Indiana Humanities Council

Lincoln and Log Cabins

Lesson Plan by Stephen Hardwick
Indian Creek Elementary School, Indianapolis

Designed for 4^th, 5^th, and 8^th Graders

Description & Objective:

Explore the pioneer life of Abraham Lincoln by learning how to construct a pioneer log cabin via a student centered internet site. Students will use their problem solving and decision making skills to correctly construct the cabin. As they proceed through the log cabin site, they will be asked questions about the tools, construction of the cabin, and the life of Abraham Lincoln when he lived in Indiana , which was from age seven to twenty-one.

This lesson will have each student compare and contrast their life to that of Abraham Lincoln's life, so they can identify the similarities they have with him. This will help the students personalize and humanize Abraham Lincoln.

Academic Standards

Language Arts

4.2.1 Use the organization of informational text to strengthen comprehension

4.2.5 Compare and contrast information on the same topic after reading several passages or articles.

4.2.7 Follow multiple-step instructions in a basic technical manual.

4.4.3 Write informational pieces with multiple paragraphs that:

provide an introductory paragraph.
establish and support a central idea with a topic sentence at or near the beginning of the first paragraph.
include supporting paragraphs with simple facts, details, and explanations.
present important ideas or events in sequence or in chronological order.
provide details and transitions to link paragraphs.
conclude with a paragraph that summarizes the points.
use correct indentation at the beginning of paragraphs.

5.4.3 Write informational pieces with multiple paragraphs that:

present important ideas or events in sequence or in chronological order.
provide details and transitions to link paragraphs.
offer a concluding paragraph that summarizes important ideas and details.

5.4.11 Use logical organizational structures for providing information in writing, such as chronological order, cause and effect, similarity and difference, and stating and supporting a hypothesis with data.

8.2.1 Compare and contrast the features and elements of consumer materials to gain meaning from documents.

8.5.1 Write biographies, autobiographies, anbd short stories that:

tell about an incident, event, or situation, using well-chosen details.
reveal the significance of, or the writer's attitude about, the subject.
use narrative and descriptive strategies, including relevant dialogue, specific action, physical description, background description, and comparison or contrast of characters.

8.5.5 Write technical documents that:

identify the sequence of activities needed to design a system, operate a tool, or explain the bylaws of an organization's constitution or guidelines.
include all the factors and variables that need to be considered.
use formatting techniques, including headings and changing the fonts (typeface) to aid comprehension.

These are just a few of the Language Arts standards that can be met by connecting the log cabin activity with a writing assignment.

Math

4.5.3 Know and use formulas for finding the perimeters of rectangles and squares.

5.5.2 Solve problems involving perimeters and areas of rectangles, triangles, parallelograms, and trapezoids, using appropriate units.

Social Studies

4.1.14 Distinguish fact from opinion and fact from fiction in historical documents and other information resources.

4.5.1 Identify ways that social groups influence individual behavior and responsibilities.

5.5.1 Describe basic needs that individuals have in order to survive — such as the need for food, water, shelter, and safety — and give examples of how people in early America adapted to meet basic needs.

5.5.2 Give examples of groups who made up communities* in early America, and compare the different ways that communities were organized.

5.5.6 Read accounts of how scientific and technological innovations have affected the way people lived in the early United States

8.1.28 Identify, evaluate, and distinguish fact from opinion in a variety of information resources; differentiate between historical facts and interpretations, recognizing that the facts the historian reports reflects his or her judgment of what is most significant about the past.

8.5.7 Give examples of scientific and technological developments that changed cultural life in the nineteenth-century United States.

Instructional Plan

Materials:

Lincoln : A Photobiography by Russell Freedman

Abe Lincoln Goes to Washington, 1809-1837 by Cheryl Harness (picture book)

Diagram and pencil

Lined paper

Computers, Internet

Work-sheet: Log cabin sequence and key (see attached documents)

Step 1:

Read aloud from the Freedman (narrative) or Harness (picture) book about the Lincolns' moving from Kentucky to Indiana and Lincoln's life in Indiana. He lived in Indiana from 1816–1830, but stress that he lived in Indiana from age 7 to 21. Students will connect with his age better than with the dates.

Step 2:

Using a Venn diagram, have students record similarities and differences between Abraham Lincoln's life and their own.

Ask students the following questions to help them fill-in the Venn diagram.

Have students moved? Lincoln moved from Kentucky to Indiana

Have they experienced death of a family member or close friend?

• A baby brother died in infancy.

• His Aunt and Uncle died of milk-sickness.

• His mother Nancy died in 1818 when he was nine years old. She also died of milk-sickness.

• His sister Sarah died when she was giving birth to her son in 1828. The baby also died.

Does anyone have a stepparent(s) or step brother(s) and/or stepsister(s)?

• His father married Sally Bush Johnston in 1819, so she became Abraham's stepmother.

• Abraham and his step-mother had a great mother-son relationship.

• She had a son and two daughters, so Lincoln had a stepbrother and stepsisters ( Warren p.62).

Do they have chores at home? Lincoln worked in the fields, built log cabins, and was hired out by his father to work for their neighbors.

Do they like to watch funny movies and/or tell funny stories? Lincoln enjoyed telling funny tales (yarns) to others, and he listened to his father tell stories to others.

How many enjoy reading? Lincoln read every chance possible. He could even be found reading a book while working in the fields.

How is Abraham Lincoln's daily life different than theirs?

Discuss food and how they had to grow and hunt for their food.

Doctors were not always available when pioneers got sick, and the medicine/treatment was not as good as ours.

Children did not attend school on a daily or monthly business. Lincoln only had one year of schooling combined.

Television and radios were not around.

Is their house different than the log cabin Lincoln grew up in?

No air conditioning or heaters. A fireplace could not heat the entire cabin.

How was food cooked?

Where was the bathroom?

No electricity.

What kind of furniture was in the cabin?

Step 3:

As you discuss the log cabin, ask the students if they would know how to build their own house?

Ask: How many have helped build a home for a neighbor?

Explain that in Lincoln 's community neighbors pitched-in and helped build one another's log cabin.

In groups and using their own knowledge have the students make a list of the materials they would need to build a house in today's world.

• What materials are needed? What amount?

• What tools are needed?

• What special skills are needed to build the house?

Second, have the students share ideas on what the process would be to construct a log cabin. Once again, discuss:

• What materials are needed? What amount?

• What tools are needed?

• What special skills are needed to build the log cabin?

Discuss:

What would it be like to build a log cabin? Would it be easy or difficult? What knowledge would you need?

Step 4: Log Cabin Internet activity

This step may be adjusted depending on accessibility to computers.

If you have a computer lab, the class can go to the lab, or you can alter the lesson to have students complete the activity using classroom computers or at home with their personal computer.

Using the online student module (http://www.indianahumanities.org/wethepeople/302-module.html), have the students follow the site's directions to successfully build a log cabin. The students will also discover information about Lincoln 's life in Indiana .

There is a quiz contained within the internet activity for the students to test their memory on the correct sequence to build a log cabin. This quiz is intended for student knowledge purposes.

If you desire to have a paper and pencil grade over the log cabin construction, a worksheet and its key are attached.

Step 5: Writing Assessment

Using their knowledge of Lincoln and building a log cabin, have the students write a paper using one of the following formats and ideas. You may allow the students to choose a format, or you may want to assign a specific format to be used by all students.

• Create a “How To” manual about building a log cabin.

• Write a biography of Abraham Lincoln and his early life in Indiana .

• Write a paper comparing and contrasting the life of Abraham Lincoln to their life.

• Write a paper comparing and contrasting growing up in a log cabin and the student's house.

• Write/create a story of how you helped Abraham Lincoln build a log cabin.

Step 6: Internet Sites

The following sites may be useful in providing the students with more information on Abraham Lincoln.

IHC smartDESKTOP Resource Connection: http://resource.smartdesktop.org

The Lincoln Institute: http://www.abrahamlincolnsclassroom.org/

The Lincoln Museum: http://www.thelincolnmuseum.org (Contains internet sites about Lincoln .)

Memorial Hall Museum: http://memorialhall.mass.edu/activities/tools/ (video clips showing tools)

Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial: http://www.nps.gov/libo/forteachers/index.htm

Resources

Bomberger, B. (1991, September). The preservation and repair of historic log buildings . Preservation Briefs ( 26 ). Retrieved June 28, 2006, from http://www.cr.nps.gov/hps/tps/briefs/brief26.htm

Donald, D. (1995). Lincoln. New York , NY : Touchstone.

Esarey, L. (1976). The Indiana home. Bloomington and Indianapolis , IN : Indiana University Press.

Freedman, R. (1987). Lincoln : A photobiography. New York , NY : Clarion Books

Johnson, H. (1978). A home in the woods: Pioneer life in Indiana , Oliver Johnson's reminiscences of early Marion County . Bloomington , IN : Indiana University Press.

Madison, J. (1986). The Indiana way: A state history . Bloomington and Indianapolis , IN : Indiana University Press.

National Park Service. Lincoln boyhood national memorial teacher packet . Retrieved on July 10, 2006, from http://www.nps.gov/libo/teacher_packet.pdf

Landes, J. (1988). Log cabin in the woods: a true story about a pioneer boy. New York , NY : Four Winds Press.

Sloane, E. (1964). A museum of early American tools. New York , NY : Ballantine Books.

Warren, L. (1991). Lincoln 's youth: Indiana years, 1816-1830. Indianapolis , IN : Indiana Historical Society.