This December, second grade students are reading historical fiction in school and at home. First, students explored the structure of historical fiction.
The entire grade is reading the historical fiction book Wagon Wheels and learning the story of the Muldie boys and their father as they travel from Kentucky to Nicodemus, Kansas in 1878. The Muldies were a real family who along with thousands of African American pioneers left the South after the Civil War to settle in the West. They first settled in the town of Nicodemus.
We read about the courage of the boys as they lived in a dugout while their father searched for land that would enable them to have a better life, and then of their journey of one hundred and fifty miles to connect with their father.
The trilogy of books from The Prairie Skies series by Deborah Hopkinson is being read aloud to the students. The first book is Pioneer Summer. This book starts in 1855 and follows the story of Charlie Keller and his family as they travel to Kansas from Massachusetts in order for Charlie Keller’s father, who is an abolitionist, to cast his vote for Kansas to be a free state. Along the way Charlie meets a friend whose father feels very different about slavery. Deep discussions have occurred in class as students think and discuss their reactions to the issues and characters in this book.
Students are selecting historical fiction books of interest to read at home with their families and then talk, write and draw about their particular book.
They are also selecting historical fiction books to read independently in class.
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