Last updated: July 29, 2024
Lesson Plan
Building a Cabin: Math
Building a cabin is hard work!
National Park Service
- Grade Level:
- Upper Elementary: Third Grade through Fifth Grade
- Subject:
- Math,Social Studies
- Lesson Duration:
- 60 Minutes
- State Standards:
- Kentucky
KY.3.MD.7
KY.3.MD.8
4.E.IC.1
RI.5.3 - Thinking Skills:
- Remembering: Recalling or recognizing information ideas, and principles. Understanding: Understand the main idea of material heard, viewed, or read. Interpret or summarize the ideas in own words.
Essential Question
What would it take to build a cabin like the one Abraham Lincoln lived in?
Objective
Students will learn about tools and resources needed to build a frontier cabin. Students will also explore area and perimeter of their cabin.
Background
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Students should be familiar with Kentucky resources.
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Students should be able to find both perimeter and area prior to activity.
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Have students view teacher selected parts from materials section on cabins.
Preparation
Preview articles on cabins attached and choose sections or portions you want students to view.
Materials:
- The Pioneer Log House in Kentucky
- Provides photos and primary sources of early cabins and provides the student background of hardships settlers faced when moving.
- https://heritage.ky.gov/Documents/PioneerLogHouse.pdf
- Dovetails and Broadaxes: Hands-on Log Cabin Preservation
- Shows various types of notches, tools, horses pulling logs and more.
- https://www.fs.usda.gov/t-d/pubs/pdfpubs/pdf15232802/Part12-Appendix_E-Pages-259-278.pdf
Lesson Hook/Preview
My Family is Ready to Move Again?
Can you imagine if you were living the life of young Abraham Lincoln, and your family was starting to build your home on the frontier once again? Many families moved from place to place depending upon resources available to them from the area. First you need to clear the area to be able to build your home. The dimensions might be 12 feet by 16 feet with one door and possibly a window. Make sure that you face south to keep warm. Then you will need to find 50-70 tall trees, probably American Chestnut or Poplar to chop down. After you chop down the trees, then you will have to hitch a horse or mule to each log and drag it miles to the place you have decided to build.
Once you get the logs to your build site, then you had to notch out the ends to make them lock together. It would be someone’s job to chop off or plane off the branches and bark to keep out the insects.
The next thing might be to gather heavy stones to build the foundation of your home and gather smaller ones for the hearth and fireplace.
Once you gather all of these things, and have cleared the area, you might start to build. The logs would be extremely heavy. Lifting them one by one on top of each other would have been a difficult task. After placing all of the logs, you would then add chinking you had made from clay, dirt, sand, and rock to put between the logs to keep out the drafts.
Procedure
Step 1: After researching about the cabin, have students create the area a typical cabin might be by either putting string around the perimeter outside, or tape on a floor.
Step 2: Have students draw and design the layout on graph paper a cabin, with dimensions. They will then find the area and perimeter of their cabin drawing.
Step 3: Have students write a journal about what their day might consisted of in during the time Kentucky was first being settled.
Vocabulary
Area: Area is the amount of space inside a shape.
Perimeter: Perimeter is the distance around the outside of a shape.
Resource: The source of supply, support, or aid, especially one that can be readily drawn upon when needed.
Assessment Materials
Drawing or JournalAssessments may include:
Drawing of cabin with dimensions, finding both area and perimeter.
Journal entry of a child helping with the building of a cabin.
Related Lessons or Education Materials
Meets Kentucky 3rd-5th grade math standards. This lesson was created by Kentucky teachers as a part of the History and Science Explore Project.