Lesson Plan: The Letters Lincoln Never Sent

LESSON PLANNER

A guide for using our resources

Learning Objective

Children will study one way that Abe Lincoln dealt with the pressures of his job.

Vocabulary: country, president, quill pens

Social Studies Focus: Presidents’ Day

  1. Watch a Video:

    The Life of Abraham Lincoln

     

  2. Read the Issue:

    The Letters Lincoln Never Sent

     

  3. Review Vocabulary Words:

    country, president, quill pens

     

  4. Play a Game:

    Lincoln’s Train: Pick the Punctuation

    Skill: end punctuation

     

  5. Complete Skill Sheets

    Show What You Know

    Skill: comprehension

    What Calms You Down?

    Skill: writing and drawing


    E Is in Pen!

    Skill: alphabet knowledge

     

  6. Lesson Boosters

  • Paired Text: Duck for President by Doreen Cronin

     

  • Shared Writing:

    If I Were President

     

  • Scavenger Hunt: Pages 2-3

     

  • Hands-on Activity:

    A Portrait of Abe Lincoln

     

  • More Extension Ideas From Our Archives: See the digital issue page to get your packet!

     

CCSS (and states that have similar standards): RI.K.1 key details, RI.K.4 vocabulary, RF.K.1 print features, RF.K.3.A letters and sounds, RL.K.1 key details (literature), W.K.8 writing

LESSON BOOSTERS

Simple, spectacular ideas to boost your lessons.

Paired Text: Duck for President by Doreen Cronin

  • Duck doesn't like the chores on the farm, so he holds an election! But he soon discovers that being president is a very hard job.

Shared Writing: If I Were President

  • On chart paper, write the sentence stem if I were president . . . Then let kids finish the sentence. If they like, they can stick with the issue’s theme and name ways they would stay calm on the job.
  • Kids can also share things they would change and ways they would help people. Use a combination of dictation and kids’ own writing to complete the experience chart.

Scavenger Hunt: Pages 2-3

  • Use pages 2-3 of the issue to do this scavenger hunt as a group.

1. Find the heading. Underline it.

2. Find the picture where Lincoln is writing a hot letter. Put a ✔ on it.

3. In the sidebar, find the words that mean feather pen. Circle them.

4. Find the subheading in the purple box. Draw a square around it.

Hands-on Activity: A Portrait of Abe Lincoln

Skill: following directions, writing

Materials: A Portrait of Abe Lincoln skill sheet, crayons, pencils, glue, brown pompoms or brown tissue paper

  • Hand out the skill sheet. Have kids color in the picture. Then glue brown pom-poms or balls of crumpled brown tissue on his beard, using the dots as a guide for where to place them.
  • Next have kids finish the sentence with one fact they learned about Abe from the magazine, such as Abe Lincoln was a calm leader or Abe Lincoln used a quill pen.