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Benjamin Franklin

Try reading the following to your students and see if they can guess who you are talking about:

"Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise." "A penny saved is a penny earned."

"Haste makes waste."

Do you recognize these well-known proverbs from Poor Richard's Almanack? Who was the author of these familiar sayings?

The same person who coined these expressions was also a scientist and an inventor who was responsible for the invention of things such as the lightning rod, odometer, and bifocals. He came up with the idea of Daylight Saving's Time and founded the first fire company. Do you know who he is now?

This famous man helped to draft the Declaration of Independence along with men such as Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. He signed it when it was completed in 1776. Afterwards, he became an ambassador and traveled to France.

Still not sure who he is? Here's a hint. He is well-known for his experiment with electricity and kites. He flew a kite during a thunderstorm that had a key attached to its string. He wanted to prove that lightning was electricity.

The man who was a newspaper and book printer, writer, inventor, scientist, storekeeper, delegate, politician, ambassador, husband and father was none other than Benjamin Franklin.

In this mini unit, you can: read about Franklin's life in his own words and the words of others, learn about his inventions, peruse a timeline of his life, solve Ben puzzles, learn about the armonica (no – this is not a typo) which was a musical instrument invented by Benjamin Franklin and play it online, and try a few Ben-related experiments in electricity.

Reading

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
(written by Ben for his son William)

The Biography of Benjamin Franklin

More on Benjamin Franklin (younger readers)

Franklin's Inventions

Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin (Timeline)

Fun

Franklin Word Search

Ben Franklin Crossword Puzzle

Ben Franklin and the Armonica

Play the Armonica

Projects & Activities

Static Electricity Experiment

Make a Super Sparker

Recommended Resource

The Ben Franklin Book of Easy and Incredible Experiments

An appealing collection of easy science projects complete with results and explanations. Divided by scientific field, all of the activities included are either actual experiments tried by Franklin himself or inspired variations on his research. One particularly well-presented section, "Using Your Head," stresses the importance of observation and inquiry in research. Citing Franklin's puzzlement over why mail to America from England took weeks longer than mail to England from America, it succinctly describes each step of the process that led him to discover the role of the Gulf Stream and its effect on ocean crossings.

Many of the ideas in this book are bound to lure even reluctant students into action. Easily constructed musical instruments, magic tricks, weather stations, and printing presses can be assembled with minimal materials and effort. Informative black-and-white ink drawings and diagrams appear throughout. Each chapter concludes with a suggested list of sources for students to consult on the next stage of their scientific journeys.(School Library Journal)

Author: Cheryl Kirk Noll

Amazon Price: $10.36

Purchase at Amazon