Pop Culture Pocahontas vs. What the Heck Really Happened (5th Grade Edition)

I am IN LOVE with this book, How They Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous. Some books I keep at my desk because I know I will use them throughout the year and this is ONE OF THOSE BOOKS. Filled with fascinating details and time- period snapshots, this book covers some heavy hitters in history. Multiple Kings, Scientists, Princesses, Queens, Authors and general people of interest.

My first subject we covered this week is Pocahontas. We started by discussing current Pocahontas background knowledge. This was enhanced by one (or sometimes two) Disney clips of Pocahontas declaring undying love for John Smith in key.

When we hit the sentence that mentioned Princess P was 11 years old when she met John Smith, every kid in that library was hooked. And outraged. And grossed out (me, too guys)!

This was just so much fun for the week before Thanksgiving and really gave us a chance to explore our perceptions vs what really happened. And talk about a run on non-fiction, Sacajawea even had some Biography check outs from this exposure.