Famous American Series: Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. Designed for 2nd Graders at the Wolcott School

Objectives Stregthen Language Arts Skills -reading comprehension -writing skills Develop a Sense of American History -gain knowledge of the lives of Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. and an understanding of the issues of their times -apply knowledge of the perspective time periods in the letters they will write to Booker T. Washington and a student in the 1960s -compare and contrast the time periods and the race relations within the periods

Day One Activities: Abraham Lincoln KWL Chart -fill out what they know column individually -fill out what they want to know column as a class Break Students into Pairs (mixing higher and lower abilities) -read Addler Biography -answer the given questions on the book Go Over Questions as a Class Fill in What You Learned Column for Homework

Day Two Activites: Slavery Go over what they learned column as a class As a class read excerpts from Booker T. Washington’s Up From Slavery chapter one Class discussion of excerpt and topic of slavery Writing Assignment -write a letter to Booker T. Washington

Day Three Activities: Martin Luther King Jr. Share letters Transition KWL Chart Separate students into different pairs, again mixed ability -read Addler biography of King and answer questions Review questions as a class What you learned column for homework

Day FourActivities: Segregation and Civil Rights Review what you learned column Segregation Experiment -separate children by eye color for the day Link classroom segregation experiment to the real world Read King’s I Have a Dream speech -reinforce King’s goal to end segregation and promote equality Writing Assignment -write a letter to a student living in the 1960s

Day Five Activities: Comparison of Lincoln and King Share letters Compare Lincoln and King as a class Writing Assignment -what is similar and what is different about Lincoln’s time period of civil war/slavery and King’s time period of segregation/civil rights

Linkage/Evaluation Worksheets and Writing Assignments -worksheets prove they have an understanding of biographical information -letters show an understanding of slavery and segregation -comparison assignment shows comprehension of the unit as a whole