Greenhills Read Aloud: Hidden Figures: Recent Episodes
Karin
This read-aloud of the book, Hidden Figures, will guide an interdisciplinary unit across English, math, science, and social studies for 6th graders at Greenhills. Follow along chapter by chapter as we learn about how four African-American female mathematicians at NASA helped achieve some of the greatest moments in our space program.
In our final episode, we learn about Katherine’s contributions to Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s trip to the moon.
This episode details how the Civil Right movement continued to progress throughout the 1960’s.
In this episode, we learn about John Glenn’s launch into orbit and the contributions of Katherine Johnson to get him there.
In Chapter 20, we learn about the continued race to space between Russia and the United States. We also learn about the incredible growth and expansion of NASA.
In this episode, we reconnect with Mary Jackson and her family, who take to applying her engineering talents outside of work.
In this episode, we witness changes in Katherine’s work and personal life. We also learn about all the teams and their required steps to help make space travel with a human a reality.
Chapter 17 teaches us about persistence in the workplace and how Katherine used that skill in her work.
In this episode, we learn more about the Space Race and how technology advances impacted the West Area Computing.
In this episode, the author introduces Christine Mann, a high school student who kept a close eye on the news and was impacted by one of our nation’s pivotal Supreme Court Case rulings.
Chapter 14 teaches us about technology advancements during Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and Katherine Goble’s times at Langley. We also meet more prominent figures who helped fight for racial equality.
Chapter 13 tells us more about Katherine Goble’s life as she worked at Langley. It also shares more about the realities of segregation during that time.
Chapter 12 introduces us to additional realities of professional opportunities for black women in the 1930’s-1950’s and introduces Katherine Goble.
In this chapter, we learn about standing up for yourself and how that impacted Mary Jackson during her career at Langley.
Chapter 10 dives deeper into the global race to build the fastest planes and maintain a stronghold on the skies.
In this chapter, we learn about Dorothy Vaughan’s growing family, the post-war economy, and how that growth shaped both Dorothy and the US defense industry.
In Chapter 8, we learn about the tail end of World War 2 and the impact of the war’s end on the United States economy.
In this episode, we learn about the ways the mathematics Dorothy Vaughan computed applied to the development of planes in the United States.
Chapter 6 introduces us to the East and West side of the Langley Laboratory campus. It also tells the story of Miriam Mann, who worked alongside Dorothy Vaughan.
In Chapter 5, we learn about population growth in Virginia and how the World Wars’ impacted democracy in the United States.
In this chapter, we learn about the types of jobs available to the African-American community in the 1940s. We also get a look at Dorothy Vaughan’s family life.
In this chapter, we learn about life during World War II and the race to develop the most efficient planes.
In this episode, you’ll learn about the author and why she wrote this book. You’ll also be introduced to the four main characters and the social realities of their time.