Today, we read a book about Abraham Lincoln in honor of his birthday, celebrated on February 12th!This book, written by Kay Winters and illustrated by Nancy Carpenter, was a great illustration of Abe's early childhood life and development into the president. We talked about how important he was as a president and what life was like for him as child. This book started out in 1809, with Lincoln's birth, and brought us to his life as an adult, during his presidency. The kids enjoyed learning about his childhood and how life was different for him in the backwoods of Kentucky.
After we read the book, I had discussion questions prepared that I asked the kids. Most of them were eager to answer why they thought Abraham Lincoln was such an importnat president. I quizzed them to see if they remembered what state he was born in, after a silent pause, I told them it started with a K. A little girl excitedly shouted Kansas! But I reread the page to them slowly to point out his log cabin in Kentucky.
Then, we had an activity where I had them think of some of Abe's traits and characteristics. One student quickly volunteered to draw stick figure Abe on the board and they took turns writing the traits they came up with: Strong, Creative, Brave, Sad, and many more! Finally, we had a craft. The craft was to make log cabin houses using small milk cartons, chocolate frosting and pretzels. Although it was quite a mess, they all enjoyed making Abraham Lincoln's log cabin out of snacks and eating it at the end!
