Open Wide, Look Inside

Johnny Appleseed: The Story Of A Legend is a  wonderful biography written and illustrated by Will Moses. His writing on the early explorer John Chapman will really open the eyes and imagination of children reading this book.

Johnny Appleseed was born in 1774 to Elizabeth and Nathaniel Chapman.  Johnny Appleseed went from town to town in his travels planting thousands of  apple seeds from Pennsylvania to Indiana. Along the way he comes across many different adventures and always seemed to take the path of a good caring and loving man. A section of the book that really touched me stated:

One man told of the time he met Johnny Appleseed on the trail and Johnny was shin deep on cold mud, wearing no shoes. The man kindly gave Johnny an old pair of boots from his own pack. But the next day, back in town, the traveling man saw Johnny again and he was once again barefoot. “What in the world did you do with the boots I have you yesterday?” he inquired of Johnny. “Well, sir, I came upon a poor soul who needed them worse than I,” was his only response.

I found this story to have a wonderful plot, but also to have such great values that we can all think about using more often in our everyday lives. This is definitely a story that your early elementary school students would learn a lot about. The main thing as a teacher you must remember is that everything in this book isn't historically correct. Making sure that you have other resources is key in using this book in the classroom. Overall this story is a wonderful children's book with beautiful pictures and meaningful text which portrays the inspiring life of Johnny Appleseed.

Curriculum Connections

This book does a great job of allowing students to recognize history and describing different events and people in the time period. Johnny Appleseed does a fantastic job of allowing students to follow a influential life of a man that traveled from Pennsylvania to Indiana treating people with respect and planting apple seeds along his way. This could work from VA SOL’s K.1, 2.3, and could be worked into many different VA SOL’s.

Additional Resources

• Apples Apples and More Apples  is a wonderful resource for different lesson plans and apple activities to do with your class.
• Johnny Appleseed’s Birthday  is all about the book Johnny Appleseed and contains activities dealing with Johnny Appleseed’s life. This lesson plan does a wonderful job of adapting to all the grade levels in elementary school. 
• Color Johnny Appleseed has different pictures that you could print off and allow your students to color. This can allow time for the students to silently or in groups color and think/talk about everything they have learned about Johnny Appleseed.

Book: Johnny Appleseed: The Story Of A Legend
Author/ Illustrator: Will Moses
Publisher: Philomel
Publication Date: 2001
Pages: 48 pages
Grades:  2-4
ISBN: 0399231536 

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to grow up with one of America’s greatest leaders?  The book, If You Grew Up With Abraham Lincoln by Ann McGovern explores questions like these and so many others in this creative book about Abraham Lincoln’s life. The thought provoking questions that begin each section of the book, involve students in the text and are a great way to facilitate class discussion. McGovern does an exceptional job in providing factual information in a simple yet conscious manner, describing what Abraham Lincoln’s life was like. The book is divided into 30 questions that all describe the environment, jobs, buildings and schooling were like in that time period. The book chronologically examines the frontier of Kentucky and Indiana where Lincoln was a young boy then onto New Salem and Springfield, Illinois where he spent almost twenty five years until he finally moved to Washington D.C. to serve as President of the United States. As Lincoln grows up, the reader can see the advancements in transportation, communication, machinery and standards of living:

When Lincoln was a boy, he had never heard of rubber balls and balloons. Now we could buy these toys for his sons. More and more farmers were buying new machines to make their work easier. One man running a machine could do as much work as ten men (Page 72).

This shows the changes that were happening while the future President Lincoln was growing up. Other questions like would you work hard on the frontier? or what kind of school would you go to? will give the insight about conditions of the 1800s all the way to the mid-1860s when Lincoln was elected President. The mention of specific dates are another strong point of the book that can help students conceptualize on a time-line what was happening. Overall, the books provides an interesting way to introduce the life of an important American leader and what qualities contributed to him being such a prominent figure in our history.

Curriculum Connections
If I Grew Up With Abraham Lincoln would be a great book to introduce your class to the story of an American leader. One could use this book to begin discussion of his contributions to our nation when he served as President of the United States. In Virginia, this would directly relate to the History Standards of Learning 1.2 where the student is responsible for describing American leaders such as Abraham Lincoln and George Washington’s contributions to our country and how their story of how they came into a position of influence. This book also would lend itself to constructing a sequenced, picture timeline of Abraham Lincoln’s life (History 1.1 SOL).

Additional Activities 

• So many great additional resources for your class- recreate Abraham Lincoln’s log cabin with fun snacks, crosswords and additional biographical information.
• President’s Day lesson plan ideas!
• Abraham Lincoln coloring pages to for your class

Book: If You Grew Up With Abraham Lincoln
Author: Ann McGovern
Illustrator: George Ulrich
Publisher: Scholastic
Publication Date: 1976
Pages: 80 pages
Grades: 1-3
ISBN: 590451545

What American doesn’t know about our sixteenth president, Abraham Lincoln? He is an important part of our history, with his own memorial and the penny dedicated to him! In Abraham Lincoln, Amy L. Cohn and Suzy Schmidt go through Abe’s whole life, starting all the way back from when he was “born on a cornhusk mattress one cold Kentucky morning” to where we recognize him now, “there, in the building made for him.”

The rest of the story tells of his life growing up in the country, being a lover of reading, a hard worker, and making his way all the way to the White House. It is a great story that lets students know about such a great man’s whole life, not just his main accomplishments that they are required to know. By learning about other characteristics of Lincoln’s life, students can realize that he was just a normal guy like everyone else that worked hard to have such a great, positive impact on our nation.

To add to the story, David A. Johnson does a great job on all the illustrations, which occur on each page, opposite of the text, giving the students a visual to go along with the information that they are learning about Abraham Lincoln’s life. Having drawings of Lincoln as a child and a growing boy, rather than the typical picture of him at a much older age, is another way to help children put into perspective the normal human being Lincoln was, rather than just the old glorified president that we have praised and solely recognized him for.

Curriculum Connections
Abraham Lincoln is a great story to use in the classroom to present Abraham Lincoln to students, an important figure that all students must learn about at some point in school. For Virgina teachers, learning about Abraham Lincoln, along with other great leaders like George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and George Washington Carver, is part of SOL K.1a and 1.2. This is a good story to use to cover part of that necessary learning point for students.

Additional Resources

• A detailed timeline along with a few pictures of Abraham Lincoln’s life.
• Have students make an edible log cabin or a paper log cabin just like Abraham Lincoln’s.
• A web page with more handouts and activity sheets on Abraham Lincoln.

Book: Abraham Lincoln
Author: Amy L. Cohn & Suzy Schmidt
Illustrator: David A. Johnson
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Publication Date: 2002
Pages: 40 pages
Grades: K-5
ISBN: 0590935666

There are many children’s books pertaining to the Civil War, but these books often explain the Civil War from only one perspective. Nikki Giovanni’s book Lincoln and Douglass An American Friendship weaves the stories of a famous President and an escaped slave. Comparing the childhood experiences and adult lives of both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, Giovanni portrays and unlikely friendship that has a major impact in abolishing slavery.

The setting begins at the White House at the reception of Lincoln’s reelection with the President anticipating the arrival of his friend Douglass. The times it takes for the two to meet through the crowds simulates the great struggles both faced in order to finally unite at the White House. Alternating in pages, Giovanni provides information on how each man educated himself and their early hatred of slavery in the south.

Douglass worked as a ship caulker on the Baltimore shore. He longed to sail to freedom on one of the ships that he often watched heading out to sea. The first time Lincoln hauled farm produce down the Mississippi River to New Orleans, the journey opened his eyes to the world around him.”

In addition to providing the childhood experiences which leads Lincoln and Douglass to meeting at the President’s reception, Lincoln and Douglass includes biographical information of other abolitionists like John Brown and Mary Ellen Pleasant. Emphasizing the failed attempt at Harper’s Ferry and the general struggles in abolishing slavery, this book puts into perspective the extensive time it took for the emancipation of slaves.

Giovanni’s text of the two men is supported through Bryan Collier’s cut-paper collages and illustrations. The combination is subtle and it is only through looking closely that the overlapping is noticeable. Even though appearing simple, these illustrations greatly support the text. In the excerpt above about Lincoln, Collier uses a rural scene with trees in the background which are covered with the faces of slaves. Through both Giovanni’s text and Collier’s collages, readers will gain an understanding of two important men in the quest to end slavery.

Curriculum Connections
Lincoln and Douglass is a great way to introduce a class to the abolitionist movement during the Civil War. By explaining both biographies and their personal struggles in dealing with slavery, readers will understand one of the reasons that led to the division of the nation prior to the Civil War (In Virginia this correlates with VS.7). In addition to using this book for a Civil War study, it is can be used to understand the personal history of these men to celebrate Presidents’ Day or Black History Month.

Additional Resources

• These Graphic Organizers can serve help students compare and contrast Douglass and Lincoln after the reading.
• Social Studies for Kids has links to many subjects of the Civil War including slavery, battles, reconstruction, the Underground Railroad, medicine, and emancipation.
• Students can learn more about Abraham Lincoln by investigating quick facts, short stories, timelines, photographs, quotations, and puzzles about him.

Book: Lincoln and Douglass An American Friendship
Author: Nikki Giovanni
Illustrator: Bryan Collier
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Publication Date: 2008
Pages:40 pages
Grades: 3-5
ISBN: 0805082646