Elementary teachers looking for lesson plans and activities for Henry’s Freedom Box will love this post. It includes resource recommendations, free teaching ideas, and information about the book.
With themes of compassion and perseverance, this Henry’s Freedom Box picture book by Ellen Levine is a favorite in 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade classrooms. It’s sure to be a big hit in your classroom too!
Engage Your Students with Henry’s Freedom Box Lesson Plans & Activities in 3 Easy Steps:
- Read a summary of Henry’s Freedom Box.
- Check out the teaching ideas for reading comprehension strategies, grammar topics and social emotional learning skills that can be taught using this children’s book.
- Download the book companion to make lesson planning simple with Henry’s Freedom Box reading comprehension questions, writing prompts, teaching ideas & no-prep extension activities.
HENRY'S FREEDOM BOX SUMMARY
Henry does not know how old he is, as no one keeps records of slaves. Henry grew up with his loving mother until his master became ill. He was given to the master’s son to work on a tobacco factory.
While out running errands for his master, he met the love of his life, Nancy. Together, they had three children and continued to work for their master and mistress. Until one day, when the master was in need of money, Nancy and their children were sold. This absolutely destroyed Henry, and he became motivated to get free. With the help of others, he mailed himself in a box to a free state, where he could begin again.
HENRY’S FREEDOM BOX LESSON PLAN IDEAS
Each of our 400+ Starts With a Story book companions come with a teacher’s guide to make lesson planning quick and easy, printable worksheets and digital resources that cover ALL of the standards-based reading comprehension skills.
When it comes to writing lesson plans and finding activities for Henry’s Freedom Box, we’ve already done all of the heavy lifting for you.
We found this book was especially good at teaching the topics listed below.
READING COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
The text-based Henry’s Freedom Box reading comprehension questions focus on:
- analyzing character
- analyzing illustrations
- plot | problem – solution
- figurative language
LITERATURE-BASED SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING LESSONS
We found this story to be a great SEL picture book to promote:
- perseverance / grit
- compassion
GRAMMAR, VOCABULARY & WORD STUDY
- pronouns
- adjectives
- verbs
HENRY’S FREEDOM BOX ACTIVITIES
You’ll receive all of the following resources aligned to the story:
- 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
YOU HAVE 2 OPTIONS! WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO PURCHASE THIS BOOK COMPANION?
BOOK INFO FOR ELEMENTARY TEACHERS
What are the reading levels for Henry’s Freedom Box?
- Lexile® Measure: AD490L
- Guided Reading Level: M – N
- DRA Level: 20 – 24
- Accelerated Reader Level (ARC): 2.6 – 2.7
Who is the author? Who is the illustrator?
The book was written by Ellen Levine. It was illustrated by Kadir Nelson.
What genre is Henry’s Freedom Box?
It is a fiction book. You may want to check out our genre activities or read our blog post, How to Teach Genre to Elementary Students.
How many pages are in the book?
The story is 40 pages long.
