Grades 4–5
Famous Words: Who Said It?
Match 7 famous words from American history (“Give me liberty, or give me death!”, “Four score and seven years ago”, “One small step”) to the people who said them.
Social studies worksheet · Historical figures
Read and Learn: Helen Keller
Read 5 facts about Helen Keller (deaf and blind from a baby, her teacher Anne Sullivan, the word “water”, college and her work for others), draw a scene and answer 3 questions.
- Grade level
- Grades 2–5
- Time
- About 20 minutes
- Topic
- Historical figures
- Answer key
- Yes, page 2 of the PDF
- Kids practice
- Researching people from history, Biography, Cause and effect, Using sources
What kids do
“Read the facts about Helen Keller. Draw a scene from her life, then answer the questions.”
Printed on the sheet:
- Helen Keller was born in Alabama in 1880. An illness when she was a baby left her unable to see or hear.
- When she was 6, her teacher Anne Sullivan came to live with her family.
- Anne spelled words into Helen’s hand with her fingers. Helen understood her first word,
- “water,” at the water pump.
- In 1904 Helen became the first deaf and blind person to finish college with a bachelor’s degree.
- She wrote books and gave speeches around the world to help people with disabilities.
- Draw Helen and Anne at the water pump
- 2. What was the first word Helen understood?
Teacher tip
Try spelling “water” into a partner’s hand, like Anne Sullivan did.
How to use it
- Let kids pick from a list of people you have books about.
- Use the sheet as a plan for a short report or presentation.
- Start with a quick question that connects the topic to kids’ own lives.
Watch for
Kids who copy whole sentences from a book. Teach them to write facts in their own words.
Talk about it
- How is our life different because of them?
- How does this connect to where we live?
Take it further
Make a class timeline of the people kids researched.
US Letter, prints well in black and white. Free for home and classroom use: print as many copies as you need.
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A then-and-now thinking page: kids imagine a historical figure visiting today and write what would amaze, confuse or please them, and what they would tell us.
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Dear Diary: A Day in History
A creative writing template: kids write a diary entry as a historical figure about one important day, with a checklist of facts to include and a sketch.
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