I love Abraham Lincoln, and also tall tales, so a book that combines the feel of a tall tale with Abraham Lincoln is a good find, and one that I can use to make into an Abraham Lincoln lesson that isn’t just about his hat? Even better, this was one of my favorite history lessons from the month, and it got me a fun American history lesson to add to the archive.
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The start of our Abraham Lincoln lesson:
Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek: A Tall, Thin Tale (Introducing His Forgotten Frontier Friend) tells the tale of young Abe Lincoln and his first best friend as kids in Kentucky, and actually does tell an incident that really happened in Lincoln’s youth, but with a fun light-hearted feel, which is important because it is a scary time where Lincoln almost dies.
Reading it, I wonder how much this incident changed who Abraham Lincoln was as a person (have you ever noticed there are some people you just think of in their full name, I always think of him as Abraham Lincoln, not Lincoln).
Supplies for this young Abe Lincoln lesson
Kentucky state study pages, markers or something to color with
What makes a good friend?
The big thing we got from this book? It’s important to choose who your friends are, and it’s important to think about what makes a good friend.
Now on to that Abraham Lincoln activity
After reading it we took some time to write “what makes a good friend.” Their answers were amusing, things like “play with them” or “makes me laugh,” but they were very true. It shows that being a friend doesn’t really change from being 5 years old to being a grown-up. Or so-called grown-up.
I especially like this activity because it is easy to do with a variety of ages. Our older kids were giving some deeper answers than my five-year-olds were giving. They were thinking about how they interact with you, if they help you grow as a person. It’s fun to see how their ideas change over the years.
I’m gonna link up over at All Things Beautiful, with her history/geography Meme. I have zillions of posts I need to link up there.
Some more inspiration for geography and history lessons in the United States
I think a lot of things don't really change when we “grow up” – not wanting to share our favorite toys is an excellent example! =)
I like the writing prompt. We had fun with Kentucky!
That sounds like a great book. I will have to check it out. I like your writing prompt, too. It looks like they put a lot of thought into their answers. Thanks for linking up. Looking forward to your linking all the rest!
All I needed to learn about life I learned in Kindergarten 🙂
I love finding out about new (to me) books- this sounds like a fun one. Great job to your kids on the writing prompt!
I'm hoping to study the presidents with the children, as we approach the next election – this book sounds like a great additon!