It wouldn't be September without a little Johnny Appleseed.

Every year I like to spend a few days on this American Pioneer, Johnny Appleseed.  He is a historical figure that the students LOVE to learn about. I think it's because he walks such a fine line somewhere between one of America's pioneers and the tooth fairy.  We read both the biography of John Chapman and the Tall Tales of Johnny Appleseed and I know all the kids want to believe that he really does sleep with bears and wrestle giant fish.
Last year we focused on Johnny Appleseed, the story teller. We wrote some tall tales of our own. This was a lot of fun and you can read all about it by clicking here. 
This year I'm focusing on Johnny Appleseed but exploring the true history behind him.  I have a great set of biographies that are at the perfect reading level for second grade. I ordered them from Scholastic a couple of years ago and they have been so useful (especially later in the year when we write cereal box biography reports).  

Here is our set of biographies.  There are six of each so I will do the reading part of this activity in guided reading groups.

After reading the biography the students complete these four pages. The first page is where the students draw a picture of our dear old Johnny.  The next three pages is where they answer, who?what? and where? There is just enough space for two or three sentence answers which is all I think many of the newly second graders can handle this early in the year.  

You can download my Johnny Appleseed Stand Up Writing Project by visiting my TpT Store.

What are some of your fun Johnny Appleseed activities? I would love to hear in the comments below :)

Cereal Box Biography Reports

It's almost the end of the year so everything has to be unique and have an element of fun for my students to be engaged. Cereal Box Reports are always fun to make and the kids like sharing their finished product with the rest of the class.

Last year I was able to order this great set of Biography Books that were on a reading level that all my students can handle.  There are 12 different famous people (even though 6 are showing in this picture). The options are limited but they are exposed to the genre of biographies and truthfully not one of my students complained about the lack of choices. They are so easy going :)

I gave the students a web to help them organize their facts.  The organizer has 4 sections:  

childhood, interesting facts, accomplishments, my opinion. 

Each of these topics about their famous person became a side of the cereal box.

It took us about a week to complete but here they are!!!