The Titanic always hooks kids on reading. Whether it is the trajedy, the science, the history, or the fact that they have seen the movie 5 times with their families- they love the topic! I decided to create a great Titanic unit during my last year teaching, with one student in particular. He was already an expert, beginning 4th grade, and has not cracked the reading code yet, despite his and his parents's endless work! My resource language arts class is composed of 4th, 5th, and 6th graders who require an alternate reading and writing curriculum. We started with Finding the Titanic by Robert D Ballard (who discovered the remains of the shipwreck in 1986). It is readable and fascinating, chronicling the life of young Ruth Becker, who ends up being a survivor, as well as showing us photos from the cameras that Dr. Ballard sent down. The students loved it as much in 2017 as they did when I first read it with my class in 1998! We read more books, found photos and information on the Internet, wrote summaries and reports, and we painted! I have to admit that I have had enough of the Titanic for a while, but the resource students are Titanic experts and have read the books and written the reports to prove it! Here is the new unit- hot off the press! TITANIC Reading, Writing, and Art for Special Education The students were proud of their Titanic art, and rightly so. Everyone can be an artist, and it really lets students shine, and brings out a whole other side of their thinking, planning, and pride.
