When Washington Crossed the Delaware {A Must Read Mentor Text for Social Studies}

Happy Sunday!

It's time for our weekly Must Read Mentor Text Linky! This week's topic is Social Studies. I am excited to share this great book by Lynne Cheney. 

When Washington Crossed the Delaware

Amazon.com Description: "Christmas night, 1776, was a troubled time for our young country. In the six months since the Declaration of Independence had been signed, General George Washington and his troops had suffered defeat after defeat at the hands of the British. It looked as though our struggle for independence might be doomed, when Washington made a bold decision. He would lead the main body of his army across the Delaware River and launch a surprise attack on enemy forces. Washington and his men were going against the odds. It seemed impossible that the ragtag Americans could succeed against the mightiest power in the world. But the men who started across the icy Delaware loved their country and their leader. Under his command they would turn the tide of battle and change the course of history. Best-selling author Lynne Cheney tells the dramatic story of the military campaign that began on Christmas night in 1776. When Washington Crossed the Delaware will teach the young about the heroism, persistence, and patriotism of those who came before them."

I found this book last year while I was teaching about the American Revolution. It gives an excellent account of Washington's crossing of the Delaware. My students were so intrigued as I read this story of courage and determination. I absolutely love the captivating way that Cheney tells this story. 

The illustrations are phenomenal too! The kids can learn so much just by analyzing the paintings. 

The picture above portrays the scene of soldiers listening to Thomas Paine's encouraging and empowering words.

I also like how Cheney includes quotes from famous Americans on each page to support the text and illustrations. 

This book is perfect to use in Social Studies while I teach about the American Revolution, but it is also filled with opportunities for integration in Language Arts. Students can summarize, infer, and make predictions about what they are reading. 

I love to use this book for close reading because students can analyze the text and illustrations. For close reading, I photocopy a page of the book, and then I have students paste it into their notebooks. They work in groups or independently to dig into the text. They highlight, underline, circle and annotate all over the page in their notebook. 

This year, I am going to use this book in my Language Arts block for a couple of weeks. We will spend time analyzing the text and writing about what we learn. I created a unit based on Common Core standards to accompany our study of this amazing book. It's available in our Teachers Pay Teachers Store if you are interested. 

click here

You can also PIN IT TO WIN IT! 

Here's all you need to do:
1) Pin the Pack on Pinterest (please make sure it is the image directly above).
2) Leave a comment with your email and the Pinterest ID in the comment (all you have to do is copy the URL after you pin it to your board and then paste it into the comment section).

That's it!  I will use a random number generator to find 2 lucky winners. Thanks for entering!  :O)

Thanks so much for stopping by! I can't wait to hear about all of your Social Studies mentor texts! 
Please Link Up!  :)
Have a great rest of your weekend!

Next week's linky- Language Arts