This curriculum unit is meant to accompany a Read180 unit on the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, but can be incorporated into any unit of study that teachers are undertaking. The focus that the unit brings is the concept of object study in the classroom. Early in the unit I will introduce the concept of material culture to students and then begin to allow them to practice object study in the classroom through activities, such as Show and Tell and the Object Study Timeline, which they will work on sporadically throughout the life of the unit. Throughout the unit I will introduce a variety of online sources, such as the Library of Congress, The Ford’s Theater Museum, and others highlighted in the unit, that will serve to parallel our readings. The unit will end with students going back to the resources to participate in the Lincoln Assassination Living Museum Activity.
(Developed for Read 180, grades 5-8; recommended for Language Arts, grades 5-8; English, grades 9-12; and American History, grades 6-12)
