Teaching historical fiction? Launch your genre study with short, age-appropriate reading passages. Analyze and discuss characters, settings, dialogue, language, and plot. Then ask kids to write their own stories using parallel strategies and powerful organizers. You’ll be thrilled with the results!
Ms. Sneed Begins Teaching Historical Fiction
Our favorite fourth grade teacher stood in front of her class. “Good morning, everyone,” called Ms. Sneed. “Today we’re getting started on a new genre study: historical fiction.” A few kids smiled, a few grimaced, and some just squirmed in their seats.
Teaching Historical Fiction Elements
“Has anyone ever read a book in this genre?” asked Ms. Sneed.
One child in the front row tentatively raised his hand. “I read a book about the Mercury space program,” he said.
“Hmm, how can we determine if it was really historical fiction?” the teacher queried.
“Well, you said historical, and the book was about history,” said the boy.
“Great! But it’s also fiction, so what else?”
Ms. Sneed worked with the kids until they had a pretty good list. Then she displayed this anchor chart. “In the coming days, we’ll be reading some short historical fiction stories. As you read, look for realistic characters, settings, and events. Remember, however, that some things were made up.”
Teaching Historical Fiction with Short Reading Passages
Over the course of the next week, Ms. Sneed’s class read five short historical fiction reading passages:
- “George’s Hatchet” – Set in 1737, this short story retells the fictional account of George Washington, his father, and the infamous cherry tree.
- “Franklin and the Kite” – In 1752, Benjamin Franklin published an article telling how to use a kite and a key to collect electricity from a storm cloud. This historical fiction account follows Ben and his son as they conduct the experiment.
- “Two Secret Letters” – During the American Revolution, Governor Patrick Henry issued a set of secret orders to George Rogers Clark. In them, he instructed Clark to take the fort at Kaskaskia in the western territories. In 1779, Clark and his men also took Fort Sackville at Vincennes. This story tells how Clark’s small army tricked the British soldiers in the fort by marching with many flags. This story includes two fictional characters, Janette and Louis Durboy, who carry the second letter.
- “Crying in the Shed” – This historical fiction passage takes place in Indiana around 1840. In it, a young girl named Nancy helps another child, Sary, as she makes her way on the Underground Railroad. Assisted by famous abolitionist Levi Coffin, Nancy faces bounty hunters as she reunites Sary with her mother.
- “The Golden Spike” – In May of 1869, the eastern and western rail systems joined to form the first transcontinental railroad. In a grand ceremony, California Governor Leland Stanford swung a hammer to drive the golden spike – but missed. Then Union Pacific Vice-President Thomas Durant tried, but he missed too! In this story, a fictitious Chinese-American rail worker saves the day by finally driving the spike and connecting the routes.
Each passage related to events in the kids’ American history lessons, which added interest. As they moved along, Ms. Sneed also reviewed each event and displayed images to promote deeper understanding.
Analyzing Story Elements
Additionally, Ms. Sneed purposefully analyzed and discussed elements. Since the stories were written as models for student writing, the task was easy!
After reading, “George’s Hatchet,” the students completed a blank historical fiction organizer. This helped them pinpoint elements. Then they organized the plot using a story organizer.
For the second story, “Franklin and the Kite,” Ms. Sneed provided landscape versions of the passage. In small groups, the students marked up parts of the text that introduced and developed characters and setting.
Third, they analyzed dialogue used in “Two Secret Letters.” Many were surprised to see how much of the text was dialogue – and how it moved the story along.
Ms. Sneed used “Crying in the Shed” to show how authors vary sentence beginnings, types, and lengths. “See how longer sentences flow while shorter sentences punctuate?” she asked.
Finally, kids marked up “The Golden Spike” to identify transition terms, active verbs, and precise nouns.
“Studying other authors’ work,” Ms. Sneed liked to say, “makes us better writers.”
Teaching Historical Fiction Writing
The following week, Ms. Sneed was ready to teach historical fiction writing. At this grade level, she liked to present bite-sized pieces to help kids work their way through the writing process.
Researching an Event in History
First, using their history books, each child selected an event or time period. They researched dates, locations, and people. Then they created a short timeline.
Developing Writing
Second, they developed fictional and real characters. After that, they were ready to plot their realistic fiction pieces on story arcs. Then, before drafting, they reviewed the rules for writing dialogue and generated some possible direct quotes.
Before long, each student had a firm grasp on the short story they would write. It was time to draft!
Revising
Although the kids’ stories were finished, Ms. Sneed continued teaching historical fiction writing strategies. For several days, her students worked on varying sentence structure, improving word choice, and adding transitions. After that, they used checklists to edit their work.
Finally, Ms. Sneed’s class typed the final drafts of their stories, added images, and printed their finished work.
“What masterpieces!” the teacher exclaimed. Then, as usual, she created a big display in the hall. That way, the entire school could enjoy their historical fiction writing.
Bonus: Teaching Historical Fiction (and History!) Using Novels
As a culmination to the genre study, Ms. Sneed decided to give her students a taste of pioneer life.
One morning, she held up a copy of Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder. “Yep. We’re going to read this novel,” she told her class. Everyone sat up taller. “And – you’ll love this part – all of your assignments will be on an interactive website. You can access it from your Chromebooks.” They all cheered.
“Let’s take a look at a few of the features.” Ms. Sneed displayed the website on the Smartboard. “The site asks you to discuss or answer questions, explore figurative language, and even watch videos. But one of the things I love the most is the visual dictionary. Here’s an example.”
Enjoy Teaching Historical Fiction
A few days later, the principal walked in for a quick observation of Ms. Sneed’s ELA block. Right away, she noticed little bodies sprawled out on the floor. Some were reading; some gathered around Chromebooks and discussed. Everyone was very, very busy. “Hey, what’s going on here?” she laughed.
“Just a little merging of the 19th and 21st centuries,” joked Ms. Sneed. As she explained about teaching historical fiction genre study and pointed out the writing in the hall, a small smile spread across her face.
The Power of Genre Studies
Whether you’re teaching historical fiction, realistic fiction, mysteries, mythologies, or fables, genre studies engage students like never before. When you scaffold learning from reading short stories to writing to full-length novels, kids have fun while honing their ELA skills.