Reconstruction After the Civil War: Fact-Check the Notes

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Social Studies · U.S. History
SP-USH-005 · Free to print and use in your classroom · substituteplans.com
Page 2
Reconstruction After the Civil War: Fact-Check
the Notes
Social Studies · U.S. History · Grades 10-11 · 50 minutes
Time needed
50 minutes (one class period)
Prep
Copy the 2-page worksheet (one per student).
Technology
None.
Student
independence
High. Silent reading, then individual work with a short class check.
Copies to make
One 2-page worksheet per student
Materials
Pencils, Worksheet
Goal for today: Students will describe the purpose of the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments and correct factual errors
about the Civil War and Reconstruction.
Before the bell
☐ Copy the worksheet, one per student (2 pages).
☐ Keep the answer key on your desk. You do not need any history background.
☐ If the class discusses the topic aloud, remind students to be respectful. This is a serious part of U.S. history.
Say this to start
Today you will read about Reconstruction, the years after the Civil War when the country worked to rebuild and to
decide what freedom would mean for formerly enslaved people. You will match three constitutional amendments, then
act as a fact-checker on a classmate’s study notes. Please read carefully and work on your own.
Run of show
Minutes
What you do
What students do
0–5
Take attendance. Hand out the worksheet and read the
directions aloud.
Settle in and look over the worksheet.
5–15
Tell students to read the passage silently and underline
every date.
Read silently and underline dates.
15–30
Tell students to complete the matching (questions 1–3) and
the Fact-Check table. In the table they write TRUE or FALSE
and fix every false statement.
Match the amendments, then fact-check
each statement using the passage.
30–42
Tell students to answer multiple-choice questions 4–6 and
short-answer questions 7–8.
Answer the questions; use complete
sentences on 7 and 8.
42–47
Read the answers from the key for the matching and the
table. Students check and fix their own work.
Correct mistakes in a different color.
47–50
Collect all worksheets and stack them for the teacher.
Hand in the worksheet.

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Social Studies · U.S. History
SP-USH-005 · Free to print and use in your classroom · substituteplans.com
Page 3
If things go wrong
• If students say they have not studied this, tell them every answer is in the passage. Have them reread the
paragraph about the amendments.
• If a student disagrees with a correction in the table, point to the sentence in the passage that supports the
key.
• If a student finishes early, ask them to check that every false statement has a correction, then use the early
finisher list.
• If a class discussion becomes heated, steer back to the worksheet and the facts in the passage.
Early finishers
• Make a three-item timeline of Reconstruction using only the dates from the passage.
• Write two more true/false statements about the passage, one true and one false, and trade them with a
neighbor.
Support and challenge
• Support: Let students work in pairs and fact-check the table one row at a time, pointing to the passage
sentence that proves each answer.
• Challenge: Ask students to write a paragraph explaining why Congress used constitutional amendments, not
just ordinary laws, to protect freedom and citizenship.
Notes for the teacher (you fill this in)
Jot a few lines before you leave. A full Daily Sub Report is in the free Sub Survival Kit at SubstitutePlans.com.
How far the class got / what to pick up next:
Students who were especially helpful:
Anything the teacher should know: