Free Boston Tea Party Reading Passage and Lesson for Grades 5–8

Planning an American Revolution unit and need a free, ready-to-use lesson on the Boston Tea Party and the Intolerable Acts? This post introduces a classroom-tested Boston Tea Party reading passage and mini lesson for grades 5–8 that blends narrative storytelling with solid U.S. history content. It works well in both ELA and social studies blocks and is designed to be easy to print or share digitally.

You can download the full lesson here: The Boston Tea Party & Intolerable Acts U.S. History Mini Reader Lesson for Grade 5 .

What Is the Free Boston Tea Party Mini Reader?

The Boston Tea Party mini reader is a narrative-style informational passage that feels like a short historical story while remaining historically accurate. Students follow two fictional observers, Abigail and Benjamin, as they experience rising tensions in Boston, the planning of the Tea Party, the nighttime destruction of the tea, and the harsh British response known as the Intolerable Acts.

The passage is written for upper elementary and middle school readers, making it suitable for fifth grade, sixth grade, and even seventh or eighth grade classes that benefit from structured but engaging text. It can serve as a core reading passage, a review activity, or a supplemental text in a larger Revolutionary War unit.

What's Included the Free Boston Tea Party Lesson

The free mini reader lesson includes several coordinated pieces that all work together:

Narrative Mini Reader Text

• A story-style informational passage of approximately 1,750–2,000 words.
• A clear six-part structure: Introduction, Rising Action, Digging Deep, Climax, Falling Action, Resolution and Reflection.
• Context for key ideas such as taxation, protest, boycott, and the Intolerable Acts.

Reader’s Theater–Friendly Format

• Dialogue naturally built into the narrative so students can read it like a script.
• Roles for characters such as Abigail, Benjamin, Samuel Adams, British officials, and Boston townspeople.
• Flexible use as a traditional passage, partner read, or informal classroom readers theater.

Student Worksheet

• Five vocabulary words taken directly from the text.
• Eight short answer questions, including four recall and four higher-order thinking items.
• One empathy or personal connection question to help students imagine life as a colonist facing new taxes and punishments.

Teacher’s Guide and Answer Key

• Main ideas and themes discussion questions for whole-group or small-group talk.
• Answer key for all short answer questions.
• Notes designed to support standards-based work with informational text, speaking and listening, and vocabulary.

Multiple Choice Exit Quiz (Self-Graded)

• Twenty multiple choice questions based on the mini reader.
• Suitable for a printable quiz or easy conversion into a self-grading Google Form.

How to Use the Free Boston Tea Party Passage in Class

As a Core Social Studies or ELA Lesson

• Day 1: Read the passage as a class or in partners, pausing to mark cause and effect and key details.
• Day 2: Complete vocabulary and short answer questions, then discuss main ideas and different viewpoints.
• Day 3: Reread sections as a readers theater and finish with the multiple choice quiz as an exit ticket or assessment.

As a Supplemental Activity in an Existing Unit

• Use it as a review before a test on causes of the American Revolution.
• Keep it as a print-and-go sub plan when you need a complete, contained lesson.
• Assign it as independent practice for students who need more reading on the Boston Tea Party and the Intolerable Acts.

As a Cross-Curricular Literacy Tool

• Use it for close reading practice, highlighting claims, evidence, and reasoning.
• Extend with writing tasks such as diary entries from a dock worker, a letter to Parliament, or an opinion paragraph about the colonists’ actions.
• Turn it into a short debate or Socratic seminar about whether the Boston Tea Party was justified.

How This Free Lesson Connects to the Full 15-Title Mini Reader Bundle

The Boston Tea Party lesson is one complete sample from a larger American Revolution series. If you like the structure and tone, you can continue the story of the Revolution with fourteen additional mini readers that follow the same pattern, covering events from the First Continental Congress through Yorktown, Washington’s resignation, Hamilton’s duel, and the unresolved questions of slavery and liberty.

You can explore the full bundle here: Complete Set of 15 Bundled U.S. History Mini Readers: Revolutionary War Lessons for Grades 5 to 8 .

Optional Companion: Revolutionary War Readers Theater Script Bundle

For teachers who want even more performance-based reading options, there is a matching set of fifteen Revolutionary War readers theater scripts. These scripts align with the same topics as the mini readers but are shorter and more dialogue-heavy, making them ideal for fluency work, center activities, or quick review.

Because the scripts are less in-depth than the mini readers, they provide a natural differentiation option for students who need a lighter text or who learn best through performance.

You can view the script bundle here: U.S. History Revolutionary War Readers Theater Script Bundle (15) .

Try the Free Boston Tea Party Lesson First

If you are not sure whether this format is right for your students, the Boston Tea Party and Intolerable Acts lesson is the best place to start. Download it, try it during your American Revolution unit, and see how your class responds to the narrative style, questions, and built-in assessment before deciding if the complete bundle and companion script set are a good fit for your curriculum.