Grade Levels: K-3

*Click to open and customize your own copy of the Johnny Appleseed Lesson Plan.

This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP Jr. topic Johnny Appleseed, and supports the standard of analyzing individuals’ contributions to society. Students demonstrate understanding through a variety of projects.

Step 1: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

Ask students:

  • What is one way you want to make your community better? Why is this important?

Step 2: BUILD KNOWLEDGE

  • Play the Johnny Appleseed movie.  
  • Click the pause button each time a question appears in Annie’s Notebook and discuss it as a class. Then play to see how Annie answers it. 

TIP: The pause button turns red to remind you to pause. 

Step 3: APPLY and ASSESS

Students take the Easy Quiz or Hard Quiz, demonstrating what they learned about the topic while applying essential literacy skills.

Step 4: DEEPEN and EXTEND

Students express what they learned about Johnny Appleseed while practicing essential literacy skills with one or more of the following activities. Differentiate by assigning ones that meet individual student or grade-level needs.

  • Draw About It: Make a poster to share a message Johnny Applesee might tell people today.
  • Activity: Write and illustrate your own tall tale about Johnny Appleseed.
  • Talk About It: Compare Johnny Appleseed to another folk hero.
  • Write About It: Write about a message you would spread across the country.

More to Explore 

Biographies Unit: Continue to build understanding around famous historical figures by exploring more BrainPOP Jr. topics.

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