For the purpose of this paper I will use a second grade Social Studies lesson on Abraham Lincoln. In order to get the students to learn the important facts about President Lincoln, we will put on a small play called "The Ballad of Abraham Lincoln" by Tracey West. This is a great choice because it allows the students to actively participate in their own learning. There are four individual parts as well as a part for the rest of the class. By incorporating all the students in the play, they all have a chance to participate. The play uses rhyming stanzas to present the important milestones in Abraham Lincoln's life. Rhyming is a great way for young students to retain the information because it makes it easier for them to remember. Another reason this method of instruction will help students learn is because it creates a cooperative learning environment. Studies have shown that cooperative learning exercises lead to a greater retention of information and higher student achievement (Dahley, 1994). In order to prepare for an upcoming test on President Lincoln, we will play a few in class games with questions that are similar to questions they will find on their test. Students will compete as teams against each other, earning points for correct answers and the team with the most points at the end of the game wins. Each student will be asked to write a question about President Lincoln based on the information they had been learning in class. To keep a variety of questions, students will be given different areas to cover such as early life, presidency, Civil War, etc. This exercise will help students prepare for a test because studies have indicated that using games in the classroom can result in a 20 percentile gain in achievement (Marzano, 2010). Making learning fun is one of the best ways to encourage learning and increase retention in students. This