The ABCs of ABE

Tonia Kirby

Summer Fellowship 2008

Early American Museum

Abstract: Students will study the life of Abraham Lincoln, a past President and a person who spent a great deal of his life in Illinois – specifically Champaign County. They will listen to stories and compare his life to theirs to see how times have changed and how they have stayed the same. They will look at his accomplishments and see how many failures he endured.

Essential Questions / Enduring Understandings:

· What was Abraham Lincoln’s childhood like?

· Where did Lincoln go to school?

· What were his chores and expectations as a child?

· What were his homes like?

· How did people communicate?

· What did Abraham Lincoln accomplish in the state of Illinois

· How much time did Abraham Spend in Illinois – specifically in Champaign County?

· What jobs did he hold?

· How did he contribute to the world while living in Illinois?

· How was his life full of tragedy and how did he cope with those tragedies?

· What were some of Lincoln’s tragedies?

· How did he use those tragedies to lead out country through a very difficult time?

Assessment: There is not a lot of formal assessment. There is a lot of observational assessment. Assess project participation. Students will do daily writing assignments where they take information about Lincoln’s life and apply it to their life. They will put events of Lincoln’s life on a timeline. The children will create a mini biography about a person who was alive during the time Lincoln was alive.

Setting the Purpose: The purpose of this unit is for children to become aware of the tremendous accomplishments of one of America’s greatest Presidents and understand his ties to our community.

Duration: The entire unit is designed to take a full five days - total immersion in the life of Abraham Lincoln. Of course, you can pull activities that fit your classroom and timelines. Alternatively, you can stretch out some of the days, do them in more detail, and let this take a couple of weeks. The Civil War and the Presidency were difficult to condense into one day.

I will also have a variety of activity books that I will use to make activity packets that the children can work on independently when I am working with a small group. Each day a packet will focus on the aspect of Lincoln’s life that we are covering.

Day 1: Students will be immersed in Abraham Lincoln’s Childhood – his education, his homes, the states he lived in and when he moved.

Day 2: Students will be immersed in Abraham’s family. Starting with his father and mother and sister. Then his stepmother, siblings, to end with his wife and children. They will discover what kind of son his was and what kind of father he was.

Day 3: Students will be exposed to the jobs Lincoln had and how he felt about school and work. They will walk in Lincoln’s shoes – either actually or virtually - experiencing Lincoln’s time spent in Central Illinois on the 8^th Circuit and as a legislator.

Day 4: The students will focus on the time Abraham Lincoln spent running for President and the time Lincoln spent as President with a focus on the events of the Civil War.

Day 5: The students will focus on Lincoln’s Assassination. They will identify how America has memorialized and remembered Abraham Lincoln. Then they will reflect on their life and think of ways they want to be remembered.