Black History Reading Comprehension Worksheets
Black history in America covers hundreds of years – let’s move beyond one month and include it all year long! Use rap songs to integrate Black history reading comprehension worksheets into your lessons every day!
Reading activities + Black history rap songs = awesome!
Use Black History to Teach Reading Skills
Reading passages about George Washington, Sacagawea, Hellen Keller, and many other important historical figures are often integrated into a variety of critical reading skills. The same can be done with Black history, using passages about Rosa Parks, the history of Hip Hop and jazz music, and Henry “Box” Brown as main idea and details, context clues, and sequencing events activities. Cover these critical skills while presenting a diverse range of Black history topics and heroes using rap song lyrics as reading passages.
Every time you introduce or review a reading skill, throw one of these activities in the mix to represent Black history. And it doesn’t have to be awkward. Use one activity each day like any other activity as it matches your curriculum.
Listen to the songs with subtitles using the links below! (Click here if you have trouble viewing the videos.)
*You can also view the full playlist here. We also add new songs to this list.
– Bessie Coleman biography song
– Claudette Colvin, “the Original Rosa Parks” song
– Black Heroes of the American Revolution song
– the Black Panther Comic History song
– Frederick Douglass biography song, part 1
– Frederick Douglass biography song, part 2
– George Washington Carver biography song
– Harriet Tubman biography song
– Henry “Box” Brown biography song
– Hip Hop and Rap Music History: The Beginning song
– Hip Hop and Rap Music History: Then to Now song
– Jackie Robinson biography song
– Jackie Robinson civil rights song
– James Armistead Lafayette song
– James Armistead and General Lafayette song
– the origins of jazz music song
– jazz musicians biography song
– Maggie Walker biography song
– Phillis Wheatley biography rap song
– Phillis Wheatley, Black female author song
– the truth about Rosa Parks and the Bus Boycott song
– Sojourner Truth biography song
Teach reading skills to your students in a way that they will enjoy!
Kids love music and will certainly enjoy practicing a variety of reading skills such as making inferences, decoding syllables, and comparing and contrasting with rap song lyrics. Students will listen to each song while following along with the lyrics. Students will then complete the activities listed below.
A variety of reading activities with the answer keys!
This bundle includes everything listed below. Click the product links above for more details.
– the lyrics for each song for use as a reading passage
– multiple-choice, comprehension questions with the answer key
– a timeline activity
– a sequential paragraph, writing activity
– a compare and contrast, paragraph writing activity with a graphic organizer
– multiple-choice, compare and contrast questions with the answer key
– a main idea and supporting details, graphic organizer writing activity with a word bank of transitional words for student use
– multiple-choice, context clues questions with the answer key
– multiple-choice, synonyms and antonyms questions with the answer key
– multiple-choice, making inferences questions with the answer key
– multiple-choice, nonfiction vs. fiction questions about the fictional comic story and the real-world story behind the comic with the answer key
– brief explanations about what root words, prefixes, and suffixes are
– multiple-choice, identifying root words questions with the answer key
– multiple-choice, identifying prefixes questions with the answer key
– multiple-choice, identifying suffixes questions with the answer key
– multiple-choice, figurative vs. literal language questions based on the song lyrics with the answer key
– multiple-choice, identify the meaning of figurative sentences questions based on the song lyrics with the answer key
– “personification or not” questions based on the song lyrics
– multiple-choice, identify the meaning of sentences that use personification questions based on examples in the song lyrics
– a main idea and supporting details, graphic organizer writing activity
– multiple-choice, identify the main idea questions with the answer key
– multiple-choice, identify the supporting details questions with the answer key
– a “Main Idea on Beast Mode!” challenge activity where students will identify the main idea of the entire song using their main idea and supporting details graphic organizer
– a cause and effect, graphic organizer activity
– multiple-choice, cause and effect questions based on the song lyrics with the answer key
– a cause and effect, paragraph writing activity that utilizes the graphic organizer with a word bank of transitional words
– a brief lesson on syllables and tips on how to count them in words
– “How many syllables?” activity questions where students will listen to and read the song lyrics to determine how many syllables are in specific words from the song
– “Syllable hunt!” activity questions where students will read through the song lyrics, finding words that have 1, 2, 3, and 4 syllables and write them in the corresponding columns
– “Divide the syllables” activity tasks where students will find and separate words in the lyrics into their syllabic parts
– “Syllables on Beast Mode!” challenge activity where students will find a rare 5 syllable word in the song lyrics and write it correctly separated into its syllabic parts.
Lights, camera, readers theater!
We added our highly acclaimed readers theater plays to this bundle as well. Use them to give your students practice with reading with expression, a chance to express their theatrical side, or as a team project. All of this while they learn about Black history heroes such as the Revolutionary war spy, James Armistead Lafayette and Claudette Colvin, “the Original Rosa Parks.” Read more about the plays using the links below.
– Black History Heroes: Then and Now, readers theater play
– Black History Heroes: Not Alone, readers theater play
– Black Heroes: Kids Making History, readers theater play
Hip Hop history and Black Panther superhero bonuses!
We’ve also included our Hip Hop and rap music history and Black Panther superhero history activities as bonuses. Read more about them using the links below.
– Hip Hop and Rap Music History reading activities
– Black Panther Comic History reading activities
This covers the whole year, really?
Including the bonus activities, this bundle contains 90 complete activities. 60 of these activities can be used for multiple lessons. For example, the root words and affixes activities have three sections that can be completed over three days, and the Black history plays can be used to cover a week’s worth of instruction. In total, the activities in this bundle can be used to cover 150+ days of instructions. Based on a school calendar of 180 days, this bundle allows room for 30 days of assessment, class parties, field trips, school assemblies, inclement weather, and/or other special school events.
Click here to get this bundle now!
Thanks for reading! More great content is coming soon!
Until then,
Happy teaching!
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