FRAME THE LESSON
CLASS: 2nd Social Studies
American Stories
Student Expectations Bundled in Lesson
Noun=Underline
Verb=Italicize
Resources/Materials:
15A: identify selected stories, poems, statues, paintings, and other examples of the local cultural heritage
15B: explain the significance of selected stories, poems, statues, paintings, and other examples of the local cultural heritage
18B: obtain information about a topic using a variety of valid visual sources such as pictures, maps, electronic sources,
literature, reference sources, and artifacts
18E: interpret oral, visual, and print material by identifying the main idea, predicting, and comparing and contrasting
19B: create written and visual material such as stories, poems, maps, and graphic organizers to express ideas
Objective/Key Understanding:
 Identify the significance of stories that are part of the
American cultural heritage.
 Identify characters in folk tales who demonstrate
individualism, courage, honor, generosity, hard work,
patriotism, and strength.
 Describe how our natural heritage can be passed on and
shared through stories, and folk tales.
 Obtain information about America’s past through
literature.
 Create a tall tale.
DATE 411-4/15
Introduce Vocabulary Activity
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Facts
Fiction
Folk tale
Tall tale
We Explore People
and Places
(p. 158-161)
Informal Assessment Questions 1-8 Got It? p. (p. 158-161)
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Underline one fact about Davy Crockett.
Underline Johnny Appleseed’s real name.
Underline how Betsy Ross made her living.
Underline part of each story that is fiction.
Underline part of the story that is fiction.
How are folk tales and tall tales alike? How are they different?
Why are American tales important?
On a separate sheet of paper, write you own tall tale. You can use a character you have read about, or make up your own new character. Share your
story with a partner. Talk about what you wrote.
Small Group Purposeful Talk Question Stems (ESL) (p. 159)
Tell children that telling or retelling stories is a way to share information
they have read.
Beginning
 Have children choose one of the stories from the lesson. Ask
questions that can be answered in single words or phrases to help
them tell the story. For example: Who is the story about? What is
your character’s name? What work did he or she do?
Intermediate
 Have children retell a story from the lesson. Encourage children to
use complete sentences. Provide sentence frames to start, if
necessary: This story is about _____. (S) He lived in _____.
Advanced
 Have children work with a partner to retell a story from the lesson in
their own words. Encourage partners to ask questions.
Advanced High:
 Have children retell a story from the lesson to a small group.
Encourage the group to make comments and ask questions about the
story. You may want to challenge children to tell the story without
revealing the character’s name. The group can guess who the story is
about from the details given.
Small Group Purposeful Talk Question Stems (Differentiated
Instruction) (p. 160)
Use the following ideas to differentiate instruction for children when
discussing tall tales.
Special Needs
 Have children look at more pictures of Paul Bunyan, Pecos Bill,
and John Henry. Ask them if these images look like real life or
something make believe.
Extra Support
 Have children compare the stories of Pau Bunyan and Betsy Ross.
Ask them if any details in the Betsy Ross story sound like fiction
and if any details in the Paul Bunyan story sound like facts. Ask
children to make a list of what they find.
On-Level
 Have children make a three-column chart and title each column
after one of the tall tales in this lesson. Ask children to write
every fictional detail from the three stories in the correct column.
Options: Read another tall tale about a character that has not been
introduced in the lesson. Have children identify the details of this
story, or ask children to make up fictional details for a tall tale
character they create.
Challenge/Gifted
 Have children identify a large physical feature where they live.
Ask them to write a tall tale that explains how it was made. Invite
children to share their tall tales with the class.
Engage
Explore
Explain
Elaborate
Evaluate
Introduce the Key Idea & Vocabulary (p. 158)
 Read to the class the Key Idea: “I will know that America’s culture can be passed on and shared through stories.” Tell students in this lesson they will be
learning about this quote and what it means to American History.
 Go online to access the Lesson Introduction and discuss the Big Question and lesson objective (p. 158).
Remind students they will know that America’s culture can be passed on and shared through stories. Introduce topics students will learn about in this lesson.
 Folk Tales (p. 158)
 Davy Crockett (p. 158)
 Johnny Appleseed (p. 159)
 Betsy Ross (p. 159)
 Tall Tales (p. 160)
 Paul Bunyan (p. 160)
 Pecos Bill (p. 160)
 John Henry (p. 161)
Remind students they will know that America’s culture can be passed on and shared through stories.
Folk Tales (p. 158)
 A folk tale is a story rom long ago about the lives of real people.
Davy Crockett (p. 158)
 Davy Crockett was born in Tennessee and became a great bear hunter.
Johnny Appleseed (p. 159)
 John Chapman, known as Johnny Appleseed, was known for planting many apple trees across the country.
Betsy Ross (p. 159)
 Betsy Ross was a seamstress who sewed the first American flag.
Tall Tales (p. 160)
 A tall tale is a story that starts off sounding true, but is mostly fiction.
Paul Bunyan (p. 160)
 When Paul Bunyan was a baby, he was so big that he ate 40 bowls of oatmeal each day.
Pecos Bill (p. 160)
 Stories say that Pecos Bill was the best cowboy to ever live.
John Henry (p. 161)
 There have been songs and books written about a railroad worker named John Henry. Some say that he was bigger and taller than any other man around.
Folk Tales (p. 158)
 What is a folk tale?
Davy Crockett (p. 158)
 How was Davy Crocket able to buy a horse?
Johnny Appleseed (p. 159)
 Why did Johnny Appleseed plant apple trees across the United States?
Betsy Ross (p. 159)
 Summarize how the flag of the United States was made. What did the stars and stripes on the flag represent?
Tall Tales (p. 160)
 How are folk tales and tall tales different?
Paul Bunyan (p. 160)
 Minnesota is called the Land of 10,000 Lakes. How does this story suggest those lakes were made?
Pecos Bill (p. 160)
 Rodeo riding is a sport where people ride wild horses or bulls. It is hard not to fall off. How is this like Pecos Bill riding the tornado?
John Henry (p. 161)
 Can one person build a tunnel alone wit hammers? Why?
Students will demonstrate mastery by completing the Got It Questions: (See these questions listed above in the Informal Assessment portion of frame).