Writing About Important People 2 nd Grade Informative Writing Unit

I Can Standards teacher

I Can Standards books & use the computer. research on the internet. important people.

Abraham Lincoln  Our 16 th president  Born in Kentucky in  He was a soldier, worked in a general store, and worked as a farmer and postmaster. He later became a lawyer.  He was called “Honest Abe” because he was trustworthy.  While he was president there was a civil war because of disagreement between the southern states and the northern states over slavery.

Cesar Chavez  He spent more than 40 years helping farmworkers have a better life. He lived from 1927 to  His grandparents came to the United States from Mexico.  He encouraged farmworkers to register to vote.  He helped the farmworkers to join together to help them have better working conditions.  He led a march in California to get landowners to pay the workers more money and it worked.

Susan B. Anthony  She fought for women’s rights.  Susan was born in 1820 in Massachusetts.  She decided to fight for a woman’s right to vote.  Susan traveled all over the country to talk to people about women’s rights.  She tried to vote along with 100 other women, but she was arrested since it was against the law.  Her work for more than 50 years made a difference in 1920 when women were given the right to vote.

Martin Luther King, Jr.  Dr. King worked to change unfair laws that gave African Americans fewer rights than white people.  He was born in 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia.  Martin believed that all people should be treated the same way.  Dr. King was admired around the world and he was given a very important award called the Nobel Peace Prize.  He had a dream that people would not be judged by the color of their skin.

Betsy Ross  She is believed to have made the first American flag.  Betsy was born in Pennsylvania in 1752 before the United States of America had become a country.  She went to school and learned to sew.  George Washington wanted a flag made and he asked Betsy to sew it.  She sewed a rectangle with 13 stripes and 13 stars in one corner.

Rosa Parks  Many people call Rosa Parks the “Mother of the Civil Rights Movement.”  Rosa was born in Alabama in  There were unfair laws in the South to segregate or separate African Americans from white people.  Rosa got on the bus to go home and the bus driver told her she had to move to the back to give her seat to a white person, but she said “No.”  Rosa was arrested and went to trial. Finally the Supreme Court made a decision to let all people sit where they wanted.

Alexander Graham Bell  He invented the telephone in He also invented new kinds of planes and boats.  Alexander was born in Scotland in  He wanted to invent a machine that could send sounds through a wire.  He worked with a man named Thomas to invent a telephone.  By 1915 Mr. Bell’s telephone made it possible to make calls all the way across the country.

George Washington  He was a hero from the Revolutionary War, so he was elected to be the first president in  George was born on a farm in Virginia in  He had a dream to become a soldier. He was chosen to lead an army formed by the colonies.  George’s army won the war to gain independence or freedom from England.  He was president of the United States from 1789 to 1797 and often called the “father of our country.”

Harriet Tubman  Harriet was born around 1820 in Maryland to a family that were slaves in the south.  She never went to school. She had one dress and no shoes. She had to work like a grown-up.  When she got older she decided to head to the northern states where there was no slavery.  The Underground Railroad helped Harriet along the way until she got to freedom.  She wanted to help other slaves, so she led more than 300 people to freedom in the North.

Helen Keller  When Helen was almost two, she got very sick. After that, she couldn’t hear or see.  At age six, a teacher named Annie Sullivan came to live with her family to teach Helen how to communicate with words.  Helen learned to read books in Braille, raised dots for letters.  In 1900 at age 20, she went to college and wrote a book about her life.  She visited more than 30 countries to give hope to deaf and blind people.

Squanto  Squanto was a Native American that helped the Pilgrims.  He was born around the year  In 1614 Squanto was forced to go to Spain to be a slave, but he escaped or got away and went to England.  Squanto returned home after five years and helped the settlers or Pilgrims to live in the new land.  He taught Pilgrims how to hunt and grow food.

Johnny Appleseed  His dream was to plant apple trees all over the western United States.  Johnny was born in Massachusetts in  At age 23, he knew settlers were moving west and they would need apples to make different food, so he traveled west to plant apple trees.  Johnny made friends with the Native Americans and they helped each other.  He traveled for nearly 50 years and he planted apple seeds wherever he went.

Graphic Organizers to Help You

Now it’s your turn to choose your important person to write about…  Play the “I have Who has” game with your group.  Choose the important person you want to write about.  Use sources (books, ipods/ipads, and computers) to find out information about the important person you choose to write about.  Use the graphic organizers to take notes about your important person.  Use the information you found to write your informative paper.

Have Fun Learning About Important People