Learning about the RMS Titanic

The RMS Titanic sank on April 15, 1912. It is a topic that my students are always interested in learning more about in our classroom. We always start with an informational book about the RMS Titanic. The one we read is the National Geographic Kids Readers Titanic book. You can purchase the book(s) on Amazon, or you can find a free digital copy on Epic Books that each student can access from their own device. This digital copy can also be projected and shown to the class from the teacher’s computer. It can be a challenge for kids to figure out the best way to read an informational book! This gives them practice with that skill! This text unit can be found in my tpt store.

There are a few other activities we complete as we are reading this informational book. We work on a scavenger hunt about the RMS Titanic so students can learn more about it.

The kids in my class do this scavenger hunt with a partner. You can purchase the scavenger hunt here.

We talk about the vocabulary words associated with the RMS Titanic as well. These are posted in our classroom as well in a pocket chart.

Grab these vocabulary cards – in color and black and white versions – that are related to the Titanic. They are also in my tpt store. My favorite black pocket chart can be found on Amazon! Click here to see the pocket chart.

After reading the informational book, we move on to read a graphic novel. The I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912 by Lauren Tarshis is a book the kids really enjoy reading. You can grab some copies of this book on Amazon. For this literature unit, there are comprehension questions and writing activities for the book.

You can purchase this literature unit in my tpt store. My kids absolutely LOVE graphic novels, but they do not always understand how to read them. Teaching them how to follow the flow of the dialogue and draw inferences from the illustrations are skills that will help students read different graphic novels on their own.

We also spend some time doing research on the RMS Titanic as well. Students can come up with their own research questions or they can use one of these.

This question pack gives kids some questions to choose from and some ideas for their presentation of their answers to those questions! It is a great way for kids to teach one another about a topic. Click here to purchase this set of questions.

We also do an escape room activity about the RMS Titanic. The kids have to research information and figure their way through the escape room as a team!

The kids really love doing team activities and this escape room is one they enjoy completing! Buy this escape room pack in my tpt store.

We also connect our study of the RMS Titanic to our math and science lessons!

We do a set of math task cards related to the Titanic in pairs or groups. The cards have mixed math activities, so they can be good for spiral review.

The kids love the challenge of trying to figure out all of these math problems! These task cards are also in my tpt store.

In science, we do some labs with salt, ice, freshwater, and saltwater. Our study of the RMS Titanic occurs right before we begin a study of Matter in science, so these labs are a good introduction to that unit.

My kids really learn a lot from these labs. You need easy to find and cheap materials for these labs, most of which you probably already have access to at home and school. These labs can be purchased in my tpt store as well.

We also do a couple of STEM engineering challenges related to the RMS Titanic. We do these engineering challenges throughout our unit of study.

There are lots of STEM engineering challenges in my tpt store. You can buy this one here.

Grab a FREE Titanic Boarding Pass Activity here!

There is so much to learn about the RMS Titanic and the kids are always really interested in learning about it. Figure out the way you want to teach this topic and learn about the Titanic along with your classroom!