Core Skills Analysis
History
Ella read an article about George Washington’s crossing of the Delaware and answered open-ended questions about the account. The activity gave Ella an opportunity to engage with an event in American history and express understanding through written or spoken responses. By responding to questions in her own words, Ella practiced recalling and explaining information from a historical text. The activity also supported her understanding of how historians study and discuss past events.
Language Arts
Ella read an informational article and answered open-ended questions, combining reading comprehension with written or spoken expression. She practiced identifying information relevant to a question and organizing a response in her own words. This work supported close reading, vocabulary development through context, and the ability to communicate ideas clearly. For a 13-year-old, explaining answers rather than selecting them also provided practice in developing evidence-based responses.
Tips
Tips Extend Ella’s learning by inviting her to create a short timeline of the crossing and the surrounding events, using the article as a reference. Together, examine a map of the Delaware River and trace the route to connect the historical account with geography. Ella could then compare the article’s account with a primary source, such as a period letter or a historical image, and discuss what each source helps readers understand. Finish with a brief first-person journal entry imagining the crossing, while clearly distinguishing historical details from creative additions.
Book Recommendations
- The Crossing by Gary Paulsen: A historical novel centered on George Washington’s crossing of the Delaware, offering a literary connection to the activity.
- The Revolutionary War by Brendan January: An accessible overview of the American Revolution that can help place the crossing within the wider conflict.
Learning Standards
- Florida B.E.S.T. ELA.7.R.2.1 — Structure: Reading an informational article and responding to questions supports examining how ideas and information are organized.
- Florida B.E.S.T. ELA.7.R.2.2 — Central idea: Answering open-ended questions about an informational text supports identifying and explaining its central idea.
- Florida B.E.S.T. ELA.7.R.3.1 — Perspective and point of view: Discussing a historical account supports considering how an event is presented in a text.
- Florida B.E.S.T. ELA.7.C.1.4 — Narrative writing: The suggested first-person journal activity offers a way to practice narrative writing while drawing on historical reading.
- Florida Social Studies SS.7.A.3.5 — American Revolutionary War: The article’s subject connects to the Revolutionary War and Washington’s role in that period.
Try This Next
- Make a timeline worksheet showing the crossing and other events described in the article.
- Write three open-ended quiz questions about the article and answer each with a detail from the text.
- Draw and label a simple map showing the Delaware River and the crossing route, using a reliable reference.
- Write a short journal entry from the perspective of someone present, marking imaginative details separately from facts in the article.