💼 Madame C.J. Walker Reading Comprehension & RACE Writing

Black History & Women’s History Month | Grades 3–6 | No-Prep Reading Digital Resource

Celebrate Black History Month and Women’s History Month with this engaging, cross-curricular reading and writing resource highlighting Madame C.J. Walker, a trailblazing entrepreneur and philanthropist. This lesson blends ELA and Social Studies to explore her journey from humble beginnings to becoming a self-made millionaire and advocate for social change.

Bring history to life while helping students analyze perseverance, innovation, leadership, and empowerment through meaningful text-based discussion and structured writing.

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📸 Quick Snapshot

Perfect For:

• Black History Month (February)

• Women’s History Month (March)

• State test prep (AIR, PARCC, PSSA, STAAR, and more)

• Whole group or small group instruction

• Independent practice or tutoring

Skills Targeted:

• Reading comprehension

• Making inferences

• Citing textual evidence

• Paragraph writing

• RACE strategy

• Editing and revision

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🎯 If Your Students…

• Retell instead of analyze

• Struggle to cite strong text evidence

• Write responses that feel incomplete or disorganized

• Need support organizing their thinking for constructed responses

This resource provides structured reading support and RACE-based writing scaffolds to help students move from surface-level answers to clear, text-based analysis with confidence.

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📦 What’s Included

✔️ Teacher Resource Guide
✔️ Student Note-Taking Guide
✔️ Reading Comprehension Passage: “Madame C.J. Walker”
✔️ 5 Post-Reading Comprehension & Inferential Questions
✔️ Differentiated Question Set
✔️ R.A.C.E. Strategy Open-Ended Question with Outline
✔️ Model RACE Response
✔️ Editing Checklist
✔️ Answer Keys
✔️ Perfect for February or March Test Prep

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📚 Instructional Alignment

• Supports Common Core standards for Reading Informational Text and Writing (Grades 3–6)

• DOK Levels 2–3 (comprehension, inference, analysis)

• Structured writing scaffold using the RACE method

• Encourages discussion of entrepreneurship, empowerment, and social change

• Strengthens constructed response skills aligned to state assessments

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🛠️ How to Use

Whole Group Instruction:
Read and annotate the passage together, model text evidence selection, and complete a RACE response as a class.

Small Group or Intervention:
Use the differentiated question set for targeted support or enrichment.

Independent Practice:
Assign digitally during literacy block or as structured homework.

Test Prep Spiral:
Use the RACE question and editing checklist to reinforce constructed response expectations leading into February and March assessments.

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💬 Themes & Discussion Topics

• Overcoming adversity

• Female trailblazers

• Black History & Women’s History

• Entrepreneurship and innovation

• Philanthropy and community leadership

• Empowerment and social advocacy

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⭐ Why LBTL Resources Are Different

Learning Between the Lines resources are intentionally designed to move students beyond “what happened” and into deeper thinking. Built on research-based literacy practices and classroom experience, each lesson supports structured academic writing while keeping implementation simple for teachers.

This is purposeful practice — not busywork.

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🗂️ File Details

• Digital resource

• Ready-to-use

• Answer keys included

• Ideal for grades 3–6

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🔗 Keep Building Strong Readers

Pair this resource with:

✨ Wilma Rudolph Reading Comprehension + Writing Practice

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