Battles of the American Revolution War

Students will:

• Be able to identify the five W’s of a Revolutionary War battle - who was involved, what was the reason for the conflict, when was the battle fought, where did the battle happen, and why was the battle important in the war?

• Be able to compare the similarities and differences of the battle they researched with the findings of other groups.

Vocabulary Words:

1. Cannon: A cannon is a large and heavy piece of artillery that is usually mounted on wheels and used when fighting a war.

2. Minutemen: A minuteman is a person who volunteered to be ready for service in a war without much warning.

3. Loyalists: A loyalist is an individual who remains loyal to the existing ruler or government (especially when a revolt is happening).

4. Patriots: A patriot is a person who is committed to defending their country against enemies.

5. Militia: The militia is a group not normally associated with a regular army that joins forces with an existing army.

6. Hessians: The Hessians are a person or group of people originally from the German state of Hesse that helped the English during the Revolutionary War.

To prepare for this lesson:

• This activity works best when assigning students to small groups of 3-4 students. Envision how you want to group your students.
• There are two resources for each battle listed below. You do not need to use both resources. They are provided to give you a choice, based on the reading level of the students in your class.
• Each student will be given the task to identify the 5 W’s of the battle: who, what, when, where, and why. The first four questions will be simple, and each student in the group can focus on one of these questions. The fifth option - the why - may need some leading questions from you to help them formulate a response to why the battle was fought and its impact on the Revolutionary War outcome.
• After the research has been completed, students will complete the “Revolutionary War Battles” document. Each student will enter the responses separately so they have a document to submit.

• Students will need to provide a citation for the resource used in the research. Practice using the citation tool within Google Docs so you can explain the process clearly to the students.
    – Place the cursor within the last section (Citation).
    – From the menu at the top of the document, click Tools, then click Citation.
    – Click Add Citation Source.
    – Change the Source Type from Book to Website.
    – Copy the web address from the address bar of the browser, then paste it into the “Search with a URL” box.
    –  Click Search. Once the results are displayed, click Continue.
    –  Click Add citation source.
    –  Click “Insert Works Cited”.

•  Copy the “Report Template” and make it available in your classroom management tool (for example, Google Classroom).
  
  Resources:
  Lexington and Concord - Resource 1 or Resource 2
  Bunker Hill - Resource 1 or Resource 2
  Saratoga - Resource 1 or Resource 2
  Yorktown - Resource 1 or Resource 2
  Revolutionary War Battles Report Template

See Accommodations Page and Charts on the 21things4student website in the Teacher Resources. 

Directions for this activity:

1. Explain to the students that they will use the five Ws rule to learn more about some key battles in the Revolutionary War. They will work in groups of 3-4 and use the shared Google Document template.  Each student will focus on one question from the article provided. One will look to find the “who” answer and share it with others in the group to add to their own report. One will look to find the “what” answer and share it with others in the group to add to their own report. The same happens for the “when” and “where” questions. For the fifth W - the why - each of you will read the article and share the reasons why the battle was important.
2. Explain to students that they also need to find an illustration (image) to add to the report. For this illustration and for the article, the students will need to provide a citation. Demonstrate to students how to cite a source (using the instructions found in the Pre-Planning section).
3. The last step in the project is an open discussion to compare the similarities and differences between the battles, especially how the battle impacted the outcome of the war.
4. When the students complete the report, they will need to share the document with you (if assigned to a management system other than Google Classroom).

Different options for assessing the students:

• Observations of group participation
• Check for understanding
• Scoring accuracy of report responses