Log In | Register

Learning With Lincoln Institute

Looking at Lincoln

by Marie Wimsett

Download a copy of this Learning Experience

Students will analyze primary sources in the form of photographs of Abraham Lincoln in various stages of his life. Students will study the photos and sort them chronologically. Biographies about President Lincoln will be read and will be discussed with peers.

Student groups will be provided with a single photograph and will analyze that image of President Lincoln. Based on information they have learned from the biographies, discussions and personal experiences the students will design and construct a memory box containing objects Lincoln may have saved during that particular period of his life.

Overview

Subject:
Social Studies / U.S. History / Reading
Time Required:
Eight to ten 50 minute class periods.
Grade Range:
4 - 6
Understanding Goal:
Struggles and events in Abraham Lincoln’s life had a huge effect on his appearance and daily life.
Investigative or Essential Question:
How can primary sources help us gain a better understanding of Abraham Lincoln as a person?

Materials

Purpose of Library of Congress Items:
The primary sources help students see Abraham Lincoln as a real person with a real life. They also allow students to practice the skill of inference to deduce information.
Library of Congress Items:
Bibliographical Information can be found in the PDF of this Learning Experience.
 
  • Abraham Lincoln: President-elect
  • Abraham Lincoln: Immediately prior to Senate nomination
  • Lincoln: Last sitting four days before his assassination
  • Abraham Lincoln, head-and-shoulders portrait
  • Abraham Lincoln, head-and-shoulders portrait
  • Abraham Lincoln, three-quarter length portrait
  • Abraham Lincoln, head-and-shoulders portrait
  • Abraham Lincoln, three-quarter length portrait
  • Abraham Lincoln, head-and-shoulders portrait
Additional Materials:
  • Gross, Ruth B. True Stories About Abraham Lincoln. New York: Scholastic Inc., 1973
  • Memory Box rubric
  • Looking at Lincoln Photo Analysis Questionnaire
  • Cary, Barbara. Meet Abraham Lincoln. New York: Random House. 1965
  • New Lincoln Photo?
  • Bial, Raymond. Where Lincoln Walked. New York: Walker and Company. 1997
  • Cohn, Amy L. & Schmidt, Suzy. Abraham Lincoln. New York: Scholastic Press. 2002
  • Harness, Cheryl. Young Abe Lincoln: The Frontier Days, 1809-1837. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society. 1996
  • Harness , Cheryl. Abe Lincoln Goes to Washington: 1837-1865. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society. 1997
Required Vocabulary:
portrait, chronological order, timeline, analyze, analysis
Prior Content Knowledge:
Students must understand what memory boxes and scrapbooks are, and what they are used for. Students must be able to understand and use descriptive adjectives.
Technology Skills:
None.

Standards

Illinois Learning Standards:
1, 1.B.2a, C, 1.C.2a, 1.C.2b, 2, B, 2.B.2a, 4, A,.4.A.2b, B,.4.B.2a,.4.B.2b, 5, C, 5.C.2b, 16, A, 16.A.2a, 16.A.2b, 16A2c, B, 16.B.2d
 
For information on specific Illinois Learning Standards go to www.isbe.state.il.us/ils/

Actions

Description of Teacher Actions:

Activating Prior Knowledge or Anticipatory Set

Brainstorm what we know about Abraham Lincoln, how appearance can be affected by experiences and what we can tell about a person from a picture.

 

Student Investigative Activities

Activity One:

Each group of two or three students is given an identical set of primary source images of Abraham Lincoln (10 in all).

  1. Students study the primary source images and attempt to arrange in chronological order.
  2. Once images are placed in order, students guess Lincoln’s age in each image and record their guesses on Post-it Notes on the back of each image.
  3. When all groups have finished ordering and assigning ages to images, reveal the correct order of the images and age for each Lincoln.

Assessment is an informal assessment of group participation.

 

Activity Two:

Prior to beginning, place one set of the primary source Images and accompanying dates from Activity One on a bulletin board timeline. The timeline will be used in Part 3, the images may help focus thoughts for the KWL chart.

  1. As a class, create a KWL chart.
  2. Determine what the students already know about Abraham Lincoln (K) and what they are interested in learning (W) after viewing the primary source images.
  3. After completing the “W” portion of the chart, introduce the selected Lincoln biographies.
  4. Each student is required to read at least two different biographies by an assigned date. Once completed, the class will regroup to complete the “L” portion of the KWL chart.
 

Activity Three:

Discuss important events in Abraham Lincoln’s life utilizing the KWL chart constructed during Part 2.

  1. As a class, choose events to add to bulletin board timeline. Events chosen may coincide with the primary source images present on the timeline, but should also include events that took place throughout the life of Lincoln.
  2. The teacher may develop a basic quiz over important events in Lincoln’s life to be used as an assessment of Parts Two and Three of the learning experience.
 

Activity Four:

Students are divided into 3 groups each assigned one of three images of Abraham Lincoln. For this portion of the learning experience, use images spanning Lincolns career. For example, “Abraham Lincoln: President Elect”, Abraham Lincoln: Last Sitting four days before his assassination at Ford’s Theater April 14, 2865” and the early image presumed to be Lincoln.

  1. Groups study and analyze the image by discussing and completing the Photo Analysis Questionnaire.
  2. Using the completed Photo Analysis Questionnaire as well as the timeline constructed during Part Three of the learning experience, groups discuss the events in Abraham Lincoln’s life leading up to the date of their image, and what effect these events may have had on Lincoln’s character and appearance.
  3. Following this discussion, groups brainstorm a list of what items a memory box or scrapbook, owned by the Abraham Lincoln in their primary source image, might contain. These items should then be constructed or gathered and placed in a box or scrapbook.
  4. Groups present completed memory boxes or scrapbooks to the class, and explain contents. A scoring rubric for the memory box/scrapbook is attached.
  5. An informal assessment of group participation may also be used for this portion of the learning experience.
Best Instructional Practices:

Teaching for Understanding

Having students construct and then present memory boxes provides them with an opportunity to demonstrate an understanding of what was learned.

Literacy Instruction/Reading Comprehension

Having students read a variety of Lincoln biographies and then use the information garnered to complete a KWL chart allows students to demonstrate comprehension.

Differentiated Instruction

The variety of tasks incorporated into the learning experience (photo analysis, sequencing, reading comprehension, group discussion, and project construction) demonstrate best practices in differentiated instruction.