Bull Run
by Paul Fleischman

book talk author/illustrator study classroom connections list of related books

•  Winner of the 1994  Scott O'Dell Award
•   A Best Book for Young Adults (ALA)
•  A Notable Children's Book (ALA)
•  Publisher's Weekly's Best Book of 1993
• The Horn Book Fanfare List
• Newbery Medalist

Paul Fleischman:

• Born in Monterey, California on September 5, 1992
• Grew up in Santa Monica
• Says that he never expected to be a children's author though his father is also a children's author
• Currently lives in Pacific Grove, California
• Attended the University of California at Berkeley and the University of New
• Mexico at Albuquerque
• Enjoys music and is fascinated by history
• Books for young readers include:

• a debate within your school about the length of the lunch period from the teachers', lunch workers', students, and principals perspectives
• a debate about whether your city should have a curfew for youth under 18 from the police, parents, teens, and a teen club owner perspectives
• a debate about what the legal age to drive should be from the automakers', teens', parents', and a congressmen's perspective.

Were Civil War Women Heroic?
Students will read and take notes from online grade-level-appropriate material about women in the Civil War.  They will describe and connect the essential ideas, arguments, and perspectives of texts in multiple sources. They will select one woman as the subject of a persuasive speech in which they attempt to persuade an audience that the woman should be considered a heroine for her actions in the Civil War.  Students will support arguments with detailed evidence, examples and reasoning and deliver focused, coherent presentations that convey ideas clearly.

Read the following article on women in the civil war.

Four Civil War Women:

Clara Barton http://www.californiacentralcoast.com/commun/map/civil/women/cb.html

Harriet Beecher Stowe http://www.californiacentralcoast.com/commun/map/civil/women/hbs.html

Rose O'Neal Greenhow http://www.californiacentralcoast.com/commun/map/civil/women/rg.html

Mary Todd Lincoln http://www.californiacentralcoast.com/commun/map/civil/women/mtl.html

*Source: Schools of California Online Resources for Educators by Cyberguide by Barbara Garrison at http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/bull/bulltg.html

Math:

Locate where the battle of Bull Run took place.  Choose four of the characters and find out where they live.  Figure out the distance the character traveled to reach Bull Run.  At a pace of 10 hours a day how long would it take the characters to reach Bull Run.

Science and Technology:

Research the medicine technology used during the civil war.  Choose one of the medical devices and prepare a short report about what it was for and how it was used.  Find out what device has replaced this device and when it was invented.

Arts and Music:

Students will review a list of Union and Confederate ballads and consider the structural features of this form of literature as a poetry form.  They will analyze relevance of setting (place, time, and customs) to the mood, tone, and meaning of the text and choose one ballad to copy and illustrate on white drawing paper. They will identify and analyze recurring comparative themes across works and identify significant literary devices in a paragraph explaining why the song they chose was popular in the Civil War era.
Union songs.

URL: http://www.erols.com/kfraser/usongs.htm
Confederate songs
URL: http://www.erols.com/kfraser/csongs.htm

*Source: Schools of California Online Resources for Educators by Cyberguide by Barbara Garrison at
http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/bull/bulltg.html

• Teacher Cyberguide http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/bull/bulltg.html