Common Core Activity: Context Clues/Summarize Using a Primary Source Document

In this fun activity, students are asked to read a primary source document (diary entry) of Mary Chesnut. As students read they are asked to analyze the document and describe what is happening in their own words. This task requires that students infer and utilize context clues to create their summary. To help students grasp the concept, the paragraphs are numbered to help them chunk text. My students discuss the diary entry in think pair share teams, highlighting words and evidence that proves what they believe is happening. They complete this task by writing a summary independently.

(If you look at this through the preview it appears as two pages. This is not accurate. It did this due to the watermark)