Literature Focus Unit:



A Kindergarten Literature Focus Unit:

Presidents’ Day ~ George Washington and Abraham Lincoln

Laurie Grube

EDUC 340

April 30, 2007

FEATURED SELECTION:

✓ George Washington: A Picture Book Biography by James Cross Giblin

• Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks, 1998

• Reading Level: Kindergarten

• This is a simple yet well-rounded story about George Washington. It starts with his early years on a Virginia farm. After his half-brother dies, he marries Martha Custis and moves to Mount Vernon to farm the land. He farms until he is appointed Commander in Chief stet of the country’s armed forces. It also discusses many of the difficult decisions that he made during his two terms as President.

✓ A Picture Book of Abraham Lincoln (Picture Book Biography) by David A. Adler

• Publisher: Holiday House, 1990

• Reading Level: Kindergarten

• This is a good book to introduce the children to Abraham Lincoln. It highlights many of his contributions that he made to the United States. It begins with his childhood, growing up in Kentucky and then Indians. It then follows his life from ending with his assassination after the end of the civil war. An outline of “Important Dates” closes the book. The text is brief but includes all of the important events from Lincoln’s life.

RELATED MATERIALS:

✓ If You Grew Up With George Washington by Ruth Belov Gross

• Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks, 1993

• Reading Level: Kindergarten

• This book is related to the featured selection because it tells about what it was like for George Washington to grow up during the 1730’s and 1740’s during colonial times. It provides fun facts about his childhood and what others around him experienced during that time period.

✓ George Washington’s Teeth by Deborah Chandra and Madeleine Comora

• Publisher: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux (BYR), 2003

• Reading Level: Kindergarten

• This book relates to the featured selection because it is based on Washington’s letter, diaries, and other historical records. The readers can discover what really happened as he lost his teeth, at an average of one per year. The main story is followed by a four-page timeline showing period pictures of Washington.

✓ George Washington’s Breakfast by Jean Fritz

• Publisher: Putnam Juvenile, 1998

• Reading Level: Kindergarten

• This book relates to the featured selection because it is about a boy that shares his name and birthday with George Washington. He knows many facts about George Washington but he wants to learn even more. It tells the different ways that he searches for information on the President and provides many “fun facts.”

✓ George Washington and the General’s Dog by Frank Murphy

• Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers, 2002

• Reading Level: Kindergarten

• This book is related to the featured selection because this is a little-known true story about how Washington while he is fighting in the American Revolution. He saves a lost dog on the battlefield and wonders who the dog belongs to and tries to find the owner.

✓ The Story of George Washington by Patricia A. Pingry and Stacy Venturi-Pickett

• Candy Cane Press, 2000

• Reading Level: Kindergarten

• This book is related to the featured selection because it tells the story of George Washington in simple terms. This is a good book to use to introduce young children to the 1st president through colorful pictures and simple text.

✓ Abe Lincoln’s Hat by Martha Brenner

• Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers, 1994

• Reading Level: Kindergarten

• This book relates to the featured selection because it tells stories about how Lincoln’s hat and how he used it to store his important in it. It also includes lawyer stories where Lincoln defended slave’s rights to be granted freedom.

✓ The Story of Abraham Lincoln by Patricia A. Pingry

• Candy Cane Press, 2001

• Reading Level: Kindergarten

• This book is related to the featured selection because it tells the story of Abraham Lincoln and the most memorable moments of his life. This is a good book to use to introduce children to the 16th president using simple text and colorful pictures.

✓ Mr. Lincoln’s Whiskers by Karen B. Winnick

• Publisher: Boyds Mills Press, 1999

• Reading Level: Kindergarten

• This book relates to the featured selection because it tells the true story of a girl named Grace that writes a letter to President Lincoln suggesting that he should grow a beard. At the end of the book, authentic letters can be found that represent the speech and grammar used during that time period.

✓ The Boy Who Looked Like Lincoln by Mike Reiss

• Publisher: Puffin, 2006

• Reading Level: Kindergarten

• This book relates to the featured selection because it is about a boy that looks just like Abraham Lincoln. He is unhappy with the way that he looks until he goes to summer camp where everyone looks like someone or something else. This is just a fun book to look at and read.

✓ If You Grew up with Abraham Lincoln by Ann McGovern Published by

• Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks, 1976

• Reading Level: Kindergarten

• This book relates to the featured selection because it gives some fun and interesting facts about Abraham Lincoln as a young boy. The author shows children what it would have been like to live in the same places that he did growing up.

GOALS:

Indiana Academic Standards:

K.1.2 Identify celebrations and holidays as a way of remembering and honoring events and people in the past.

Example: Identify Thanksgiving; the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. Day; Presidents’ Day, Memorial Day; Veterans’ Day

K.1.3 Listen to and retell stories about people in the past who showed honesty, courage, and responsibility.

Example: George Washington, George Rogers Clark, Mercy Otis Warren, Dolly Madison, Chief Little Turtle, Abraham Lincoln, Harriet Tubman, Tuskegee Airman Walter Palmer.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Students will create a book about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln with 4 facts about each with 80% accuracy.

2. Students will memorize and recite a part of the Gettysburg Address with 80% accuracy.

3. Students will write one to two sentences about honesty with no more than 4 errors.

4. Students will create a Lincoln hat and beard with 100% accuracy.

5. When given coins, the students will able to separate them by the picture of the president 3 out of 4 times correctly.

UNIT PLAN

PREREADING

✓ Activity: KWL Chart

Before reading each of the books, have the students complete a KWL chart as a class to find out what they know about Presidents Day. Introduce important words and add them to the word wall.

✓ Grouping: Whole-Class, Individual

✓ Activity: Presidents Day poem (Storytelling)

I will read this poem to the class. It will give the class some background on why we celebrate Presidents Day when we do. This poem will be a poster on the wall that the children can look at during the unit.

✓ Grouping: Whole-Class, Individual

✓ Activity: Who's on the coins? (Math)

In this activity, I will show the students coins that have George Washington and Abraham Lincoln on them as a way to introduce them to the two presidents. I will then give each student a pile of coins. They will have to separate the Washington’s from the Lincolns.

✓ Grouping: Individual

READING

✓ Activity: Read the two featured books to the class. Be sure to introduce each book before reading. We will keep coming back to these two books for information about each of the presidents.

✓ Grouping: Whole-Class

✓ Activity: Washington and Lincoln (Social Studies)

Each of the students will make a short book about Washington and Lincoln that includes important facts about each.

✓ Grouping: Individual

RESPONDING

✓ Activity: Honesty (Writing, Storytelling)

Both Washington and Lincoln are known for being honest people. Write one or two sentences about a time when it was hard for you to tell the truth. Have them share these sentences with the class.

✓ Grouping: Individual

✓ Activity: Song- “It’s a Special Day” (Music)

I am going to have the children learn the song, “It’s a Special Day” which is about president’s day. It is sung to the tune of “If you’re happy and you know it.”

✓ Grouping: Whole-Class

EXPLORING

✓ Activity: Abraham Lincoln's Hat and Beard (Art/Fine-Motor)

Each of the students will make a version of Lincoln's stovepipe hat from construction paper and a paper tube. Students will then make his beard from paper and cotton balls. They will wear these items when the recite the Gettysburg Address.

✓ Grouping: Individual

✓ Activity: Chop Down the Cherry Tree Game (Gross-Motor)

The children will play a game where one person is the cherry tree and they have to guess who cut them down.

✓ Grouping: Whole-Class, Partner

✓ Activity: The Gettysburg Address (Drama)

I will have the class break into little groups and memorize a section of the Gettysburg Address. They will then perform their part together as a group with the rest of the class. This will be as part of a performance that they will do for their family.

✓ Grouping: Small-Group, Whole-Class

APPLYING

✓ Activity: Cherry Thumbprint Cookies (Science)

It is said that when George Washington was a young boy, he chopped down a cherry tree. In honor of that, we are going to make Cherry Thumbprint cookies. They will each get to make their own cookie, put their thumbprint into it, and then add a cherry to it.

✓ Grouping: Whole-Class, Individual

✓ Activity: How big is a Log Cabin (Math)

After talking about how Abraham Lincoln grew up in a log cabin, the children will have the chance to get an ides for how big a log cabin really is. We will go out onto the playground and measure out the size of the cabin, marking the walls with sticks or 2x4's.

✓ Grouping: Whole-Class

TIME SCHEDULE

|Day 1 |Day 2 |Day 3 |Day 4 |Day 5 |

|Teacher will read a poem about |KWL chart with the class (15 |Music- “It’s a Special Day” (10|Social Studies- Let’s learn |Game- Chop Down the Cherry Tree|

|President’s Day. |min) |min) |about the Presidents (20 min) |(20 min) |

| | | | | |

|Teacher will read the two |Math- Who’s on the coins? (15 |Drama- Split class into groups |Drama- Practice lines from GA |Drama- Practice lines from GA |

|featured books (30 min) |min) |and assign parts of the |(15 min) |(15 min) |

| | |Gettysburg Address (15 min) | | |

| |Reading- Teacher will read | |Reading- Teacher will read |Reading- Teacher will read |

| |another book about one of the |Reading- Teacher will read |another book about one of the |another book about one of the |

| |Presidents (10 min) |another book about one of the |Presidents (10 min) |Presidents (10 min) |

| | |Presidents (10 min) | | |

| |DEAR time: Allow student to | |DEAR time: Allow student to |DEAR time: Allow student to |

| |read a book one of the |DEAR time: Allow student to |read a book one of the |read a book one of the |

| |presidents (10 min) |read a book one of the |presidents (10 min) |presidents (10 min) |

| | |presidents (10min) | | |

|Day 6 |Day 7 |Day 8 |Day 9 |Day 10 |

|Writing- Honesty (20 min) |Social Studies- Put together |Art- Make Lincoln’s hat and |Math-Measure a log cabin (30 |Science- Cherry Thumbprint |

| |books about Lincoln and |beard (20 min) |min) |Cookies (30 min) |

|Drama- Practice lines from GA |Washington (20 min) | | | |

|(15 min) | |Drama- Practice lines from GA |Drama- Practice lines from GA |Drama- The Gettysburg Address |

| |Drama- Practice lines from GA |(15 min) |(15 min) |(30 min) |

|Reading- Teacher will read |(15 min) | | | |

|another book about one of the | |Reading- Teacher will read |Reading- Teacher will read |Reading- Teacher will read |

|Presidents (10 min) |Reading- Teacher will read |another book about one of the |another book about one of the |another book about one of the |

| |another book about one of the |Presidents (10 min) |Presidents (10 min) |Presidents (10 min) |

|DEAR time: Allow student to |Presidents (10 min) | | | |

|read a book one of the | |DEAR time: Allow student to |DEAR time: Allow student to |DEAR time: Allow student to |

|presidents (10 min) |DEAR time: Allow student to |read a book one of the |read a book one of the |read a book one of the |

| |read a book one of the |presidents (10 min) |presidents (10 min) |presidents (10 min) |

| |presidents (10 min) | | | |

ASSIGNMENT CHEKLIST

_____ Participates in game

_____ Participates in music

_____ Writes about honesty

_____ Lincoln and Washington Book

_____ Lincoln Hat and Beard

_____ Thumbprint Cookie

_____ Memorized and Recited part of the Gettysburg Address

IDEAS FOR FOCUS UNIT TAKEN FROM:

✓ crafts

✓

✓

✓ holidays

✓ hol/president.html

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