About This Lesson
This Grade 2 unit explores the difficult subject of the Civil War in an age appropriate way, but without wavering from the difficult truths. Students see the beginnings of slavery in America, and the moral struggles and compromises surrounding it.
Students are introduced to the generals Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant, and are shown some of the strategies behind the major campaigns. Finally, they see the surrender of the Confederacy, and walk with Lee to meet Grant at Appomattox.
The Civil War has a rich and complicated history filled with strong characters. Harriet Beecher Stowe, Harriet Tubman, Clara Barton, and of course, Abraham Lincoln, among others, are shown as people who work to do what they feel is right, even when it is difficult.
