legend
Classroom Connections For teachers and students grades K - 5The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Script, lyrics & music ? 1996 & 2006 by Paul Deiss;
Ichabod’s Classroom
A is an apple on the tree
B is a busy bumble bee
C is a cat on the window sill
D is a dainty daff odil
E is an egg that soon will hatch
F is a fi sherman’s daily catch
G is a goat that cries a bleat
H is a hog we raise for meat
Easy as
Here is an excerpt from Ichabod’s “ABC” song from the classroom. Discuss the way rhyme is used in the song. As a class, fi nish the song using the rest of the letters of the alphabet. Then, assign each student a ‘page’ of the alphabet book to illustrate. When you are done, you will have your own original book!
A
B C
Love in Tarry Town?
For class discussion: Who do you think deserved Katrina, Ichabod or Brom? Who do you think deserved Ichabod? Did Katrina, Gretchen, or Edith? List character traits (words that describe the characters) under their names. Choose who you think should have gotten married if the story had ended with a ‘and they lived happily ever after.’
These words tell about someone in the play. Can you match them to the correct name above?
skinny-legged mean singer pretty
strong
smart
jealous
Brom? Ask your class-mates who they would like Katrina to marry. Then chart the answers on a graph. Who had the most votes? Why?
Legend : A story that has been handed down from
generation to generation and usually includes information about the past. Most cultures have legends.
Discussion: Brainstorm diff erent types of stories that might be legends (i.e., ghost stories, fables, family stories, or stories about the past). What stories are most well known? (Some examples may include tall tales such as Paul Bunyan or fairy tales such as Cinderella).
Questions:
1. In what forms do we experience legends? (For example, a book is one form).
2. Why do you think legends are important to a culture?
3. Do legends teach us anything about people or the past?Read Aloud:
Choose a legend to read aloud to your class, such as Rip Van Winkle (also by Washington Irving) or Johnny Appleseed . Then, ask students to answer the following:
1. How does the legend make you feel?
2. What does the legend tell you about America?
3. Which characters in the story were most important? Most familiar?
4. What makes this story interesting to many people?
Legend Has It...
Try This!
As legends are told and re-told, the stories sometimes change. Try this in class by play-ing “telephone.” Have your teacher begin by whispering a short couple of sentences to a classmate. Continue whispering around the circle until each student has had a turn listening and “repeating” what the teacher said. Did the message stay the same, or did it change?
Mapping the Story of Sleepy Hollow Use the organizer below to map out the storyline from the play. In a story like The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, is there a solution to the main problem? How does the lack of information at the end of the story make the story more interesting?
“Who-ever you are, you’re scaring my horse! Brom? Is that you?... Ah! That’s not Brom!”
“His horse was found grazing in a fi eld. His hat was found trampled in the path. And
splattered by the foot-bridge were the slimy
remains... of a pumpkin.”
A Mystery: Ichabod’s Final Moment
Think about what may have happened to Ichabod:
1. “Some suspect he was the victim of a cruel prank, and blame his disappearance on Brom Van Brunt.”
2. “Some say he left on his own accord, too embarrassed to face his beloved Katrina.”
3. “It would not surprise me if he had been spirited away by some ... headless ghost.”
What is your conclusion about the fate of Ichabod? Why?
Reading Resource:
Epitaph : An inscrip-tion on a tombstone in memory of the one buried there.
Try This:
What do you think Icabod’s grave stone would have said? Write an epitaph
for Icabod Crane.
Extend It:
Washington Irving is buried in Sleepy Hollow. What do you think his epitaph says? Researh it and
fi nd out.
Easy Activity
Pretend you met the Headless Horseman. Think of fi ve questions you would ask he to fi nd out more about who he was.
Challenge
You are detective with the Tarry Town Police Department. One night on patrol you pull over the Headless Horseman and bring him in for questioning. Think of fi ve questions you would ask him to help you fi nd out what truly happened the night Ichabod Crane disap-peared. Explain how these questions would help you get to the truth.
Extra Challenge
You are detective investigating the disap-pearance of Ichabod Crane. You are planning an interview with the Headless Horseman, and with Brom Van Brunt. What questions would you ask each of these suspects? Write the answers to your questions, from the per-spectives of Brom and the Headless Horse-man. What would they say?
Washington Irving was born April 3, 1783, in New York City. He was the youngest of a rich merchant ’s eleven children. In school he was an average student who enjoyed music, books, and art. Though he would practice law on Wall
Street, work in his family’s cutlery business, and even serve (later in life) as U.S. Minister to Spain, he loved books and writing. By the time he was 35 he devoted himself to his writing.
Much of Irving’s writing was infl uenced by his travels. Excur-sions up the Hudson River were followed by a two-year stay in southern Europe. While there, Irving fi lled notebooks with his impressions of people. He wrote satires based upon those notes about people. He published his fi rst book, A History of New York, in 1809, under his pen name , Diedrich Knickerbocker .
Other famous books included The Sketch Book (1819, which included The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle ), Tales of a Traveler (1824), and The Alhambra (1832).
Irving also wrote biographies of Oliver Goldsmith, Mahomet, and George Washington. Irving never married, being happy to spend his time at home with his brother and fi ve nieces. Washington Irving died on November 28, 1859 in Irvington, New York. He was 76.
Questions to Consider:
1. Why do you think an author would use a pen name? If you were to choose a pen name, what would it be?
2. Do you think Irving ever met anyone like Brom? If he had, what impression do you think he’d have of a Brom-like person?
3. Irving lived from 1783 - 1859. America was a new nation. Technologies that we take for granted were unheard of in that time. In what ways do you think his story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow might have been diff erent if it were written in the 21st century?
4. Using the information above, create a timeline of important events in Washington Irving’s life. Add boxes if you need to.
Portrait of Washington Irving, Esqr., by Charles Turner. Smithsonian American Art Museum
About the Author
Vocabulary
merchant : a business-man who sells goods pen name : a name an author uses that is not his/her real name publish : to print, make public, and distribute a book
excursion : a trip, adven-ture
satire : a type of writing that pokes fun at people or situations
devoted : to be loyal or faithful to something or someone
impression : an observa-tion, thought, or idea about something
Challenge
Re-write Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow , changing the setting from that of the 1700’s to the 21st century.If the story were re-writ-ten today, how would the characters change or stay the same? Are there still people around like Ichabod, or like Brom?
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