Elementary teachers looking for lesson plans and activities for Looking at Lincoln will find this post helpful. It includes resource recommendations, free teaching ideas, and information about the book. You’ll have everything you need to deliver engaging interactive read aloud lessons based on this story.
With themes of compassion, this Looking at Lincoln picture book by Maira Kalman is a favorite in 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade classrooms. It will be a big hit in your classroom too! Learn more about this book below!
Engage Your Students with Looking at Lincoln Lesson Plans & Activities in 3 Easy Steps:
- Read a summary of Looking at Lincoln. You can find it in the section below.
- Check out the teaching ideas for reading comprehension strategies, grammar topics and social emotional learning skills that can be taught using this children’s book.
- Download the book companion to make lesson planning simple with Looking at Lincoln reading comprehension questions, writing prompts, teaching ideas & no-prep extension activities.
LOOKING AT LINCOLN SUMMARY
Maira Kalman’s book Looking at Lincoln, tells the story of a young girl who is interested in Abraham Lincoln. One day while walking through the park to breakfast, the young girl sees a man who looks familiar. It’s not until she is paying for her breakfast with a five dollar bill that she realized the man looked like Abraham Lincoln. This inspires the girl to learn more about the sixteenth president so she heads to the library.
Throughout the book, readers will learn about the life and presidency of Abraham Lincoln. He grew up poor and only attended school for one year, but loved reading. When he was older and married, he became interested in government and ran for president. Lincoln was known for being honest and kind. He didn’t believe in salves and fought to abolish slavery. Lincoln lost his life when he was shot while watching a play with his wife.
Lincoln is still remembered at the Lincoln Memorial, surrounded by the cherry blossom trees. Students will love this story that teaches them about Abraham Lincoln through the perspective of a young girl.
LOOKING AT LINCOLN LESSON PLAN IDEAS
Each of our 400+ Starts With a Story book companions come with a teacher’s guide to make lesson planning quick and easy, printable worksheets and digital resources that cover ALL of the standards-based reading comprehension skills.
When it comes to writing lesson plans and finding activities for Looking at Lincoln, we’ve already done all of the heavy lifting for you.
We found this book was especially good at teaching the topics listed below.
READING COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
The text-based Looking at Lincoln reading comprehension questions focus on:
- analyzing character
- asking and answering questions
- authors purpose
- point of view
- summarizing/retelling
LITERATURE-BASED SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING LESSONS
We found this story to be a great SEL picture book to promote:
- compassion
GRAMMAR, VOCABULARY & WORD STUDY
- adjectives
- pronouns
- prepositions
- action verbs
LOOKING AT LINCOLN ACTIVITIES
You’ll receive all of the following resources aligned to the story:
- comprehension questions
- 30 writing prompts with themed paper
- vocabulary activities
- word study print & go activities
- ideas for grammar lessons with focus sentence printables
- social emotional learning discussion topics
- graphic organizers to target specific comprehension skills and strategies
YOU HAVE 2 OPTIONS! WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO PURCHASE THIS BOOK COMPANION?
BOOK INFO FOR ELEMENTARY TEACHERS
What are the reading levels for Looking at Lincoln?
- Lexile® Measure: AD480L
- Guided Reading Level: T
- DRA Level: 40-50
- Accelerated Reader Level (ARC): 3.3
Who is the author? Who is the illustrator?
The book was written by Maira Kalman. It was illustrated by Maira Kalman.
What genre is Looking at Lincoln?
It is a fiction book. You may want to check out our genre activities or read our blog post, How to Teach Genre to Elementary Students.
How many pages are in the book?
The story is 40 pages long.
