Students study the events of Abraham Lincoln's life and organize these on a timeline.
Objectives
• Conduct Web research on the life of Abraham Lincoln.
• Construct a timeline of Lincoln's life.
Duration
• Two days
Materials
• Chalkboard
Directions
• Dicsuss what students know about Abraham Lincoln.
• Organize responses into a word web on the chalk board.
• Invite students to find out more about this famous American. Encourage them to research other sites as well.
• Challenge students to record dates for events they find, including dates for relevant information in the word web.
• Have small groups copy the word web from the board onto butcher paper. Ask them to add information they've found from the Web.
• Have students discuss significant events from their webs.
• Begin to write events on the chalkboard, and assign them dates. You may wish to prompt this activity by asking "Name a significant event that happened in 1865." (Lincoln's assassintation.)
• Once you have enough information on the chalkboard to begin a timeline (3 or 4 entries) invite small groups to create their own timelines. Require that timelines include ten events from at least five distinct years.
• Once groups have completed the timelines, have them share their work. Hold a discussion about what students have found.
• Challenge students to record dates for events they find, including dates for relevant information in the word web.
• Have small groups copy the word web from the board onto butcher paper. Ask them to add information they've found from the Web.
• Have students discuss significant events from their webs.
• Begin to write events on the chalkboard, and assign them dates. You may wish to prompt this activity by asking "Name a significant event that happened in 1865." (Lincoln's assassintation.)
• Once you have enough information on the chalkboard to begin a timeline (3 or 4 entries) invite small groups to create their own timelines. Require that timelines include ten events from at least five distinct years.
• Once groups have completed the timelines, have them share their work. Hold a discussion about what students have found.
Ask:
• Are there any events that you feel are missing from your timeline?
• Which events probably shouldn't appear the timeline? Why?
• How are timelines a helpful way to show information?
Assignment
Have students choose an event from their timeline for further research. Challenge them to create another timeline based on that event.
Extend
• Ask students to memorize all or parts of The Gettysburg Address to recite to the class.
• Have students conduct research about Lincoln's assassination and write a news article of the event as if they were the journalist reporting on this story for the April 15, 1865 edition of the newspaper.
Evaluate
• Did the Web links provide enough information for students to create timelines?
• Was enough time allotted to share and discuss time lines?
• Were the selected Web sites useful and interesting to the students?
• What other resources could I have used to help students better understand Abraham Lincoln's life and its relevance to the American experience?
- Subjects:American History, The Presidency, Historic Figures
- Skills:Social Studies, Timelines
