Lesson Plan

Ruth and the Green Book Lesson Plan

African American girl and her mother stand next to a green car at a gas station.

This narrative provides children a glimpse at segregation and can lead to learning opportunities.

Illustration by Floyd Cooper Lerner Publishing

Grade Level:
Lower Elementary: Pre-Kindergarten through Second Grade
Subject:
Literacy and Language Arts,Social Studies
Lesson Duration:
60 Minutes
Common Core Standards:
K.L.1, K.L.3, 1.L.1, 2.L.3
State Standards:
Kansas
Kindergarten- Sense of self; First Grade- Families (rights and responsibilities)
First Grade- Families (rights and responsibilities)
Second Grade- Then and Now (continuity and change)
Third Grade- Communities (identities, beliefs, and practices)
Thinking Skills:
Remembering: Recalling or recognizing information ideas, and principles. Analyzing: Break down a concept or idea into parts and show the relationships among the parts. Evaluating: Make informed judgements about the value of ideas or materials. Use standards and criteria to support opinions and views.

Essential Question

What issues will arise as Ruth travels from Chicago, Illinois to Alabama?

Objective

The teacher and students will read Ruth and the Green Book. During the reading, students should be able to answer high order questions, use a graphic chart to analyze students’ understanding of the text, and participate in grand discussions surrounding the text.

Background

Genre: Historical Fiction

Grade Level: Kindergarten- 3rd Grade

Kansas State Social Studies Standards:

  • Kindergarten- Sense of self; First Grade- Families (rights and responsibilities)
  • First Grade- Families (rights and responsibilities)
  • Second Grade- Then and Now (continuity and change)
  • Third Grade- Communities (identities, beliefs, and practices)
Common Core Reading Standards for Informational Text:
  • Kindergarten (1): With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
  • Kindergarten (3): With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story.
  • First Grade (1): Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
  • Second Grade (3): Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.
Required Resources: Student Friendly Outcomes (I Can Statements):
  • I can retell a story to include key details in a text.
  • I can ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
  • I can retell a story in sequential order.
Brief Overview: During the lesson, students will follow along as the teacher and students read Ruth and the Green Book to examine how a young child with strong character traits (e.g. brave, thoughtful, resilient) overcame segregation while traveling with her family.

Prior Knowledge: Students should have prior knowledge of segregation in America. Teachers can discuss how civil rights activists such as Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. worked to make sure laws were equal for all people.

Essential Questions: What issues will arise as Ruth travels from Chicago, Illinois to Alabama?

Content Knowledge:As a result of the lesson, students will understand:
  • The obstacles Ruth and her family faced as they traveled from Illinois to Alabama, during the era of legal segregation.
  • How Ruth and her family used the Green-Book pamphlet to guide their travels through the deep south.

Preparation

Required Resources:

  • Ruth and the Green Book by Calvin Ramsey (required text)
  • The Negro Motorist Green-Book by Victor H. Green (optional text)
Before the Lesson: The teacher will introduce the lesson’s vocabulary words that students should know. The teacher will inform students about their upcoming reading of a story based on a young girl named Ruth and her travels to the deep south.

Materials

Reading available through link above. Printable lesson plan available here.

Download Lesson Plan

Procedure

During the Lesson:The teacher and students will read Ruth and the Green Book. During the reading, students should be able to answer high order questions, use a graphic chart to analyze students’ understanding of the text, and participate in grand discussions surrounding the text.

After the Lesson:

  • Students will review the lesson’s vocabulary
  • The teacher will provide two to quotes from the story; students will review information from the text to find supporting evidence
  • Students use prompts to complete journal entries
Analysis:
Close Reading: Students will reread Ruth and the Green Book. During the reading, students will investigate the story’s sequential events to examine what precautions Ruth and her parents used as they traveled to the racially segregated south, during the 1950’s.

Activities
Anchor Chart Prompts:
  1. Story Quote: “As Daddy was paying the station attendant, Mama asked for the key to the restroom. The man said we couldn’t use the restrooms.”
Evidence: During the era of legal segregation, certain bathrooms were reserved for White people. The gas station that Ruth’s father visited did now allow Black people to use the “White Only” restrooms.
  1. Story Quote: “In the car, I asked Daddy who Jim Crow was…”
Evidence: As Ruth and her family traveled to Alabama, they were faced with unfair laws that forced them to find other accommodations along the way. Ruth discovers that “Jim Crow” is the name that was used to describe segregation laws. Interdisciplinary Connection: Students will complete journal entries, using the following writing prompts as guides:
  1. The final illustrations in the book show Ruth’s parents eagerly gazing at Ruth and her grandmother, as they embrace each other with a warm hug. Located on the end table is the family’s copy of the Green Book. Create a journal entry describing the conversations that Ruth and her parents shared with her grandmother about their journey to Alabama.
Cover of The Negro Motorist Green-Book published by Victor H. Green (1940 edition). This guide was published from 1936- 1966. It helped Black travelers locate places that would serve them during segregation. They included hotels, garages, restaurants, service stations barbershops, and more!
  1. Using key details from the text, retell important events from the story in sequential order.
  • Example: Ruth’s father drove to their house in a brand-new Sea Mist green 1952 Buick! Next, Ruth and her parents placed their luggage and important items into the car and drove out of Chicago. Along the way, she saw rolling hills and green grass. Then...

Vocabulary

  • Segregation: separating or keeping people apart because of their race
  • Jim Crow: state and local laws that allowed racial segregation in the United States
  • Green-Book: a booklet used by Black travelers to find lodgings, businesses, gas stations, hotels, and restaurants that would serve them during segregation in the United States
  • Automobile: a vehicle with four wheels, powered by a motor that uses gasoline or other fuel
  • Garage: an automobile (car) repair shop

Assessment Materials

Assessment for Ruth and the Green Book Lesson Plan Asset

Download Assessment

Rubric/Answer Key

Answer Key:

  1. A
  2. B
  3. B
  4. C
  5. B
  6. D
  7. D
  8. C
  9. C
  10. A

Contact Information

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Tags: civil rights segregation african american african american history discrimination racial tension

Last updated: November 2, 2024