Lesson Plans and Teaching Resources for Henry’s Freedom Box

Use Henry’s Freedom Box by Ellen Levine to strengthen your students' comprehension skills, build their vocabulary, and help them understand how words work.

Henry's Freedom Box is the emotional story of a boy born into slavery and his unconventional escape to freedom. Henry does not know his birthday, he is torn apart from his family, and in desperation, he sets out on a brave quest for freedom. For readers who have some knowledge of this time in history, this is an excellent selection for teaching more advanced strategies, such as asking questions, identifying the author's purpose, and synthesizing.

Explore lesson plans and activities to help you teach with Henry’s Freedom Box in the drop down below.

Asking Questions with Henry’s Freedom Box

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Asking Questions with Henry’s Freedom Box

The subject matter in Henry's Freedom Box will naturally encourage students to ask questions to enhance their comprehension. They'll learn to identify questions they have about the setting, the characters and the characters' actions. They'll also have a chance to discuss how the answers to their questions can deepen their understanding.
Common Core State Standards Alignment
TEKS Alignment

Identifying the Author’s Purpose with Henry’s Freedom Box

The first page of Identifying the Author's Purpose with Henry's Freedom Box

Identifying the Author’s Purpose with Henry’s Freedom Box

If you're working with students who need practice identifying the author's purpose, Henry's Freedom Box is a great resource. Readers will easily be able to identify and discuss the author's clear messages about slavery, loss, freedom and bravery.
Common Core State Standards Alignment
TEKS Alignment

Making Connections with Henry’s Freedom Box

The first page of Making Connections with Henry's Freedom Box

Making Connections with Henry’s Freedom Box

The themes of slavery, loss and freedom in Henry's Freedom Box allow more sophisticated readers to practice making deeper connections. In order to fully engage with this story, readers will need to make connections to other texts they've read about slavery and the prior knowledge they have about this topic.
Common Core State Standards Alignment
TEKS Alignment

Synthesizing with Henry’s Freedom Box

The first page of Synthesizing with Henry's Freedom Box

Synthesizing with Henry’s Freedom Box

Henry's Freedom Box evolves through many different settings, emotions and action sequences. This book and lesson plan are profound, effective resources for helping students practice synthesizing.
Common Core State Standards Alignment
TEKS Alignment

Visualizing with Henry’s Freedom Box

The first page of Visualizing with Henry's Freedom Box

Visualizing with Henry’s Freedom Box

The author of Henry's Freedom Box uses descriptive language to establish the scenes, action and characters throughout the book. Readers will be able to create mental images and then compare with the book's illustrations to confirm their understanding.
Common Core State Standards Alignment
TEKS Alignment

Inflectional Endings with Henry’s Freedom Box

The first page of Inflectional Endings with Henry's Freedom Box

Inflectional Endings with Henry’s Freedom Box

This word work lesson plan and set of teaching resources use Henry's Freedom Box by Ellen Levine as a springboard for instruction focused on inflectional endings.

By anchoring word study to the text, students will benefit from seeing how inflectional endings are used inside of the text before engaging in both guided and independent practice with words.

Common Core State Standards Alignment
TEKS Alignment

Vocabulary Connections with Henry’s Freedom Box

The first page of Vocabulary Connections with Henry's Freedom Box

Vocabulary Connections with Henry’s Freedom Box

This set of vocabulary development resources for Henry's Freedom Box highlights the words that are most important for students to know and understand while reading the book. Through engaging in fun word games, matching words to definitions and pictures, and practicing how to categorize words, students will develop the vocabulary necessary to comprehend this story and many others.

Common Core State Standards Alignment
TEKS Alignment

Running Record with Henry’s Freedom Box

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Running Record with Henry’s Freedom Box

Use this Running Record to assess oral reading fluency with Henry's Freedom Box. Track meaning, structure, and visual accuracy using the first 100 words of the text to determine whether or not this book is a good fit for the readers in your classroom.

Cause and Effect Sentence Stems with Henry’s Freedom Box

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Cause and Effect Sentence Stems with Henry’s Freedom Box

Understanding cause and effect is a key comprehension and language skill. The text structure of Henry's Freedom Box includes several examples of cause and effect relationships, making it easy to use as a springboard for modeling or independent practice.

This simple resource includes four sentence stems. Each sentence stem presents an effect. Students will use what they know about the book to fill in the cause of the effect.

Cause and Effect with Henry’s Freedom Box

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Cause and Effect with Henry’s Freedom Box

The BookPagez extension activities are a great way to push student engagement beyond the pages of the text. Try using this activity with early finishers, with students who show a deeper connection with the text, or as a center activity.

Cause and Effect Matching with Henry’s Freedom Box

Thumbnail for Cause and Effect Matching with Henry's Freedom Box

Cause and Effect Matching with Henry’s Freedom Box

Read Henry's Freedom Box then have some fun matching cause and effect sentences from the book. By using these cause and effect cards, students will demonstrate both their comprehension of the text and their understanding of cause and effect relationships in hands-on and interactive way.

This resource includes matching/sorting cards and a sorting mat for four cause and effect sentences in Henry's Freedom Box. Each cause card is marked with a square and each effect card is marked with a circle, making it easy to support students who struggle with matching cause and effect relationships.

Asking Questions with Henry’s Freedom Box (Spanish)

  • Student Practice Page and Answer Key
  • Reader's Notebook Prompt
  • Graphic Organizer

Identifying the Author’s Purpose with Henry’s Freedom Box (Spanish)

  • Student Practice Page and Answer Key
  • Reader's Notebook Prompt
  • Graphic Organizer

Making Connections with Henry’s Freedom Box (Spanish)

  • Student Practice Page and Answer Key
  • Reader's Notebook Prompt
  • Graphic Organizer

Synthesizing with Henry’s Freedom Box (Spanish)

  • Student Practice Page and Answer Key
  • Reader's Notebook Prompt
  • Graphic Organizer

Visualizing with Henry’s Freedom Box (Spanish)

  • Student Practice Page and Answer Key
  • Reader's Notebook Prompt
  • Graphic Organizer

Cause and Effect with Henry’s Freedom Box (Spanish)

Worksheet

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About the Book

The cover for the book Henry's Freedom Box
Title: Henry’s Freedom Box
Author: Ellen Levine
Genre: Biography, Historical Fiction
Themes: Perseverance, Decision Making, Black History Month, Self Management, Award Winners
ISBN: 9781338082654
Publisher's Summary:
Henry Brown doesn't know how old he is. Nobody keeps records of slaves' birthdays. All the time he dreams about freedom, but that dream seems farther away than ever when he is torn from his family and put to work in a warehouse. Henry grows up and marries, but he is again devastated when his family is sold at the slave market. Then one day, as he lifts a crate at the warehouse, he knows exactly what he must do: He will mail himself to the North. After an arduous journey in the crate, Henry finally has a birthday -- his first day of freedom.
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