Famous Americans

1st Grade Unit Plan

George Washington & Abraham Lincoln

Materials:

George Washington biography

George Washingtons Teeth by Deborah Chandra & Madeleine Comora
Abraham Lincoln biography
Venn Diagram worksheet

Objectives:

Students can compare and contrast George Washington and Abraham Lincoln using a
Venn diagram.
Students can identify facts about both presidents and distinguish between both of them.

Teacher Actions:

Read aloud George Washington biography while asking questions periodically to the
students.
Ask students to share two things they learned about George Washington to their shoulder
partner. Share out some of these facts to the whole class.
Read aloud Abraham Lincoln biography while asking questions periodically to the
students.
Ask students to share two things they learned about Abraham Lincoln to their shoulder
partner again. Share out some of these facts to the whole class.
Model how to compare and contrast two people using the large, interactive Venn diagram.
Have students help compare and contrast the two people in whole group. Teacher writes
students ideas on notecard, students place notecards on the interactive Venn Diagram.
Make sure there are character traits for George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and
character traits that both people shared.

Student Actions:

Students will listen to the read alouds and participate in think-pair-share activities after
read alouds.
Compare and contrast George Washington and Abraham Lincoln by interactively
completing the Venn Diagram as a class.
Write your own character traits for both people on an individual Venn diagram worksheet.
If there is extra time, have students discuss George Washingtons Teeth with a friend.
Draw a picture of the hippo teeth Washington used.

Assessment:

Informal assessment of participation and writing on Venn diagram worksheet; make sure
students are able to identify at least two similarities and differences between both
presidents.

Harriet Tubman
Materials:

Harriet Tubman biography

Write to learn worksheet
Paper doll of Harriet Tubman
Actors toolbox

Objectives:

Students can identify main details of a nonfiction text.

Students can identify character traits about Harriet Tubman.
Students can act out the Underground Railroad to empathize with the struggles Harriet
Tubman endured during a historical moment in time.

Teacher Actions:

Show a picture of Harriet Tubman to the students on the projector before the lesson. Ask
them to use their actors toolbox to describe the photograph. Students should look at the
focal point, facial expressions, gestures, clothing, setting, and objects in the picture to
gain insight as to what is happening in the picture.
Read aloud Harriet Tubman biography to students while asking students questions
periodically to engage them in the reading.
After reading, have students think-pair-share character traits that describe Harriet Tubman
and what she is famous for. Have a few pairs share out their answers to the whole group
and write them on an interactive chart.
Put the Harriet Tubman worksheet on the projector and read all of the questions. Have
students come up with answers they could put for each question. Remind students that the
interactive chart is a good place to find words they may want to spell on their own.
Students will begin to act out the Underground Railroad. Teacher takes the role of the
slave owner, choose a student to be Harriet Tubman and lead friends to safe houses, select
three students to live in safe houses and agree to help Harriet Tubman, the rest of the
students are seeking freedom with her on the Underground Railroad. This reenactment
will help make Harriet Tubmans famousness stick out in their minds and be more
memorable. It will help students be able to recall what happened and complete the write
to learn activity.
After the acting activity, students will complete the write to learn activity on their own.
They can color the Harriet Tubman paper doll if extra time remains.

Student Actions:

Listen to the read aloud and think-pair-share when it is time.

Ask questions about the picture and start anticipating what Harriet Tubman might be
famous for.
Utilize the actors toolbox to think through and analyze the picture of Harriet Tubman
and the pictures in the biography.
Act out the Underground Railroad reenactment.
Complete the write to learn activity.

Assessment:

Informal assessment of participation during the reenactment to assess who comprehends

the danger of being on the Underground Railroad and who understands the significance
of Harriet Tubmans leadership. The write to learn activity will shed light on which
students truly comprehended the roles Harriet Tubman took on and why she was so
important.

Betsy Ross
Materials:

Betsy Ross biography

Original American flag
Current American flag
Write to learn worksheet

Objectives:

Students can compare and contrast the original and current American flag.
Students can retell facts and character traits about Betsy Ross.

Teacher Actions:

Show a photograph of the original American flag and ask students what they notice about
it, ask students why do you think the flag looked like this? What do you notice about
this flag?
Have several students share their thoughts about the flag. Direct student attention to the
current flag hanging in the front of the classroom. What differences do you notice? What
similarities do you notice? Why do you think they are different?
Read aloud the Betsy Ross biography to the whole class on the carpet.
After reading aloud, ask students how does our flag look different today? How many stars
are on our current flag? Why? Stripes? Why?
Think-pair-share two things you learned about Betsy Ross with your shoulder buddy.
Share some of these with the whole class.

Hand out paper copies of first flag and current flag, have students color them and discuss
similarities and differences between the two.

Student Actions:

Analyze the picture of the first American flag utilizing the Actors Toolbox. Share your
thoughts and guesses about this flag with a friend and the class if you would like to.
Recall facts about the past and the present flag. Compare and contrast the two flags.
Complete Betsy Ross write to learn activity. Color both of the flags and look at the
differences and similarities to help with write to learn activity.

Assessment:

Informal observations throughout the entire lesson with regards to who contributes to
discussions with partners, shares out to the whole class, and works well with friends.
Verbal retellings of who Betsy Ross is, why she is famous, and why she is important to
American history.