The 1619 Project: Born on the Water is part of our Starts With a Story Collection, which includes more than 550 picture book companions based on high quality children’s literature that support you in delivering highly-engaging interactive read alouds with follow up activities. Learn more about this children’s book below! - Jodi and the Starts With a Story Team
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SUMMARY
"The 1619 Project: Born on the Water" by Nikole Hannah-Jones is about a young student who receives an assignment in school to create a flag about her ancestry. Although her peers know exactly what to create, she struggles and feels embarrassed not to know more about her previous generations. Talking with her grandmother, she learns all about her ancestor’s past. Her grandmother shares that in 1619, their ancestors were stolen and brought to America on the White Lion, only to be enslaved for white people. Her grandma goes back even further too, sharing that before this, her ancestors had a land, a language, and a home. She continues by sharing about how those born on the water survived. With this, "The 1619 Project: Born on the Water" is a beautiful story, sharing the the chronicles of those enslaved, written in verse.
 USE THIS BOOK TO TEACH:
Our read aloud lesson plans for this picture book come with reading comprehension questions (with sample student responses), 30 writing prompts, teaching ideas for grammar skills, social emotional learning discussion ideas, and more. Check out our list below to get a sneak peek at some of the skills this resource teaches.
- Encourage students to use their summarizing and retelling strategies.
- Help students to analyze what the author’s purpose for writing the book might be.
- Have students practice their questioning skills as you read the book.
- Discuss the different adjectives used in the book.
- Explain to students the various ways to use a comma.
- Discuss a social emotional learning concept such as resiliency.
NO-PREP PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES:
If you are looking for “ready to go” activities for the first day of school, be sure to check out the book companion. With it you’ll receive all of the following resources to align with this specific book:
- comprehension questions
- 30 writing prompts with themed paper
- vocabulary activities
- word study print & go activities
- ideas for grammar lessons with focus sentence printables
- social emotional learning discussion topics
- graphic organizers to target specific comprehension skills and strategies
This book is a must have for your school or classroom library. Your students are going to love completing these activities for the book and you will be impressed with how much they learn. You will want to read this book to your class every year.
GET THE PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES
ADDITIONAL BOOK SUGGESTIONS
You and your students will love the similar books listed below, which can all be found in our free picture book list.
- Before She Was Harriet by Lesa Cline-Ransome
- Henry's Freedom Box by Ellen Levine
- Let the Children March by Monica Clark-Robinson
- Mae Among the Stars by Roda Ahmed
- Martin's Big Words by Doreen Rappaport
- Ron's Big Mission by Rose Blue
- Salt in His Shoes by Deloris Jordan
- The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles
- The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander
TRY OUT A SAMPLE COMPANION
It's hard to explain how amazing the Starts with a Story book companions are because there is just so much goodness included in each one. It's best if you experience using one for yourself. Sign up below & we'll send you an entire book companion to try out for FREE!
