Hello Teachers of writers and welcome to your students’ new job!  We are going to write a book with fun and interesting facts about President George Washington and President Abraham Lincoln that will be published and kept in the classroom.  To find things about these two important presidents, your students will be hunting for facts in the books in your classroom or on the internet from the given links on the process page.  When they’re finished, there will be a publishing celebration for all of your students hard work and fact finding.

This lesson will happen during a unit on presidents and government, usually coinciding with Presidents Day in February, for 1st grade students.  The focus will be on Presidents Lincoln and Washington, their lives and their accomplishments.  This lesson has been differentiated for students who have limited prior experience with the internet and books that are available in the classroom should be used rather than the websites listed on this webquest.

U.S. HISTORY

Common Curriculum Goal:  Understand and interpret events, issues, and developments

within and across eras of U.S. history.

Content Standard:  Understand the importance and lasting influence of individuals, issues,

events, people, and developments in U.S. history.

   

GRADE-LEVEL MAP:  Listen to and retell stories about persons in the past that showed honesty, courage, and responsibility. Introduce American legends and historical accounts through the stories of various American people.    

and

SS.03.CG.01 Identify essential ideas and values expressed in national symbols, heroes, and patriotic songs of the United States.

and

Informational Text:  Demonstrate General Understanding :

Demonstrate general understanding of grade-level informational text across the subject areas.

CCG:

EL.01.RE.36

Answer simple written comprehension questions based on material read.

and

Conventions: Handwriting :

Demonstrate knowledge of spelling, grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and penmanship across the subject areas.

CCG:

EL.01.WR.15

Print legibly and space letters, words, and sentences appropriately.

For your students’ new assignment they will be hunting for information about Abraham Lincoln and George Washington to put in a book that each child will make a page for.  As their teacher, you will assign each of them an alphabet letter that they will use to find an interesting fact about the president that starts with their assigned letter.  It may be easier for younger students to assign them a letter that they are more familiar with, such as the first letter of their name, or another letter in their name. 

1. 1.Assign each child an alphabet letter.  It may be easier for the students to be given letters that they have in their own name, the first letter of their first name.  Students who are able, give them the harder alphabet letters.
   

2. 2.Download and print the worksheet for every student. Student Worksheet.doc  There is also a teacher’s answer key: TeacherAnswerKey.doc.
   

3. 3.Try to help students choose the medium for research that is best for them, for example, students who are able to navigate the internet and switch from site to site.  Other students may need more focused help and to use the books available to them in their classroom would be easier for them.  Students might not be able to answer all of the questions, so they should be told throughout the assignment that they should do their best and that is acceptable.
   

4. 
   

5. Abraham Lincoln Websites:
   

6. http://www.geocities.com/presfacts/lincoln.html
   

7. http://www.whitehouse.gov/kids/presidents/abrahamlincoln.html
   

8. http://www.historyplace.com/lincoln/index.html
   

9. http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/lincoln
   

10. http://gardenofpraise.com/ibdlinco.htm
    

11. 
    

12. George Washington Websites:
    

13. http://www.geocities.com/presfacts/washington.html
    

14. http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/washington
    

15. http://www.whitehouse.gov/kids/presidents/georgewashington.html
    

16. http://gardenofpraise.com/ibdwash.htm
    

17. http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/aa/presidents/wash
    

18. http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/aa/presidents/wash/martha_1
    

19. 
    

20. 
    

4. 4.Each time students go to work and research, remind them of the expectations and especially remind them of their alphabet letter!
   

5. 5.When students choose their fact about either president, have them submit it to you before they do their final draft of a paper and picture. Teacher should try to gage if the students understanding of the word they have chosen.  If not, students should return to their research, with help from Teacher, and find another word.
   

6. 6. Make sure their letter, word that begins with that letter, and picture depicting their word are all legible on their paper.  They should also have a sentence describing their interesting fact or word about the president.
   

7. 7.Prior to collecting the final pages from students, have students share with either whole class or small groups. 
   

8. 8.Collect all students pages and bind them into a book.
   

9. 9. Have a writing celebration to celebrate the presidents’ lives and the students’ work!
   

The grading criteria is on the Evaluation page.  Teacher should be looking for how the students are using their time during class, whether they are able to stay on task or whether the teacher needs to continually remind them to stay on task.  Grading criteria is based on the abilities and attention spans of first grade students, a few reminders should not detract from their final assessment. 

Each student is assessed also on whether they had the required elements on the first time they finished, or if they needed to continue to work on their assignment after the student thought they were finished.

When asked, student should be able to explain their reasoning behind the word they chose to their classmates.  If the student needs excessive prompting by the teacher, their assessment should reflect this fact.

The last assessment tool is legibility.  The work of the students should be able to be read and understood by teacher and classmates.  There is not a lot of words to be written, so this is especially important for students to follow because they should be taking special care of doing their best on the words.

When students have finished and you have bound their book, students should have a celebration about the presidents and their writing.  Lastly, congratulations for finishing the webquest!