Looking for a reading comprehension activity featuring Abraham Lincoln? Here you go!
Today I’m sharing a free sample from my bundle of reading comprehension passages about famous people. I’m sharing the mid-level reading passage about Abraham Lincoln (with a response sheet).
Before I asked my Seven (a mid-year second grader) to read the passage, I shared a picture of the Lincoln Memorial that I’d found online. I asked him if he knew what it was.
“It’s the Lincoln Memorial. We were there last summer.”
“That’s right! Do you know of any other big buildings like this that were built in memory of other presidents?”
“There’s the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Memorial.”
“That’s right – although Washington Monument is more of a tower. It’s actually called an obelisk. America has had a lot of presidents. Why do you think that our country has built a memorial like this for Abraham Lincoln but not for most of the other presidents?”
“He won the Civil War.”
“Yes, that’s one thing he did. Let’s read this passage and think about why America wanted to honor Lincoln with this magnificent building.”
As you can see, that was a quick introduction. And it’s what I recommend if you use this passage in a guided reading group. No need to take all kinds of time getting kids ready to read … reserve most of your time for the actually reading and responding.
He read the entire passage. After that, I asked a series of response questions. (When you purchase the entire bundle, you’ll get a teacher’s guide for each passage. They include discussion questions like these.)
- Where did Lincoln live as he was growing up?
- What did young Abe like to do more than anything else? Why do you think so?
- What was slavery like?
- Why were Southerners upset when Lincoln became president?
- What was the Civil War? How did it end?
- What was the Emancipation Proclamation?
- Why do you think Lincoln was shot?
- Why do you think America built the Lincoln Memorial?
- What is on the front and back of the penny?
After our post-reading discussion, it was time for him to do the response sheet. I had him highlight the answers in the reading passage. This came in handy when he chose the wrong answer for #1 and found the correct answer in the second sentence. 🙂
When the questions were a little challenging, I helped him find the clues in the text.
Most of the vocabulary words did not have clear definitions in the text. But he used context clues to infer their meanings.
This passage works well for kids reading at a mid-second grade reading level – but you may have advanced first graders or older learners for whom it’s a good fit!
Don’t forget – if you want two more passages for Abraham Lincoln, plus passages for eleven other famous people, grab my affordable bundle of reading comprehension passages!
This was a free sample. Get the whole bundle!
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