Subject Area: ELA Title: Follow the Drinking Gourd Setting: Classroom and School Garden Instructional Time: 45 min-1 hour Setting: Classroom or school garden Grade Level Expectation (s): DRAFT 1 R.CM. 02.02 Retell, in sequence, the major ideas and relevant details of grade-level narrative and informational text. 3 MNN Behavioral Outcome (USDA Guidance on Apple Sheet): Balance caloric intake from food and beverages with calories expended. SNAP-Ed Core Nutrition Messages: (Page 5 of Maximizing the Message): They learn from watching you. They re still growing. Help your kids grow strong. Serve fat-free or low-fat milk or water in place of sugary beverages at meals. Goal: (1-2 sentences) The students will re-tell the book Follow the Drinking Gourd in correct order. They will recognize the drinking gourd as a type of squash which, when dried, was used as a water dipper. They will think of water as a healthy beverage choice. The students will explore gourds from the garden or observe those purchased from a store or local farmer s market. Learning Objectives: (no more than 3 per lesson), measurable and observable, SMART 1. The students will correctly identify and sequence the events in the book Follow the Drinking Gourd. 2. The students will identify water as a healthy beverage choice when compared to soda and other sugary drinks. Background Note: We would like to have you insert some information about the different types of squash (decorative and edible). 1
Taken from American Dietetic Association Complete Food and Nutrition Guide 3 rd Edition, Duyff, R.L., John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2006. Water is by far the best beverage for keeping children hydrated. It s convenient and economical and refreshing when served cold. In comparison, a large, regular soda (20 oz.) is about 240 calories. Drinking one of these beverages three times a week adds 1200 calories per week to the diet. Over the course of a year, it results in a gain of several pounds of body fat, unless other changes in physical activity are made. Vocabulary Drinking gourd: The hollowed-out shell of a vegetable, like a squash. Big Dipper/Little Dipper: Constellations, or groups of stars forming a pattern in the sky that looks like a picture. Drinking Gourd: Another name for the Big Dipper. Polaris: Another name for the North Star. Underground Railroad: A route that escaping slaves followed from the Southern states to the Northern states. Advanced Preparation Harvest gourds from school garden or if none available, purchase them. Optional: invite students to bring in gourds from home. Copy story sequence graphic organizers. See end of lesson and locate four graphic organizer attachments. Copy as needed. Create a parent note asking children to bring in gourds for this lesson. Supplies Follow the Drinking Gourd by Jeanette Wilder, one copy per team of four. A chalkboard, white board, or chart paper. Writing utensils. Copies of the story sequence graphic organizers. Clipboard Gourds, one per child if sending them home. If working in a school garden outside, paper and a dark colored marker. MyPyramid for Kids poster Safety Notes 1. Demonstrate how to harvest a gourd and allow students to select a gourd and harvest it themselves. 2. Wash hands when finished in the garden. 2
Procedures Step 1 Gather students together at their meeting spot. The garden or greenhouse is preferable. Step 2 Ask students to brainstorm things we use to drink water from. (Baby bottle, mug, glass, cup, tea cup, etc.) Ask them what they would do if they didn t have these things? What would they use instead? How about using a vegetable?!? Step 3 Point out the gourds in the garden, or show students a gourd plant. Discuss the fact that the gourd is not only a vegetable that is healthy to eat, but some creative people actually used gourds to drink from. Explain that the class will read a story about this. Step 4 Present the GLCE as the focus of the lesson. Tell the students that retelling Follow the Drinking Gourd in the correct order will help them understand the story better. They will need to listen carefully in order to give specific details. Step 5 Tell the students to look carefully at the book s cover. Ask Who are these people (slaves)? What are they doing? (Running away) What is the woman looking up at? (Stars, the Drinking Gourd) Why? (To find the North Star) What is a drinking gourd? (Another name for the Big Dipper, a constellation used to find the North Star) Step 6 Read the inside of the front cover to build the students understanding of the terms drinking gourd, Big Dipper, Little Dipper, and Polaris. Focus their attention on the similarities in the shape of the gourd and the Big Dipper. 3
On the board, draw the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper, noting how the two bowl stars of the Big Dipper point to the North Star, Polaris, which is the end star in the handle of the Little Dipper (see book cover). If reading the story in the garden, draw this on a piece of paper attached to the clip board. Step 7 Read A Note about the Story (at the beginning of the book) to provide students with the historical background for Follow the Drinking Gourd. Step 8 Read Follow the Drinking Gourd aloud to the class. Remind students to pay attention to the sequence of the story events. Step 9 Divide the class into teams of four. Each team member will complete one of the four story sequence graphic organizers, which focus on the first, next, last, or end parts of Follow the Drinking Gourd. Step 10 Re-read the story up to Peg Leg would slip away again. Ask class what happened in the beginning. (Peg Leg Joe taught the slaves the Drinking Gourd song) Using the format of the graphic organizer, at the board or on your clipboard, model how the picture box on that sheet might be completed. Team members with the beginning sheet illustrate the story beginning also. Step 11 Continue reading the story up to Molly and James and Isaiah, old Hattie and George, ran to the shore. Ask class what happened next. (Molly s family used the clues in the song to guide them north to the old man.) Teacher and students illustrate the next part in the picture box. Step 12 4
Continue reading the story up to The wagon they rode near the journey s end freedom. Ask What happened in this part? (Then the family traveled on the Underground Railroad.) Teacher and students illustrate the then part in the picture box. Step 13 Finish reading the story. Ask How did the story end? (The slaves escaped to freedom.) Teacher and students illustrate the last part in the picture box. Step 14 Have each child write details about his part on the lines below the picture on the graphic organizer. Step 15 Have each team read its completed graphic organizer sheets to each other to retell the entire story in order. Then have each team present the story while holding up their graphic organizer illustrations. Step 16 Harvest gourds from the school garden (or display gourds purchased from the store or farmer s market) and take them home to use as visual aids when the students re-tell the story to their families. Step 15 Connect the idea of a drinking gourd to its use as a water dipper, and explain how water is necessary for healthy bodies. Discuss how water is a better beverage choice than sugary drinks. Explain that it does not add extra calories that often lead to weight gain. Ask students to identify the food group that gourds belong to on MyPyramid. What types of gourds have they eaten? Discuss. Taste test raw gourds such as summer squash. Assessment 5
1. Informally, observe student groups as they retell the story using their graphic organizers. 2. When asked which is a healthy beverage choice, soda or water, students identify water as the healthy choice. Student Pages Graphic organizer Student Page Visual Aid Drafts/Suggestions Differentiated Instruction & Extensions Strategies for Below-Level Readers (50-100 words) Optional Strategies for Above-Level Readers (50-100 words) Optional Extension Ideas Plant drinking gourds. Sing the song Follow the Drinking Gourd. Listen to the song Follow the Drinking Gourd. Figure out the location of the rivers, hills, etc. from clues in the song. Study Harriet Tubman, another conductor on the Underground Railroad. Have students re-tell Follow the Drinking Gourd to Kindergarteners (or 5 th graders!) using gourds as a visual aid. Make gourds into planters by slicing off the bottom of dried crooked necked gourds, and painting them. (See photos) Try eating different gourds as a snack (such as raw summer squash or pumpkin bread.) Make pumpkin bread as a class, or roast the seeds of a gourd and eat them as a healthy snack in class. Take a walk in the garden and have students brainstorm other uses for vegetables and fruits, such as coconuts for bowls, beans for game pieces, or squash for a water bucket. Show students a segment of the Vienna Vegetable Orchestra, a group of professional musicians who make their own instruments completely from vegetables, another different use of vegetables. Some of the instruments actually use carved vegetables filled with water. Discuss what vegetables were common in the diets of the slaves. Slaves came up with dishes from the scrap food of their masters. Many delicious southern dishes are products of creative cookery on the part of the slaves. Listen to the song: Follow The Drinking Gourd at http://www.songsforteaching.com/folk/followthedrinkinggourd.htm 6
When the sun comes back, and the first Quail calls, Follow the drinking gourd, For the old man is waiting for to carry you to freedom If you follow the drinking gourd. Chorus: Follow the drinking gourd, Follow the drinking gourd, For the old man is waiting for to carry you to freedom If you follow the drinking gourd. The riverbank will make a very good road, The dead trees show you the way. Left foot, peg foot traveling on, Following the drinking gourd. The river ends between two hills, Follow the drinking gourd, There's another river on the other side, Follow the drinking gourd. When the great big river meets the little river, Follow the drinking gourd. For the old man is waiting for to carry you to freedom If you follow the drinking gourd. The words in this song helped the travelers on the Underground Railroad find their way with their hidden clues. From Songs For Teaching: Using Music to Promote Learning -lyrics courtesy of Judy Caplan Ginsburgh http://www.songsforteaching.com/folk/followthedrinkinggourd.htm Supporting Resources DID YOU KNOW? 70% of your body is made up of water. Help the children understand that statistic. DID YOU KNOW? People drink more soda or pop than they do water. 7
A DROP OF WATER By Walter Wick Though this book is meant for older children, the photographs are so beautiful and striking, that a teacher may be able to just talk through some of the truths about the importance of water in our lives by using it. ISBN-13: 978-0-590-22197-9 REVIEW:Horn Book starred (September, 1997) Beginning with a drop of water dripping from a faucet, Wick's photographs are so clear, the water so palpably wet, you'd swear you could hear the drip-drop-plop. In the Health: Food and Nutrition video (12:32) available at Discovery Education there is a short segment on the importance of drinking water. Other important information oriented toward grades K-2 includes: the fact that each meal should include foods from the four basic food groups: dairy products, breads and cereals, vegetables and fruits, and proteins. A panel of children judge different snacks for their nutritional value. FUN FACT: It s better to water the grass in the morning. At noon, too much evaporates. At night, it can stay on the grass and plants and diseases can result. Teacher Resources Literature: Aunt Harriet s Underground Railroad in the Sky, Faith Ringgold, Crown Publications, Inc., 1992. The Underground Railroad for Kids: From Slavery to Freedom with 21 Activities, Mary Kay Carson, Chicago Review Press, 2005. Websites http://www.followthedrinkinggourd.org/what_the_lyrics_mean.htm http://www.osblackhistory.com/drinkinggourd.php http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koevuyhoosw&feature=related 8
Interactive Technology Opportunities Contact Dr. Norm Lownds at lownds@msu.edu Story Sequence - Beginning Draw the story s beginning. First Write about the beginning of the story, and give details to explain it. 9
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Draw what happened last. Story Sequence - Last Last Write about it, and give details. 11
Draw the next important event. Story Sequence - Next Next Write about it, and give details. 12
Draw what happened then. Story Sequence - Then Then Write about it, and give details. 13