Students read messages sent to the White House from Jackie Robinson and discuss his role as an athlete and a civil rights activist, as well as the role of athletes in society.
Jackie Robinson was born on this day in 1919.
James Naismith, inventor of the game of basketball, was born in 1861.
Students look at Naismith's original 13 rules for basketball and write about the rules and how they have changed in small groups.
John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed, was born in 1775.
Students use the Timeline Tool to organize details about Chapman's life, the Venn Diagram to organize information, and the Shape Poems Interactive to create poems about apples or Johnny Appleseed.
The first woman swam the English Channel in 1926.
Students brainstorm a list of famous athletic competitors and establish criteria for what makes an athlete "famous." Students then forecast which of today's athletes will still be remembered in 75 to 100 years.