The Great Migration

The Great Migration: Journey to the North

Written by: Eloise Greenfield

Illustrated by: Jan Spivey Gilchrist

Published by Amistad in 2011.

Educational, Engaging, Historical, Informative, Intriguing

Summary:
This story is about the Great Migration of African Americans from the south to the north. It is told from many points of view such as a man's, woman's, girl's, boy's.

Reading Level:
Lexile Measure: 730L
Grade Level Equivalent: 4.5
Interest Level: Grades 1-4

Electronic Resources:
Poetry at Play
This link tells about Greenfield and her writing style and where it comes from. There is also a interview with Greenfield about writing children's poetry. This is useful for students who would like to learn more about how to write poetry.

Poetry for Children
This link gives a summary of the book and medals it has won. It also gives prereading questions, suggests for reading poems out loud, activities for the subject areas of math, social studies, and writing, and finally it has a list of related books. This is useful for teachers to help them plan lessons based on this book and book topic.

Teaching Strategies:
Teachers can use this story to teach a social studies history lesson about the Great Migration.

Suggested Delivery:
I would use this book as a read aloud. This book has a lot of emotion and would be great for demonstrating to students how to read with expression.

Key Vocabulary:
Ku Klux Klan, Complaint, Newcomers, Courage, Conductor, Seperate

Reading Strategies:

Before Reading:
Have students fill out the K and W sections of a KWL chart about what they know and want to learn about the Great Migration.

During Reading:
Have students look at the pictures. How do they help enhance the understanding of the poems?

After Reading:
Have students fill out the L section of the KWL chart about what they learned about the Great Migration.

Writing Activity:
Have students write a poem about the Great Migration. It can be a summary of the story or an add on to the story.