The Civil War through a Child's Eye


 

 

 

Student Page

 


Welcome to The Civil War through a Child's Eye project!  We are going to use historical fiction and primary source images from the Library of Congress to explore a child’s perception of the Civil War era.  Throughout the project, our focus will be examining history from a child’s point of view, rather than from an adult perspective. 

At the conclusion of this project, you will be able to:

Steps:

  1. View the slide show, "Children in the Civil War", which uses photographs, daguerreotypes, and facts to learn about the boys who participated in the Civil War. 
  2. Read and rehearse your assigned part in Bull Run.  Participate in the class reading of Bull Run as Readers Theater. 
  3. Next, explore the Civil War era photographs and daguerreotypes from the American Memory collections.  View the gallery of Images and select one image of a child to examine more closely.
  4. Work as historians to carefully examine and analyze the photographic image you selected. As you work, complete the Photo Analysis Guide.  Remember to describe the physical attributes, age, and other traits that you observe or infer from the photographic image.   
  5. Read the criteria listed on the Literary Portrait Scoring Guide.  Using your detailed responses on the Photo Analysis Guide, write a literary portrait of your selected child.  Remember that the literary portrait needs to be written from the point of view of the child.  Get ready to share your literary portrait with the class as Readers Theater. 

Lesson Overview | Teacher's Guide | Student Page | Images

 

The Library of Congress | American Memory
 
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Last updated 9/12/2002