Davy Crockett, Tall Tales, and History

Grade Levels

3rd Grade, 4th Grade, 5th Grade

Course, Subject

Related Academic Standards

Establish a situation and introduce a narrator and/or characters.

Use dialogue and descriptions of actions, thoughts, and feelings to develop experiences and events or show the response of characters to situations.

CC.1.4.4.M CC.1.4.4.M

Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events.

CC.1.4.4.N CC.1.4.4.N

Orient the reader by establishing a situation and introducing a narrator and/or characters.

CC.1.4.4.O CC.1.4.4.O

Use dialogue and descriptions to develop experiences and events or show the responses of characters to situations; use concrete words and phrases and sensory details to convey experiences and events precisely.

Expand

Big Ideas

Comprehension requires and enhances critical thinking and is constructed through the intentional interaction between reader and text

Purpose, topic and audience guide types of writing
Concepts

Essential content of text, including literary elements and devices, inform meaning

Essential content, literary elements and devices inform meaning

Various types of writing are distinguished by their characteristics
Competencies

Make predictions and draw inferences and conclusions based on text

Summarize key information and the implied or stated main idea of texts

Summarize key information from a text (e.g. major points, processes and/or events)

Use and cite evidence from texts to make assertions, inferences, generalizations, and to draw conclusions

Use and cite evidence from texts to make predictions, assertions, inferences and to draw conclusions

Write detailed narrative pieces (e.g. stories and poems), informational pieces (e.g. descriptions, letters, reports, instructions), and persuasive pieces (e.g. opinion supported with facts).

Write narrative pieces that contain detailed descriptions of people, places and things, as well as literary elements (e.g. multi-paragraph stories, poems, plays).

Write narrative pieces that contain detailed descriptions of people, places and things, as well as literary elements and devices (e.g. multi-paragraph stories, poems, plays).

Description

He was born in a small cabin beside the banks of the Nolichucky River, not on a mountaintop. He did not kill a bear when he was only three. He was called David, not Davy. But his achievements and fictional exploits have entered the American imagination. It's difficult to distinguish what he did and said from what has been attributed to him; it's also difficult to discuss the influence of the frontier on the American temperament without reference to David Crockett.

What made David Crockett one of the most famous Americans during his lifetime? Why did his legend still loom so large in the American imagination long after his death? In what ways is he typical of the heroes of the tall tales that sprang up during the first half of the 19th century?

Web-based Resource

Access this resource at:

Davy Crockett, Tall Tales, and History

Content Provider

EDSITEment!

EDSITEment is a partnership among the National Endowment for the Humanities, Verizon Foundation, and the National Trust for the Humanities.

EDSITEment offers a treasure trove for teachers, students, and parents searching for high-quality material on the Internet in the subject areas of literature and language arts, foreign languages, art and culture, and history and social studies.

All websites linked to EDSITEment have been reviewed for content, design, and educational impact in the classroom. They cover a wide range of humanities subjects, from American history to literature, world history and culture, language, art, and archaeology, and have been judged by humanities specialists to be of high intellectual quality. EDSITEment is not intended to represent a complete curriculum in the humanities, nor does it prescribe any specific course of study.

Davy Crockett, Tall Tales, and History