FAMOUS WOMEN OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR
By: Kathleen E. van Noort

 STANDARD: All students will be able to identify women who were leaders and achievers in the curriculum content area of the Revolutionary War. The overall objective is that students know that both women and men made significant contributions to this war effort from which we became a free country.

GRADE LEVEL: Grade 3-6, Social Studies, Language Arts

OBJECTIVE(S):

1. Each student will be able to identify a woman or man of the Revolutionary War and list the qualities that enabled them to achieve their goals, as well as the obstacles they faced.
2. Students will use listening and note-taking skills.
3. Students will use an established process for gathering facts on women and men who were known to make contributions to the Revolutionary War effort.
4. Students will use research skills.

TIME: Two class periods

MATERIALS:

1. Biographies/ autobiographies of women from the Revolutionary War period. For example, "The Secret Soldiers" (from STORYWORKS Vol. 5, No. 2)
2. A bag or hat containing slips on which there is the letter "F" or "M."

PROCEDURES:

1. Divide class into pairs/teams of two.
2. Read selection e.g. "The Secret Soldier," aloud to the class.
3. Students are to use note taking skills to list three facts for:
1. Her significance in the Revolutionary War (e.g. how and why Deborah Sampson became a soldier.
2. Her experiences in the war.
3. Some of the obstacles she experienced.
4. Once students are familiar with this process, have students on each team draw a slip from the hat. Depending on the letter drawn, the team will then read a biographical or autobiographical selection of a female or male from the Revolutionary War period, and write down similar facts as those for Deborah Sampson.