First Grade Unit Four: Thinking About Inventors – Benjamin Franklin & G.W. Carver Sarah Blascovich Brown Teacher on Assignment

Unit Four Highlights

Resources (Benjamin Franklin): Benjamin Franklin – PBS Special website: - be sure to click on the different options at the top of the site – lots of interactive activities you can help your students discuss. Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary education page: - be sure to download the teachers’ guide and visit the artifacts section, as well as the interactive timeline and online exhibit. Scholastic’s You Interview: Ben Franklin online activity: nterview/index.asp - students “ask” Franklin questions and watch videos of his answers, then compose a newspaper article. nterview/index.asp

Resources (George Washington Carver): Peanut recipes & products: Dr. Carver coloring book & activity pages from the USDA: Library of Congress introduction to Dr. Carver’s work: Field Museum online exhibit information: - be sure to check out the downloadable teacher’s guide and photo gallery! Library of Congress Prints & Photographs collection: - search “George Washington Carver”

Literacy Resources: Now and Ben: The Modern Inventions of Ben Franklin by Gene Baretta Ben Franklin and the Magic Squares by Frank Murphy Ben and Me by Robert Lawson – definitely a read-aloud How Ben Franklin Stole the Lightning by Rosalyn Schanzer

Literacy Resources: George Washington Carver by Tonya Bolden A Weed is a Flower by Aliki The Chance-Taking, Ground-Breaking Life of George Washington Carver… by Cheryl Harness A Man for All Seasons: The Life of George Washington Carver, by Stephen Krensky Benjamin Franklin and George Washington Carver – from the Rookie Readers series

Literacy Resources: Visit for lesson ideas related to these books! Visit for lesson ideas related to these books! Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin If You Give a Pig a Pancake by Laura Numeroff Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall The Lorax By Dr. Seuss The Lorax By Dr. Seuss Getting’ Through Thursday by Melrose Cooper Getting’ Through Thursday by Melrose Cooper

Teaching Unit Four:  Individuals, Groups, & Institutions:  Contributions of Benjamin Franklin & G. W. Carver  Roles of inventions in people’s lives  Character traits of historical figures  Why we remember Franklin & Carver today  Location  Review ways that geography impacts students’ lifestyle  Discuss impact of location on goods & services {what is produced in your community & why?}  Discuss how where Franklin & Carver lived impacted their lives and decisions

Teaching Unit Four:  Scarcity  Review the concept of scarcity  How scarcity led to Franklin & Carver’s inventions  Role of scarcity in our acquisition of goods & services  Role of scarcity in production of goods & services  Time, Change, and Continuity  Compare lives of historical figures to students’ lives  Identify cultural characteristics that are the same and different as during the lives of the historical figures  Discuss how Franklin & Carver’s inventions have and have not changed over time