Juneteenth in the Rio Grande Valley Lesson Plans
Dublin Core
Title
Juneteenth in the Rio Grande Valley Lesson Plans
Subject
Slavery
Description
After the Civil War, in 1865 a myriad amount of people remained enslaved. The reason being was due to Word of slavery end news traveled slowly, especially for those who were isolated from the Union armies- where life continued as if freedom did not exist. Texas was one of those cases, were slaves were not aware of their freedom until June 19, 1865. Union Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, TX to issue an order officially granting freedom. The celebration now serves as the base of “Juneteenth” a holiday that celebrates emancipation in the United States. Juneteenth represents, not only in the Rio Grande, but in all the United States the announcement of abolition of slavery in the U.S state of Texas. It commemorates the group of slaves who learned that they had been emancipated years earlier.
Creator
Aleyda Pena
Gabrielle Flores
Lindsey Skalitsky
Jessica Gomez
Source
UTRGV College of Education
EDCI335-3O
Fall 2018
Publisher
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Special Collections and University Archives
Date
1865
Contributor
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
UTRGV College of Education
Stephanie Anckle
Rights
Flores, Gabrielle, Gomez, Jessica, Pena, Aleyda, & Skalitsky, Lindsay. (2018). Juneteenth in the Rio Grande Valley Lesson Plans. Retrieved from
https://rgvprimarysourceguides.omeka.net/items/show/40
https://rgvprimarysourceguides.omeka.net/items/show/40
Format
PDF
Language
English
Coverage
Rio Grande Valley
Lesson Plan Item Type Metadata
Standards
§113.16. Social Studies, Grade 5, Beginning with School Year 2011-2012.
(17) Citizenship. The student understands important symbols, customs, celebrations, and landmarks that represent American beliefs and principles and contribute to our national identity. The student is expected to:
(D) describe the origins and significance of national celebrations such as Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Constitution Day, Columbus Day, and Veterans Day
(17) Citizenship. The student understands important symbols, customs, celebrations, and landmarks that represent American beliefs and principles and contribute to our national identity. The student is expected to:
(D) describe the origins and significance of national celebrations such as Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Constitution Day, Columbus Day, and Veterans Day
Objectives
To recognize heritage, culture and communities and identify ways to empower and engage these communities with classroom curriculum and instruction.
Materials
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7U--9rfE98&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Jbp_PPMNA8
Duration
5-7 Days
Lesson Plan Text
Your Name: Aleyda Pena, Gabrielle Flores, Lindsey Skalitsky & Jessica Gomez
Grade Level: 5th Number of Students: 27
Assessment (formal and/or informal) Informal
Standards Social Studies
Recognize and give examples of the tensions between the wants and needs of individuals and groups, and concepts such as fairness, equity, and justice.
Standards English Language Arts
Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.
Strategies for English Language Learners and Learners with Special Needs
Supplemental readings in L1 along with lower level readers of same story. Associated illustrations for story for visual understanding. Sentence stems for ELL to use for discussion purposes.
Materials and Resources
video link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7U--9rfE98&feature=youtu.be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Jbp_PPMNA8
Instructional Sequence (instructional strategies and learning tasks)
Juneteenth is a celebration of the day in 1865 that word of Lincoln's signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves, made its way to the state of Texas. The celebration name is a combination of "June" and "Nineteenth"—the day that the celebration takes place.
Show video of Juneteenth celebration in Edinburg, Texas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7U--9rfE98&feature=youtu.be
Read book “Juneteenth Jamboree”. Show video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Jbp_PPMNA8
● the purpose of the lesson for students ( 5 minutes)
● Accessing prior knowledge ( 15 minutes)
● Teacher modeling ( 5 minutes)
● Guided Practice ( 10 minutes)
● Practice (independent, partner, group) ( 13 minutes)
● Closure ( 2 minutes)
Monitoring for student learning/understanding. Describe the instructional strategies
Your Name: Aleyda Pena, Gabrielle Flores, Lindsey Skalitsky & Jessica Gomez
Grade Level: 5th Number of Students: 27
Assessment (formal and/or informal) Informal
Standards Social Studies Give examples of how government does or does not provide for the needs and wants of people, establish order and security, and manage conflict.
Standards English Language Arts Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade level topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
Strategies for English Language Learners and Learners with Special Needs
Allow for partner reading to enable more understanding. Supplement ELLs with Spanish text support. Students may work in groups to enable peer support for instruction and understanding for elaboration.
Materials and Resources
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/lkj01.
United States (A Nation Divided) map in 1865
Instructional Sequence (instructional strategies and learning tasks)
Distribute the handout Juneteenth Celebration. Have students participate in a reading activity (read aloud, silent reading, differentiated instruction activity). Distribute a 1865 United States map (provided). Write the following question on the board: a. Discuss reasons why you think that it took nearly 3 years for news of emancipation to travel from Washington, D.C., to Galveston, Texas. b. Distribute a copy of the “A Nation Divided 1861 -1865 map.” c. Ask students to discuss challenges the messenger may have experienced traveling through the Northern and Southern states?
● the purpose of the lesson for students ( 2 minutes)
● Accessing prior knowledge ( 5 minutes)
● Teacher modeling ( 10 minutes)
● Guided Practice ( 5 minutes)
● Practice (independent, partner, group) ( 20 minutes)
● Closure ( 3 minutes)
Monitoring for student learning/understanding. Describe the instructional strategies
Your Name: Aleyda Pena, Gabrielle Flores, Lindsey Skalitsky & Jessica Gomez
Grade Level: 5th Number of Students: 27
Assessment (formal and/or informal) Informal
Standards Social Studies Use appropriate resources, data sources, and geographic tools to generate, manipulate, and interpret information.
Standards English Language Arts Read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, at the high end of grade level texts complexity band independently and proficiently.
Strategies for English Language Learners and Learners with Special Needs
Allow for partner reading to enable more understanding. Supplement ELLs with Spanish text support. Students may work in groups to enable peer support for instruction and understanding for elaboration.
Materials and Resources
Venn Diagram Template
Instructional Sequence (instructional strategies and learning tasks)
Ask students to continue their discussion about the challenges the messenger may have experienced traveling through the Northern and Southern states? Create a venn diagram on the board; discuss today’s means of communication, specifically information that can travel instantaneously, for example the internet. Therefore, the idea that an important government announcement took almost 3 years to travel from Washington, D.C., to Galveston, Texas, seems unbelievable. Although Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862, the slaves in Texas did not hear that they had been freed until June 19, 1865. Distribute the venn diagram (provided) to students; Compare today’s means of communication and communication used in 1865.
● the purpose of the lesson for students ( 3 minutes)
● Accessing prior knowledge ( 2 minutes)
● Teacher modeling ( 5 minutes)
● Guided Practice ( 15 minutes)
● Practice (independent, partner, group) ( 15 minutes)
● Closure ( 5 minutes)
Monitoring for student learning/understanding. Describe the instructional strategies
Your Name: Aleyda Pena, Gabrielle Flores, Lindsey Skalitsky & Jessica Gomez
Grade Level: 5th Number of Students: 27
Assessment (formal and/or informal) Informal
Standards Social Studies Demonstrate an understanding that different people may describe the same event or situation in diverse ways, citing reasons for the differences in views.
Standards English Language Arts Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print and digital sources; summarize or paraphrase information in notes and finished work, and provide a list of sources.
Strategies for English Language Learners and Learners with Special Needs
Allow for partner reading to enable more understanding. Supplement ELLs with Spanish text support. Students may work in groups to enable peer support for instruction and understanding for elaboration.
Materials and Resources
http://www.juneteenth.com
Instructional Sequence (instructional strategies and learning tasks)
This announcement prompted spontaneous celebrations in the streets. African Americans celebrate Juneteenth (a combination of June and nineteenth) as a legal holiday in Texas and throughout the United States with parades, prayers, picnics, games, and family gatherings. A reading of the Emancipation Proclamation marks the beginning of many local festivities. Discuss the local Juneteenth celebrations in and around South Texas. Have students discuss Juneteenth, highlight the fact that Juneteenth remains one of the few U.S. holidays that does not have a commercial component. Ask students to brainstorm and identify other non-commercial holidays and speculate on what has protected them from exploitation. A legend tells that Abraham Lincoln's messenger to Texas had an ornery mule and that is why the news took so long to arrive. Debate whether the length of time was intentional or accidental.
● the purpose of the lesson for students ( 2 minutes)
● Accessing prior knowledge ( 5 minutes)
● Teacher modeling ( 5 minutes)
● Guided Practice ( 7 minutes)
● Practice (independent, partner, group) ( 23 minutes)
● Closure ( 3 minutes)
Monitoring for student learning/understanding. Describe the instructional strategies
Your Name: Aleyda Pena, Gabrielle Flores, Lindsey Skalitsky & Jessica Gomez
Grade Level: 5th Number of Students: 27
Assessment (formal and/or informal) Formal
Standards Social Studies Use appropriate resources, data sources, and geographic tools to generate, manipulate, and interpret information.
Standards English Language Arts Conduct short research projects that use several sources to build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic.
Strategies for English Language Learners and Learners with Special Needs
Allow for partner reading to enable more understanding. Supplement ELLs with Spanish text support. Students may work in groups to enable peer support for instruction and understanding for elaboration.
Materials and Resources
Assessments: Venn Diagram & Alternate Ending Composition
Instructional Sequence (instructional strategies and learning tasks)
Juneteenth has grown into a heritage-centered event that focuses on family, community, education, and achievement—but its origins are still very important. How does the historical background of the day, as a celebration of freedom for the slaves of Texas, compare to other important celebrations of freedom in the United States? Juneteenth remains one of the few U. S. holidays that does not have a commercial component. Students identify other non-commercial holidays and speculate on what has protected them from exploitation. Students then create a venn diagram comparing Juneteenth to another Nationally recognized holiday. Students construct a composition that has to do with Juneteenth and also create an alternate ending to the situation.
● the purpose of the lesson for students ( 1 minutes)
● Accessing prior knowledge ( 5 minutes)
● Teacher modeling ( 4 minutes)
● Guided Practice ( 0 minutes)
● Practice (independent, partner, group) ( 0 minutes)
● Closure/ Assessment ( 35 minutes)
Monitoring for student learning/understanding. Describe the instructional strategies
Goals or Mission: To transform the Rio Grande Valley, the Americas, and the world through an innovative and accessible educational environment that promotes student success, research, creative works, health and well-being, community engagement, sustainable development, and commercialization of university discoveries.
1. Learning Goals/Standards: As a class, discuss the overall importance of the Emancipation Proclamation to the slaves and the white people who lived in the country during this time period. How did this change the country forever?
2. Rationale: Although part of the school curriculum, content standards, or ELD standards, why is this content important for your students to learn?
3. Identifying and supporting language needs: Supplement ELLs with Spanish text support. Students may work in groups to enable peer support for instruction and understanding for elaboration.
4. Accessing prior knowledge and building upon students’ backgrounds, interests and needs: In cities across the country, people of all races, nationalities and religions are joining hands to truthfully acknowledge a period in our history that shaped and continues to influence our society today. Sensitized to the conditions and experiences of others, only then can we make significant and lasting improvements in our society.
5. Materials and Instructional Sequence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7U--9rfE98&feature=youtu.be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Jbp_PPMNA8
http://www.juneteenth.com https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/civil-war-docs
6. Assessment: Today Juneteenth commemorates African American freedom and emphasizes education and achievement. It is a day, a week, and in some areas a month marked with celebrations, guest speakers, picnics and family gatherings. It is a time for reflection and rejoicing. It is a time for assessment, self-improvement and for planning the future. Its growing popularity signifies a level of maturity and dignity in America long overdue.
7. Accommodations: Invite your students to compare Juneteenth celebrations to Fourth of July celebrations, using the Venn Diagram. What events take place on the two days? What do people do? How are the events described in the media? When students notice differences between the celebrations, ask them to hypothesize about the reasons. Conclude the discussion by asking students what conclusions they can draw about the ways that people celebrate and define freedom in the U.S. Allow for partner reading to enable more understanding. Supplement ELLs with Spanish text support. Students may work in groups to enable peer support for instruction and understanding for elaboration.
8. Theory: Context Based Learning, learning from experience by interpretation of information and relating it to what is already known.
9. Anchor Videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7U--9rfE98&feature=youtu.be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Jbp_PPMNA8
Grade Level: 5th Number of Students: 27
Assessment (formal and/or informal) Informal
Standards Social Studies
Recognize and give examples of the tensions between the wants and needs of individuals and groups, and concepts such as fairness, equity, and justice.
Standards English Language Arts
Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.
Strategies for English Language Learners and Learners with Special Needs
Supplemental readings in L1 along with lower level readers of same story. Associated illustrations for story for visual understanding. Sentence stems for ELL to use for discussion purposes.
Materials and Resources
video link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7U--9rfE98&feature=youtu.be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Jbp_PPMNA8
Instructional Sequence (instructional strategies and learning tasks)
Juneteenth is a celebration of the day in 1865 that word of Lincoln's signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves, made its way to the state of Texas. The celebration name is a combination of "June" and "Nineteenth"—the day that the celebration takes place.
Show video of Juneteenth celebration in Edinburg, Texas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7U--9rfE98&feature=youtu.be
Read book “Juneteenth Jamboree”. Show video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Jbp_PPMNA8
● the purpose of the lesson for students ( 5 minutes)
● Accessing prior knowledge ( 15 minutes)
● Teacher modeling ( 5 minutes)
● Guided Practice ( 10 minutes)
● Practice (independent, partner, group) ( 13 minutes)
● Closure ( 2 minutes)
Monitoring for student learning/understanding. Describe the instructional strategies
Your Name: Aleyda Pena, Gabrielle Flores, Lindsey Skalitsky & Jessica Gomez
Grade Level: 5th Number of Students: 27
Assessment (formal and/or informal) Informal
Standards Social Studies Give examples of how government does or does not provide for the needs and wants of people, establish order and security, and manage conflict.
Standards English Language Arts Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade level topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
Strategies for English Language Learners and Learners with Special Needs
Allow for partner reading to enable more understanding. Supplement ELLs with Spanish text support. Students may work in groups to enable peer support for instruction and understanding for elaboration.
Materials and Resources
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/lkj01.
United States (A Nation Divided) map in 1865
Instructional Sequence (instructional strategies and learning tasks)
Distribute the handout Juneteenth Celebration. Have students participate in a reading activity (read aloud, silent reading, differentiated instruction activity). Distribute a 1865 United States map (provided). Write the following question on the board: a. Discuss reasons why you think that it took nearly 3 years for news of emancipation to travel from Washington, D.C., to Galveston, Texas. b. Distribute a copy of the “A Nation Divided 1861 -1865 map.” c. Ask students to discuss challenges the messenger may have experienced traveling through the Northern and Southern states?
● the purpose of the lesson for students ( 2 minutes)
● Accessing prior knowledge ( 5 minutes)
● Teacher modeling ( 10 minutes)
● Guided Practice ( 5 minutes)
● Practice (independent, partner, group) ( 20 minutes)
● Closure ( 3 minutes)
Monitoring for student learning/understanding. Describe the instructional strategies
Your Name: Aleyda Pena, Gabrielle Flores, Lindsey Skalitsky & Jessica Gomez
Grade Level: 5th Number of Students: 27
Assessment (formal and/or informal) Informal
Standards Social Studies Use appropriate resources, data sources, and geographic tools to generate, manipulate, and interpret information.
Standards English Language Arts Read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, at the high end of grade level texts complexity band independently and proficiently.
Strategies for English Language Learners and Learners with Special Needs
Allow for partner reading to enable more understanding. Supplement ELLs with Spanish text support. Students may work in groups to enable peer support for instruction and understanding for elaboration.
Materials and Resources
Venn Diagram Template
Instructional Sequence (instructional strategies and learning tasks)
Ask students to continue their discussion about the challenges the messenger may have experienced traveling through the Northern and Southern states? Create a venn diagram on the board; discuss today’s means of communication, specifically information that can travel instantaneously, for example the internet. Therefore, the idea that an important government announcement took almost 3 years to travel from Washington, D.C., to Galveston, Texas, seems unbelievable. Although Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862, the slaves in Texas did not hear that they had been freed until June 19, 1865. Distribute the venn diagram (provided) to students; Compare today’s means of communication and communication used in 1865.
● the purpose of the lesson for students ( 3 minutes)
● Accessing prior knowledge ( 2 minutes)
● Teacher modeling ( 5 minutes)
● Guided Practice ( 15 minutes)
● Practice (independent, partner, group) ( 15 minutes)
● Closure ( 5 minutes)
Monitoring for student learning/understanding. Describe the instructional strategies
Your Name: Aleyda Pena, Gabrielle Flores, Lindsey Skalitsky & Jessica Gomez
Grade Level: 5th Number of Students: 27
Assessment (formal and/or informal) Informal
Standards Social Studies Demonstrate an understanding that different people may describe the same event or situation in diverse ways, citing reasons for the differences in views.
Standards English Language Arts Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print and digital sources; summarize or paraphrase information in notes and finished work, and provide a list of sources.
Strategies for English Language Learners and Learners with Special Needs
Allow for partner reading to enable more understanding. Supplement ELLs with Spanish text support. Students may work in groups to enable peer support for instruction and understanding for elaboration.
Materials and Resources
http://www.juneteenth.com
Instructional Sequence (instructional strategies and learning tasks)
This announcement prompted spontaneous celebrations in the streets. African Americans celebrate Juneteenth (a combination of June and nineteenth) as a legal holiday in Texas and throughout the United States with parades, prayers, picnics, games, and family gatherings. A reading of the Emancipation Proclamation marks the beginning of many local festivities. Discuss the local Juneteenth celebrations in and around South Texas. Have students discuss Juneteenth, highlight the fact that Juneteenth remains one of the few U.S. holidays that does not have a commercial component. Ask students to brainstorm and identify other non-commercial holidays and speculate on what has protected them from exploitation. A legend tells that Abraham Lincoln's messenger to Texas had an ornery mule and that is why the news took so long to arrive. Debate whether the length of time was intentional or accidental.
● the purpose of the lesson for students ( 2 minutes)
● Accessing prior knowledge ( 5 minutes)
● Teacher modeling ( 5 minutes)
● Guided Practice ( 7 minutes)
● Practice (independent, partner, group) ( 23 minutes)
● Closure ( 3 minutes)
Monitoring for student learning/understanding. Describe the instructional strategies
Your Name: Aleyda Pena, Gabrielle Flores, Lindsey Skalitsky & Jessica Gomez
Grade Level: 5th Number of Students: 27
Assessment (formal and/or informal) Formal
Standards Social Studies Use appropriate resources, data sources, and geographic tools to generate, manipulate, and interpret information.
Standards English Language Arts Conduct short research projects that use several sources to build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic.
Strategies for English Language Learners and Learners with Special Needs
Allow for partner reading to enable more understanding. Supplement ELLs with Spanish text support. Students may work in groups to enable peer support for instruction and understanding for elaboration.
Materials and Resources
Assessments: Venn Diagram & Alternate Ending Composition
Instructional Sequence (instructional strategies and learning tasks)
Juneteenth has grown into a heritage-centered event that focuses on family, community, education, and achievement—but its origins are still very important. How does the historical background of the day, as a celebration of freedom for the slaves of Texas, compare to other important celebrations of freedom in the United States? Juneteenth remains one of the few U. S. holidays that does not have a commercial component. Students identify other non-commercial holidays and speculate on what has protected them from exploitation. Students then create a venn diagram comparing Juneteenth to another Nationally recognized holiday. Students construct a composition that has to do with Juneteenth and also create an alternate ending to the situation.
● the purpose of the lesson for students ( 1 minutes)
● Accessing prior knowledge ( 5 minutes)
● Teacher modeling ( 4 minutes)
● Guided Practice ( 0 minutes)
● Practice (independent, partner, group) ( 0 minutes)
● Closure/ Assessment ( 35 minutes)
Monitoring for student learning/understanding. Describe the instructional strategies
Goals or Mission: To transform the Rio Grande Valley, the Americas, and the world through an innovative and accessible educational environment that promotes student success, research, creative works, health and well-being, community engagement, sustainable development, and commercialization of university discoveries.
1. Learning Goals/Standards: As a class, discuss the overall importance of the Emancipation Proclamation to the slaves and the white people who lived in the country during this time period. How did this change the country forever?
2. Rationale: Although part of the school curriculum, content standards, or ELD standards, why is this content important for your students to learn?
3. Identifying and supporting language needs: Supplement ELLs with Spanish text support. Students may work in groups to enable peer support for instruction and understanding for elaboration.
4. Accessing prior knowledge and building upon students’ backgrounds, interests and needs: In cities across the country, people of all races, nationalities and religions are joining hands to truthfully acknowledge a period in our history that shaped and continues to influence our society today. Sensitized to the conditions and experiences of others, only then can we make significant and lasting improvements in our society.
5. Materials and Instructional Sequence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7U--9rfE98&feature=youtu.be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Jbp_PPMNA8
http://www.juneteenth.com https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/civil-war-docs
6. Assessment: Today Juneteenth commemorates African American freedom and emphasizes education and achievement. It is a day, a week, and in some areas a month marked with celebrations, guest speakers, picnics and family gatherings. It is a time for reflection and rejoicing. It is a time for assessment, self-improvement and for planning the future. Its growing popularity signifies a level of maturity and dignity in America long overdue.
7. Accommodations: Invite your students to compare Juneteenth celebrations to Fourth of July celebrations, using the Venn Diagram. What events take place on the two days? What do people do? How are the events described in the media? When students notice differences between the celebrations, ask them to hypothesize about the reasons. Conclude the discussion by asking students what conclusions they can draw about the ways that people celebrate and define freedom in the U.S. Allow for partner reading to enable more understanding. Supplement ELLs with Spanish text support. Students may work in groups to enable peer support for instruction and understanding for elaboration.
8. Theory: Context Based Learning, learning from experience by interpretation of information and relating it to what is already known.
9. Anchor Videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7U--9rfE98&feature=youtu.be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Jbp_PPMNA8
Files
Citation
Aleyda Pena et al., “Juneteenth in the Rio Grande Valley Lesson Plans,” UTRGV Digital Exhibits, accessed November 15, 2024, https://omeka.utrgv.edu/items/show/77.