Classroom Activities Animated Gifs by The Wagontrain Copyright © 1996 All Rights Reserved

Literature Connection Just Like Abraham Lincoln written and illustrated by Bernard Waber publisher: Scholastic 1964 Reading Level: Grade 2 Read Aloud Level: Kindergarten - Grade 2 Waber has created a wonderful book that introduces this famous president to young children. He begins his story by introducing a modern-day little boy who has a next door neighbor that looks just like Lincoln. This man not only looks like Lincoln, but he has many of the same likes and habits that our famous president had. Waber has made a connection for our young readers from the familiar to the more abstract. Threaded throughout his book are well-known facts about President Lincoln: his outdoor pioneer heritage, his love of books, and his occupation before he became president are just a few of these facts included in this book. Introducing the Unit Introduce your new unit about Abraham Lincoln by creating a word web of facts. Have your children brainstorm what they already know and organize their knowledge on a large sheet of butcher paper. Next, have your class read this book together. Save your discussion about the book until you've finished. After introducing and reading this book, have your children brainstorm all of the new facts that they've learned about Lincoln from this story. Using a different colored magic marker, add the new facts on the word web. Children enjoy comparing and contrasting which facts they knew initially to those that they discover as the unit progresses. Using different colored magic markers helps the children see their knowledge growing! Quiz on Lincoln's Early Life Now that they know a few facts about Abe Lincoln, have the children take a quiz about the early life of Abraham Lincoln. This quiz was written by my first grade class after they went on a field trip to Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial. Depending on the age level of the children, this quiz can be done as a whole group or by individuals. When they finish with this quiz, fill in the word web again. Picture Gallery of Pioneer Life Next see our picture gallery of pioneer life. You may find some interesting facts about tools used as well as other facts about the pioneer life. Continue adding new facts that they discover about Abe Lincoln on the word web. Treasure Hunt of Facts Here's their chance to be entered into Abraham Lincoln's Hall of Fame! Have your children print out this treasure hunt, pencil in their answers, then e-mail their findings to me. I'll enter their names into our Hall of Fame! Depending on the age level of your class, your children can do this as a group, or individually. Growth of the United States This is an animation that will show children how the continental United States of America developed. Search for Lincoln Sites Using the Yahooligans search engine, children can search for other facts about Abraham Licoln. Have the children brainstorm words that they want to type in the search engine. You need to tell the children the correct spelling for the words they enter. Yahooligans is an excellent search engine that has been developed for the young child. Only appropriate sites are included in their database of sifted sites. Because several sites are excluded from this search engine, the search is limited in scope. Visit Other Resource Sites Follow this link to find additional websites that feature information about our former president. Winding-Up Your Unit As the students study and learn facts about our sixteenth president, have them create a book of facts. This can include worksheets and other hands-on activities they've done. Additional Activities to do with your class: Brainstorm aspects of Lincoln's life and their life. How does his life compare and contrast with their life? Discuss the following items and add some of your own: games, books, house, chores, clothes, roads, transportation, communication, hobbies, and school. Pair-up your children and assign a different topic to each team. One member of the team draws and/or writes the modern version of these topics while the other member draws and/or writes the pioneer version. You can create a classbook, visit other classrooms and read their reports, or display this information in the hallway. Create an art project by gluing pretzel sticks inside of a log cabin outline. Play games that pioneer children probably did such as: jump-rope, hide-and-seek, leapfrog, or blindman's bluff. Have area resource people bring in antiques and demonstrate some of the tools used in pioneer days. Take a nature walk and gather leaves, seeds, and flowers. Show children how to make a daisy chain using dandilions. Demonstrate how to make a blade of grass whistle (if you know how!). Make rubbings from different trees. Create a collage of the items found. Invite a naturalist in and talk to your children about conservation and recycling. Impress on the children that we are using the same water resources that Abraham Lincoln probably used.

[Abe's Home Page] Thanks for visiting! Do you have any questions? Comments? E-mail to Tammy Payton, web editor, last updated March 14, 1998 *­* pages created May 28, 1997 Copyright © 1997­1998 Loogootee Community Schools All rights reserved. Disclaimer