A Buss From Lafayette Teacher’s Guide

Education & Reference

synopsis

Synopsis

"This teacher's guide gives many wonderful suggestions of how to integrate subjects with the historical content of this novel. . .[and] suggests questions that challenge higher level thinking."—Susan Elliott, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Quinnipiac University; Literacy and Curriculum Development This guide is for Dorothea Jensen's award-winning (Literary Classics, Purple Dragonfly, eLit Awards, etc.) historical novel for young readers, A Buss from Lafayette. It contains bulletin board ideas, vocabulary exercises, varied student handouts, puzzles, games, reading comprehension quizzes, discussion questions, and both individual and class projects. Its cross-curricular activities include language arts/reading, social studies, mathematics, health/safety, art, music, dance, drama, recipes, and suggestions for real and virtual field trips. A full answer key is provided. The main topics covered are the American Revolution, Lafayette's role in our War of Independence, Lafayette's Farewell Tour of America in 1824-5, and everyday life and customs in rural America in the 1820s.

bio

Author Biography

Dorothea Jensen is proud to be one of a very few people who has boarded a pirate ship and attacked a Viking vessel manned by real Vikings wearing horns and furs. She was born in Boston, but grew up in Chillicothe, Illinois, site of the Viking adventure. She then earned a BA in English from Carleton College and an MA in Secondary Education from the University of New Mexico. She has served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in South America, taught middle and high school English, tutored refugees in ESL, written grant proposals for various arts organizations, written a play performed in Noh style, and raised three children. Her first historical novel for young readers, THE RIDDLE OF PENNCROFT FARM, has been used in classrooms for many years as an enrichment resource for kids studying the American Revolution. Her next novel, A BUSS FROM LAFAYETTE, is set in 1825 in the small town in New Hampshire where she has lived since 1991. Dorothea also writes modern Christmas stories in verse. Modeled on the 19th century classic poem, "A Visit from St. Nicholas", these award-winning Santa's Izzy Elves story poems feature decidedly 21st century elves savvy in modern technology.

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Author Insight

Historical Fact vs Fiction

Here is an activity designed to focus students on how historical fiction "works." In both THE RIDDLE OF PENNCROFT FARM and A BUSS FROM LAFAYETTE I include afterwards that detail who and what in the story are historic fact, and what elements are fictional. (Of course, I do this because whenever I read historical fiction written by others, I really want to know how much of it is accurate history and what occurred only in the imagination of the author.)

Book Excerpt

A Buss From Lafayette Teacher’s Guide

A Buss From Lafayette is a work of historical fiction. That means that the made-up part of the story is set in the distant past. This requires thorough research by the author to make sure the historic details are accurate. In this story, the author has built the fictional story of Clara around the actual events of General Lafayette’s Farewell Tour.

In the Afterward, Dorothea Jensen spells out what events actually happened in A Buss From Lafayette and what parts are fictional. Choose three incidents from the story and decide what details of each incident are historic fact and which are fiction. Think about how the author merged true events with fictional characters, and explain whether or not you think this was effective and convincing in the incidents you selected.

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Dorothea Graham Jensen

A Buss From Lafayette Teacher’s Guide

Synopsis

Author Biography

Author Insight

Historical Fact vs Fiction

Book Excerpt

A Buss From Lafayette Teacher’s Guide

Comment on this Bubble