Learning Compassion from a Nonfiction Text
Grade
Grade 3
UNIT
6
•
Compassion
In Unit 6, Lesson 2, “Learning Compassion from a Nonfiction Text,” students will learn an example of compassion from the life of a real person. By independently reading a nonfiction text, students will develop their reading comprehension skills. Finally, students will create sentences that demonstrate their reading comprehension and share their sentences with a partner.
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SUGGESTED TIME:
20 minutes
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
- Read a nonfiction text independently to develop reading comprehension skills
- Demonstrate understanding of the main idea of a nonfiction text
- Compose sentences that demonstrate comprehension of the word compassion
- Demonstrate understanding of standard English sentence structure and grammar
- Practice reading and conversation skills by sharing sentences with classmates
REQUIRED MATERIALS:
- Video: Who was Harriet Tubman? by A Kid Explains History (~4 min)
- Prohuman Grade 3 Unit 6 Worksheet 2: Learning Compassion from a Nonfiction Text
VOCABULARY:
- Compassion: I see when others are hurt or need help, and I try to help them.
ELA COMMON CORE STANDARDS MET
CHARACTER AND SOCIAL EMOTIONAL (CSED) NATIONAL STANDARDS MET
LESSON PROCEDURE
- Tell students that today we will learn about some important people in American history who showed compassion.
- Tell students: Imagine that someone could own another person and make them do work they didn't want to do, without paying them. That is what slavery was like in America.
- Tell students that there was a time in America when there was slavery. People were taken from Africa and made to be slaves. This was very wrong and unfair. Slavery was ended in America in 1865.
- Tell students that there were many people who helped the slaves become free. One of those people is Harriet Tubman.
- Play video: Who was Harriet Tubman? by A Kid Explains History (~4 min)
- Tell the students that another person who helped to free slaves on the Underground Railroad was named Jermain Wesley Loguen. His daughter showed compassion and helped others. She was named Sarah Loguen Fraser.
- Have students read the nonfiction text on the worksheet quietly to themselves. Circle the room to support the students.
- Have students write the answers to the worksheet questions.
- Have students share their answers with a partner.
GRADE 3 UNIT 6 WORKSHEET 2: LEARNING COMPASSION FROM A NONFICTION TEXT
Compassion: I see when others are hurt or need help, and I try to help them.
NONFICTION TEXT: SARAH LOGUEN FRASER’S COMPASSION
Sarah Loguen Fraser was born in 1850 in Syracuse, New York. She was the fifth of eight children. Her parents helped slaves escape to freedom. Her father, Jermain Wesley Loguen, was called the "King of the Underground Railroad." Her childhood home in Syracuse was a stop for about 1,500 slaves on their way to freedom.
In 1873, when she was at a bus stop in Washington, D.C., Sarah heard a boy scream. A wagon had rolled over his leg. She had compassion for the boy and wanted to help him and others who were hurting. Sarah decided to study to become a doctor. At that time, most people studying to become doctors were men. At some schools, women were not allowed to study at all.
In 1876, Sarah became the first African American woman to earn a medical degree from Syracuse University's College of Medicine, and the fourth woman in New York State to earn this degree. Sarah opened a free medical clinic in the Dominican Republic and became that country's first woman doctor.
Source:
Smith, Amber. “Sarah Loguen Fraser: Determined to be a doctor.” Syracuse.com. Published February 17, 2003.
ACTIVITY:
- What did Sarah Loguen Fraser do that was special for her time?
- How did Sarah Loguen Fraser show compassion?
- How did Sarah Loguen Fraser help others?
- What did you learn about compassion from Sarah Loguen Fraser that can help yourself and others?
Prohuman K-12 Curriculum © 2025 by Prohuman Foundation is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.
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