tom sawyer introduction (grades 5-8)

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Mark Twain

Setting

The real town of Hannibal and the

fictional town of St. Petersburg are located

on the banks of the Mississippi River.

Both are near islands and caves, which

provide adventurous children with lots of

places to play.

St. Petersburg, Missouri

SettingThe action in the book takes place in the late

1800’s. In some ways the United States was

growing and prospering during this time, but in other ways it was still

old-fashioned and impoverished.

peddler

Background Knowledge On top of that,

slavery still existed in

America. In the book Jim, who occasionally

crosses paths with Tom and his

friends, is a slave.

Background Knowledge

In the 1840s, medicine was primitive in comparison with

techniques used today. Doctors and medical students had a hard time learning about

human anatomy because there were legal restrictions on the use of bodies to dissect for

study.

Tom Sawyer• Likes to have fun.

• Isn’t interested in anything he’s supposed to do like chores, school, or studying the Bible.

Tom Sawyer• He is interested in:– Tricking his friends.– Pretending to be a pirate.– Sneaking into the graveyard at night.– Exploring Caves

Tom is often joined on his adventures by Huckleberry Finn, the son of the town’s drunkard, and by Joe Harper, Tom’s best

friend.

Tom and his friends hold many beliefs that seem superstitious to modern

readers. For example, Tom and Huck discuss the best ways to cure warts—none of which involve

medicine or doctors!

Tom also spends a lot of time trying to win the affections of Becky Thatcher, the new girl in town. Sometimes he accidentally

involves her in his adventures.

And sometimes Tom’s fun turns dangerous.

Games from the late 1800s• marbles

Snap the whip

baseball

jacks

Marbles were made of…

• The earliest marbles were made of flint, stone, and baked clay. For centuries afterward, marbles were made of stone and sometimes real marble. Glass marbles were made in Venice, Italy, and later, around 1800, china and crockery marbles were introduced. A glassblower invented a tool called the "marble scissors" in 1846 that allowed a larger production of glass marbles. Clay marbles began being produced in large quantities around 1870. Children in colonial America played with marbles made of clay which have been uncovered at a wide variety of eighteenth century sites.

Shooting Marbles

• To shoot a marble, point your hand down and curl your fingers in your palm. Tuck your thumb behind your index finger. Place the marble between your thumb and finger and “knuckle down,” or rest the knuckle in your index finger on the ground. Flick out your thumb to shoot the marble. Some games require players to use a slightly larger marble for shooting and hitting an opponents marbles.

Ring Taw

• The most popular marble game in settler times. To play draw a large ring on the ground. Draw a smaller circle inside it and place several small marbles, called nibs, in a circle. The players crouch outside the large ring. From there each player takes a turn flicking a large marble called a shooter, into the circle. The goal is to knock all of the marbles out of the circle. Each player keeps the marbles he or she knocks out. The winner is the player with the most marbles.

More games from late 1800s

• Hoop and stick

1850’s dress

Roundabout Jacket

Steamboat races