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July 12
Henry David Thoreau was born in 1817.
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| Grades | 1 – 12 |
| Calendar Activity Type | Author & Text |
Henry David Thoreau was born on July 12, 1817. Thoreau is best known for his book Walden, which chronicles the two years that he lived in a small hut near the edge of Walden Pond.
Take your class on a nature walk near your school, or have them focus on a natural setting nearby. As students walk or view the setting, ask them to take note of the details of the surroundings and make a mental "snapshot" of the location in their minds.
Once they return to class, have students write their notes during a focused writing session, making sure to capture the details of the setting. After the initial writing session, students can revise and polish their writing and create a class booklet of the nature walk, using the ReadWriteThink Printing Press.
- Poets.org: Henry David Thoreau
This biography of Thoreau, published by the Academy of American Poets, links to a collection of online texts including Walden.
- Walden Pond Exhibit
After reading passages from Walden with your students, have them compare Thoreau's description of the pond with the photographs on this website.
- American Transcendentalism Web: Henry David Thoreau
This entry on Thoreau includes a complete biography with links to related materials and readings. The site provides extensive information about Thoreau, including links about his work as a surveyor and pencil maker.
- How to Keep a Field Journal
Students can keep a record of their own nature observations in a field journal, as described in this resource from the American Museum of Natural History. A number of diverse example pages, including drawings, charts, and narrative observations from the field journals of actual scientists, are included.
Grades K – 2 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
Dr. Seuss's Sound Words: Playing with Phonics and Spelling
Boom! Br-r-ring! Cluck! Moo!—Everywhere you turn, you find exciting sounds. Students use these sounds to write their own poems based on Dr. Seuss's Mr. Brown Can MOO! Can You?
Grades 3 – 5 | Lesson Plan | Unit
Nature Reflections: Interactive Language Practice for English-Language Learners
Students whose first language is not English reflect on nature through readings, a visit to a green area, and bookmaking using the writing process and peer feedback.
Grades 9 – 12 | Lesson Plan | Unit
Examining Transcendentalism through Popular Culture
Using excerpts from the works of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, comics, and songs from different musical genres, students examine the characteristics of transcendentalism.
Grades 9 – 12 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
Blogtopia: Blogging about Your Own Utopia
Students work together to create their own utopias, using blogs as the primary source of publication.
Grades 6 – 8 | Lesson Plan | Unit
Crit Lit for Kids: From Critical Consciousness to Service Learning
Students take their ideas from the classroom page to the community pavement when they participate in a service-learning project based on their multimedia presentations.
Grades 4 – 8 | Lesson Plan | Minilesson
Creative Writing in the Natural World: A Framing
Students practice writing detailed, sensory-rich descriptions by framing a small piece of nature and freewriting about it. From this minilesson, students can develop a variety of types of writing.
