Johnny Appleseed: A History Lesson

Teaching Materials for this lesson:

1. Johnny Appleseed by, Carol Ottolenghi.
2. Johnny Appleseed word-search free printable from About.com’s Homeschooling site. You can click here and then print out as many copies as needed.

The Lesson:

Ask the students if they have ever heard of Johnny Appleseed. If any say,” yes”, then ask them if they know Johnny’s real name. Tell them Johnny Appleseed was a real American pioneer named, John Chapman. John grew up in a poor family and went to work at a young age for a man named Mr. Crawford. Can you guess what kind of orchard Mr. Crawford owned? An apple orchard. So, that is the person who first taught Johnny Appleseed about apples.

Tell students that by the time Johnny Appleseed reached adulthood, he decided to become a preacher. As a preacher, Johnny showed his love and concern for mankind. Johnny had already learned to love the land and then felt led to care for the land by planting apple trees anywhere he could. Ask students if they think that Johnny stopped preaching or caring for the people even though he traveled to plant apple seeds? No, Johnny continued to preach when he could and is well remembered as a kind and generous man.

Ask students if Johnny cared about having money and the newest items on the market? Tell the children that Johnny never wore shoes and gave all of his best clothing to others who needed it. Johnny used the money he made to help anyone he came across who was in need. He spent his adult life “wandering” and planting trees so, he didn’t keep any more money than he needed to eat. Johnny would even rescue animals and bring them back to health. Once they were healed he would give them to a poor family. All the family had to do was to promise to treat the animal humanely.

Johnny Appleseed planted trees throughout his home state of Ohio as well as Indiana and parts of a few other states. He died at the age of 70.

Review:

Review the kind of man Johnny Appleseed was. Ask the children the things they can do to be more like Johnny Appleseed. Encourage them to give their old toys to a needy family or donate some time helping at an animal shelter. Talk about how Johnny cared about his environment and encourage them to remember him when they recycle. Johnny also treated each person with kindness. Encourage the students to follow John Chapman’s example and treat their classmates with kindness. Then, have the children fill out the word search listed in the teacher’s materials (above).

Take Away:

* Johnny Appleseed was a man who cared about people, animals, and plant life.

* You too can show kindness and compassion toward others.

* You too can treat animals kindly and get them help if they are hurt.

* You too can plant trees and be friendly to the environment.

Resources:

Johnny Appleseed: Wikipedia.org

Johnny Appleseed: Maureen and Jim Tansey

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