War at Home: The Civilian Side

Alice Lee 5^th Grade

Summer Fellowship, 2008

To download this lesson in PDF format, click here.

Lesson 3—Letter from soldier wife 1

1. Have students read Soldier Wife 1 letter. Ask them to use the Written Document Analysis as a template to jot ideas and notes down in their journal. For more support, read the letter aloud and guide students through the analysis.

2. After students have read the letter, ask students what types of support the wife of the soldier needed. Record their responses either on the whiteboard or on transparency. Once students have responded, group their answers into categories to help them systematize their thoughts.

3. On the second anchor chart for this unit, (can be done on a large sheet of paper to be posted, or on transparency), write down these categories as well as the actual ideas the students came up with. Here are some sample ideas:

a. Physical needs: food, clothes, health

b. Financial needs: money to support an entire family

c. Emotional support: feelings of discouragement—perhaps due to separation with her husband, no extended family support, feeling like their family is making a sacrifice for the country, but the country is not taking care of their basic needs.

4. Consider also having discussion around the following text:

a. “I know if my husband receives what is due to him, all would be right but that never seems to come.”

b. “…for I know how to sympathize but I also feel that we whose husbands have borne the head and burden of the day should not be neglected or forgotten, I do not ask for more than that which is justly due, but I do feel for the sake of soldiers families pay day ought to come at least every four months.”

5. Ask students if they would like to make additions to the first anchor chart, with any new thoughts or feelings they may feel if they had to see a family member or friend go off to war.