, read and asses.  Students will fill out an assessment handout (student_assessment.pdf / .doc).  Bring the class together and share information they learned from the letters.

Students will have time to share what they have learned from the letters they read, so librarian and teachers can make sure letters were based on historic facts. Both the notes and assessment worksheets that were completed by students will show if students were able to be creative with creating their characters and coding their letters, and again, check historic facts.

Social Studies Teacher & Teacher Librarian