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Lesson Plans Teaching with Primary Sources Program
Spring 4-1-2014
African American History and the Five Senses African American History and the Five Senses
Kate Johnson
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Johnson, Kate. (2014) African American History and the Five Senses.
https://via.library.depaul.edu/tps-lesson-plans/25
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African American History & The Five Senses
By Kate Johnson
Grade Level: First Grade (can be altered for other primary grades)
Time Frame: 4 -5 weeks
Subject Matter: social studies, science, literacy, religion, social skills
Curriculum Standards:
1.To understand the importance of famous African-Americans from the past; to
understand the contributions of certain African-Americans in history to their fields of
work.
2.To identify the five senses; to understand how each of the five senses is used in
everyday life.
3.To create community and understand family tradition through a pot luck event.
4.To promote reading and writing in everyday life such as cookbooks, invitations, and
signs.
Description: This is a month long unit that ties African-American history month with the
five senses. For each week of African-American History month, the class studies one of
the five senses with one area of African-American History. The sense of sight is paired
with African-American art, the sense of hearing with music from African-American
history, the sense of touch with African-American athletics, and the senses of taste and
smell are matched with food. The unit then ends with a family pot-luck event where the
families of the students are invited to school with favorite dishes from their family and/or
history.
Technology Used: PowerPoint, Digital Camera, Library of Congress and other websites,
The Great American Potluck collection on the Learning Page.
Lesson Plans:
Week One: Sight & Romare Bearden
Lesson One: Using a poster that has a picture of a person, the class identifies which
part of the body enables people to see. The eyes on the poster are then labeled and the
poster is saved for future use. The students then play a quick game of “I Spy” to
concentrate on the sense of sight.
Lesson Two: Students are introduced to the African-American artist Romare Bearden.
The teacher reads Me and Uncle Romie by Claire Hartfield and talks to students about
the life of Romare Bearden, highlighting his role in the Harlem Renaissance and his
collage work.
Lesson Three: Students view images of Romare Bearden and his paintings through a
PowerPoint presentation. Special emphasis is placed on his collage work.
Lessons Four and Five: Students create a collage painting of their own. These lessons
are split so the students can first paint their picture, then after it dries they can cut
pictures from magazines, newspapers, and photographs to complete their collages.
Assessment: Students earn grades for their collages.
Week Two Hearing/African-American Music
Lesson One: Using the same poster from week one, students discuss and identify the part of
the body that allows people to hear. The ears on the poster are then labeled and the poster is
saved for future use.
Lesson Two: Using a variety of examples of spirituals, jazz, blues, and gospel music (most
downloaded from the American Memory Collection), students listen to each type of music.
The teacher gives a brief description of each type of music before listening to it, and leads a
quick discussion about what the students thought after listening to the music.
Lesson Three: Students look at pictures of various musical instruments that jazz musicians
might use, such as a trumpet, trombone, and piano. The teacher reads Ben’s Trumpet.
Les
son Four: Students draw pictures and write words to express how they feel as they listen
to one song from each genre: spirituals, jazz, and gospel. Then, students draw and write
about their favorite type of African-American music.
Assessment: Students are graded on their work in lesson four.
A sample wav file Hay Black Child.
Week Three Touch/African-American Athletes
Lesson One: Using the same poster from weeks one and two, students discuss and
identify the sense of touch. The hands on the poster are then labeled and the poster is
saved for later use.
Lesson Two: The students are introduced to the life and achievements of Jesse Owens.
Emphasis is placed on not only his athletic accomplishments, but his importance in
history with relation to Hitler and the 1936 Olympic Games. Then, the class proceeds to
the gym and learns how to do an official track start. Boys and girls are split into two
groups to run short running races with track starts.
Lesson Three: Students are introduced to Jackie Robinson, Arthur Ashe, Althea Gibson,
Tiger Woods, Venus Williams, and Serena Williams. Using imaginary sports equipment,
students learn how to swing a baseball bat, golf club, and tennis racket. Students are
then shown pictures of the athletes in a PowerPoint presentation. (Pictures are from the
American Memory and other websites.)
Lesson Four: Students pick one athlete that they learned about in the last few days and
draw a picture of that athlete performing in their sport. Students may write words and
sentences to show other information they learned about their athlete.
Assessment: Students are graded on their work in lesson four.
Week Four (and Five, if necessary) Smell/Taste/Family Food
Lesson One: Using the same poster from previous weeks, students discuss and identify
the senses of taste and smell. The nose and mouth on the poster are then labeled with
the appropriate senses.
Lesson Two: Using foods supplied by the teacher, students try foods that demonstrate
the tastes sweet, sour, salty, and bitter. As the students try each taste, they plug their
noses to see how their taste is affected by doing so. Then, the students smell a variety
of food samples (also supplied by the teacher) and guess what each is.
Lesson Three: Students engage in a discussion about their family traditions and their
favorite foods. The teacher explains the meaning behind a pot luck and invites children
to bring in a favorite family food to share. With the parents, the teacher organizes the
foods that each child will bring and invites the parents to attend the family potluck.
Families are also asked to bring a printed copy of their recipe to be later put in a class
cookbook.
Lesson Four: Students bring in pictures of their families for display in the classroom.
The students share about their families to build engagement and excitement in the
upcoming pot luck.
Lesson Five: Students create decorations for the classroom and placemats for the
families to eat on. Students can also make invitations and help clean the room to
prepare for the guests.
Lesson Six: Family Potluck! Families arrive at school and the class shares in a potluck
lunch. Students and parents are invited to introduce themselves and the food they
brought. Students make cards to label the food that they brought, and the teacher takes
pictures (using the digital camera) of the event.
After the potluck, teacher assembles a class cookbook with the recipes that the
students brought in. Use the digital pictures to decorate the book! Also, teacher submits
student recipes on the American Memory website: The Great American Potluck.
Assessment: Upon completion of the unit, students take a teacher-made test on the five
senses.
Created By: Kate Johnson
katej59@hotmail.com
