We're currently continuing a US History unit on Westward Expansion.
I'm linking plans for a couple of lessons we've finished. I've started uploading the lessons to Zoho. I think it allows the lessons to be downloaded for editing if a person would like as well as copy/paste or read directly as one could when I've posted on this blog.
Wagon Train Travel in General
This plan includes the experience of travel in a wagon and cardinal directions (a Core Knowledge objective).
Santa Fe Trail
For these lessons I focused on the rich cultural influences in the area (Native American, Spanish, and then those of the Americans traveling on the Santa Fe Trail).
I'll be posting lessons for the Oregon Trail (and Gold Rush, Buffalo Bill, Alamo, etc.) as we work through them in the coming days.
It occurred to me that these westward lessons could combine with many of the Core Knowledge science objectives on habitats/biomes. For example, The Wilderness Road lessons could be used with forests, (with a stretch) the Ohio River Valley with underground (or river if you added a habitat lesson to CK objectives), the wagon train lessons with prairies, the Santa Fe Trail lessons with deserts, and the Oregon trail or California with Oceans (or mountains for one and oceans the other if you wanted to add a mountain habitat lesson). Rain Forests wouldn't work of course! I tend to do science and history in alternating units so we didn't do this but I think it might work well.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Prairie Dog Lessons
We're working through a biome/habitat science unit right now.
I decided to cover prairie dogs in those lessons. However, prairie dogs could be covered in many history topics such as Lewis and Clark, Westward Expansion, and even the Dust Storms era so I decided to link the prairie dog lessons as an individual unit here.
I decided to cover prairie dogs in those lessons. However, prairie dogs could be covered in many history topics such as Lewis and Clark, Westward Expansion, and even the Dust Storms era so I decided to link the prairie dog lessons as an individual unit here.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Ohio River Valley Pioneers and Johnny Appleseed
Lesson--Ohio River Valley Pioneers with Flatboat Travel
We used our salt dough maps from the Wilderness Road lessons to talk about how people settled the Ohio River valley area and flatboat travel by pioneers down the Ohio.
We read Unit 8 of American Pioneers and Patriots including the introduction to that unit. The introduction gives context for Native American reaction to the settlers and is really important to begin in my opinion.
Activities
We made a flatboat today using the activity in this link (scroll down to the make a flatboat PDF at the bottom).
The next day we visited a local pioneer village from this time period. Here is a sort of clickable tour. There may be nice virtual options online; I didn't look much since we have local options.
Lessons--Johnny Appleseed and Art (texture in art)
This lesson set took multiple days here. I'm sure the time used could vary.
There are lots of apple related crafts and activities here.
Day 1
I read The American Story The Lord's Been Good to Me and we talked about the legends or tall tales that surround Johnny Appleseed (a Core Knowledge Objective). We also watched this silly song. Most of the library books I previewed incorporated plenty of Appleseed legend and could be used for this lesson. There are lots of online video or audio stories (some linked later) that could be an alternative to The American Story or another book as well.
Activities:
I did the toilet paper craft from this link because it emphasizes his religious faith and some of the legends surrounding him even in his lifetime.
We also made baked apples today.
Day 2
I read First Biographies Johnny Appleseed because I found it more accurate than the other library books I previewed.
As specified in the Core Knowledge art objectives we discussed the texture in the Young Hare painting by Albrecht Durer. This link includes artist information as well as the painting.
Activity
We did the apple tree print picture craft from this link. The paint in this craft has a texture to it. I could have done apple prints instead. On the back we added a listing of the positive characteristics of Johnny Appleseed.
Day 3
We watched this about the life of Johnny Appleseed. An alternative is this audio about Johnny Appleseed. I would have used a book had I found one I liked. This has some legends presented as fact which I used to reinforce the concepts outlined in Core Knowledge. I used this information to guide our discussion.
We viewed this Native American Pomo Basket.
For our follow up activity today we glued small red yarn pieces onto an apple shape so our apple had texture we could feel like that basket we viewed. On the back of the apple the boys listed some of the legends/inaccuracies passed down.
Here are some apple games I didn’t ultimately use. Here is an animation we didn't use (not accurate but cute).
We used our salt dough maps from the Wilderness Road lessons to talk about how people settled the Ohio River valley area and flatboat travel by pioneers down the Ohio.
We read Unit 8 of American Pioneers and Patriots including the introduction to that unit. The introduction gives context for Native American reaction to the settlers and is really important to begin in my opinion.
Activities
We made a flatboat today using the activity in this link (scroll down to the make a flatboat PDF at the bottom).
The next day we visited a local pioneer village from this time period. Here is a sort of clickable tour. There may be nice virtual options online; I didn't look much since we have local options.
Lessons--Johnny Appleseed and Art (texture in art)
This lesson set took multiple days here. I'm sure the time used could vary.
There are lots of apple related crafts and activities here.
Day 1
I read The American Story The Lord's Been Good to Me and we talked about the legends or tall tales that surround Johnny Appleseed (a Core Knowledge Objective). We also watched this silly song. Most of the library books I previewed incorporated plenty of Appleseed legend and could be used for this lesson. There are lots of online video or audio stories (some linked later) that could be an alternative to The American Story or another book as well.
Activities:
I did the toilet paper craft from this link because it emphasizes his religious faith and some of the legends surrounding him even in his lifetime.
We also made baked apples today.
Day 2
I read First Biographies Johnny Appleseed because I found it more accurate than the other library books I previewed.
As specified in the Core Knowledge art objectives we discussed the texture in the Young Hare painting by Albrecht Durer. This link includes artist information as well as the painting.
Activity
We did the apple tree print picture craft from this link. The paint in this craft has a texture to it. I could have done apple prints instead. On the back we added a listing of the positive characteristics of Johnny Appleseed.
Day 3
We watched this about the life of Johnny Appleseed. An alternative is this audio about Johnny Appleseed. I would have used a book had I found one I liked. This has some legends presented as fact which I used to reinforce the concepts outlined in Core Knowledge. I used this information to guide our discussion.
We viewed this Native American Pomo Basket.
For our follow up activity today we glued small red yarn pieces onto an apple shape so our apple had texture we could feel like that basket we viewed. On the back of the apple the boys listed some of the legends/inaccuracies passed down.
Here are some apple games I didn’t ultimately use. Here is an animation we didn't use (not accurate but cute).
War of 1812, White House and Presidents
I struggled a little with the War of 1812. The Core Knowledge objectives don't address the Native American resistance to further expansion into their land and the British alliances supporting Native American resistance that greatly contributed to this war. So I added that perspective into the Core Knowledge objectives.
War of 1812 Day 1
Introduction of causes, Battle of Tippecanoe, and Old Ironsides
I'm going to begin with this video clip to help me introduce the conflict between Native Americans and pioneers.
Then we will read about the Battle of Tippecanoe using parts of the chapter in The Complete Book of US History.
Essentially I tried to set the stage for the war as such:
Finally, the US joins France in the war against England and against the Native Americans allied with England.
Most of the land battles were with Native Americans on the frontier.
Battles between the US and England directly were often at sea using wooden ships with cannons in their sides.
To present the above points and Core Knowledge objectives I made and then read a story type thing from select portions of the information here (Old Ironsides is Born section) I used a picture of the ship from a google image search in my story.
Activities to Close
We figured the size compared to our space as specified here.
Other ideas I collected but didn't use included:
Paper Battleship
What Floats, What Sails
Day 2 General White House and Presidents, Burning of White House, Dolley Madison
We talked about the current president and the White House generally first. I made a little print out using pictures I found online primarily of Obama and his family as well as the White House. My print out also highlighted information about the children who have lived in the White House now and in the past. Lesson 20 in this link and link and link
I used the videos in this person's tour of the White House playlist to get a little of an inside look.
We then reviewed the first four presidents using the book Yo, Millard Filmore.
We watched this clip covering the Presidents.
To cover the Core Knowledge objectives involving the Burning of the White House and Dolley I used much of lesson 7 from this site. I did begin with the introduction in the lesson—what would you take with you if you were leaving your home never to return? Then I wrote the lesson content in story form with some google images.
Day 3 Fort McHenry and the Star Spangled Banner, Battle of New Orleans
Fort McHenry and the Star Spangled Banner
I read this.
Then we created a flag and talked about it’s symbolism. I used something similar to this plan except we used white paint and finger tips to make the “stars” rather than using the star template.
Battle of New Orleans
We watched Communication Now and Then
Then I read the description on the left side of page 142 in The Complete Book of US History but there is an alternative lesson here and this could easily make another day of lessons if desired.
Here is a map to show…sad
MATERIAL FOR A MORE INVOLVED UNIT
I left out so much that could be done with the War of 1812 for various reasons. If my kids were older I would cover a lot more so I wanted to include some great links I found.
This has so much to plan a War of 1812 unit!
http://www.42explore2.com/1812war.htm
War of 1812—website with lesson plans, video, and more for Old Ironsides.
http://www.allhandsondeck.org/main_toc.php
War of 1812 resources—video clips and interactives etc. from the History Channel
http://www.history.com/search?search-field=1812&x=12&y=11
War of 1812 Day 1
Introduction of causes, Battle of Tippecanoe, and Old Ironsides
I'm going to begin with this video clip to help me introduce the conflict between Native Americans and pioneers.
Then we will read about the Battle of Tippecanoe using parts of the chapter in The Complete Book of US History.
Essentially I tried to set the stage for the war as such:
- Settlers wanted to move west into Native American territory.
- The British support Native American resistance to this.
- Further, France and England are fighting on sea as well as land. As US ships travel for trade they are captured by both France and England. They sometimes force the sailors to join their war which is called impressment.
Finally, the US joins France in the war against England and against the Native Americans allied with England.
Most of the land battles were with Native Americans on the frontier.
Battles between the US and England directly were often at sea using wooden ships with cannons in their sides.
To present the above points and Core Knowledge objectives I made and then read a story type thing from select portions of the information here (Old Ironsides is Born section) I used a picture of the ship from a google image search in my story.
Activities to Close
We figured the size compared to our space as specified here.
Other ideas I collected but didn't use included:
Paper Battleship
What Floats, What Sails
Day 2 General White House and Presidents, Burning of White House, Dolley Madison
We talked about the current president and the White House generally first. I made a little print out using pictures I found online primarily of Obama and his family as well as the White House. My print out also highlighted information about the children who have lived in the White House now and in the past. Lesson 20 in this link and link and link
I used the videos in this person's tour of the White House playlist to get a little of an inside look.
We then reviewed the first four presidents using the book Yo, Millard Filmore.
We watched this clip covering the Presidents.
To cover the Core Knowledge objectives involving the Burning of the White House and Dolley I used much of lesson 7 from this site. I did begin with the introduction in the lesson—what would you take with you if you were leaving your home never to return? Then I wrote the lesson content in story form with some google images.
Day 3 Fort McHenry and the Star Spangled Banner, Battle of New Orleans
Fort McHenry and the Star Spangled Banner
I read this.
Then we created a flag and talked about it’s symbolism. I used something similar to this plan except we used white paint and finger tips to make the “stars” rather than using the star template.
Battle of New Orleans
We watched Communication Now and Then
Then I read the description on the left side of page 142 in The Complete Book of US History but there is an alternative lesson here and this could easily make another day of lessons if desired.
Here is a map to show…sad
MATERIAL FOR A MORE INVOLVED UNIT
I left out so much that could be done with the War of 1812 for various reasons. If my kids were older I would cover a lot more so I wanted to include some great links I found.
This has so much to plan a War of 1812 unit!
http://www.42explore2.com/1812war.htm
War of 1812—website with lesson plans, video, and more for Old Ironsides.
http://www.allhandsondeck.org/main_toc.php
War of 1812 resources—video clips and interactives etc. from the History Channel
http://www.history.com/search?search-field=1812&x=12&y=11
Monday, August 8, 2011
Science Lessons
I uploaded my lesson plans for 1st grade science. These were too unwieldy to put on the blog but I think (hope) these links will work and may be easier for others to use as well. I think, for example, the lessons would be able to be downloaded and perhaps modified.
I used the free Baltimore Curriculum plans for some of these lessons. The link is here. Their website encourages the downloading and distribution of their plans. They also mention incorporating their plans with your own ideas. Therefore, I’m sharing the combination of their plans with my own additions and modifications in the hope it helps someone else.
Habitats/Biomes, Food Chains, and Conservation*
*I'm working through this unit now and will be making additions and/or modifying. Compared to other units this one is more lengthy and the plans more complicated.
Matter
Measurement
Electricity
Earth and Space
Human Body
I had previously put a couple of ideas for K science objectives on the blog so I'll link those here as well:
Seasons and Warm/Cool Colors (art) First Post
Seasons and Warm/Cool Colors (art) Continuation
Plants (and some CK art/music objectives with the science)
I used the free Baltimore Curriculum plans for some of these lessons. The link is here. Their website encourages the downloading and distribution of their plans. They also mention incorporating their plans with your own ideas. Therefore, I’m sharing the combination of their plans with my own additions and modifications in the hope it helps someone else.
Habitats/Biomes, Food Chains, and Conservation*
*I'm working through this unit now and will be making additions and/or modifying. Compared to other units this one is more lengthy and the plans more complicated.
Matter
Measurement
Electricity
Earth and Space
Human Body
I had previously put a couple of ideas for K science objectives on the blog so I'll link those here as well:
Seasons and Warm/Cool Colors (art) First Post
Seasons and Warm/Cool Colors (art) Continuation
Plants (and some CK art/music objectives with the science)
History and Geography Plans
I decided to focus only on the Core Knowledge US history objectives for first grade. I decided to complete a study of US history in 2nd grade and then cover the 1st and 2nd grade Core Knowledge ancient history objectives at the end of 2nd grade. I like the idea of a four year history cycle so this will set us up to begin that cycle at the close of 2nd grade.
For ease of use I thought I would link all my posts on US history (followed by some Geography/Cultures studies) thus far. This will cover the US history portion of the Core Knowledge 1st grade objectives. In planning the ancient history objectives I think it might be good to use the lesson planning links on the Core Knowledge site (especially the Colorado plans).
Links to Complete Online US History Plans
Wampanoag
Plymouth Colony
13 Colonies and French Settlement
Revolutionary War
Daniel Boone and the Wilderness Road
Louisiana Purchase/Lewis and Clark/Sacagawea
Prairie Dogs (I used these lessons for a science unit rather than history)
Ohio River Valley Pioneers and Johnny Appleseed
War of 1812, White House, Presidents
Covered Wagon Travel
Santa Fe Trail
I didn’t think to share my links and plans until I started the Wampanoag. At that point I went back and tried to remember what we did for the previous topics. I had erased my plans but tried to use memory and my internet history. So I don’t have nearly the detail for these topics but I still think there are some good links in the plans.
Previous US History Topics Link
Other Links Covering
Native Americans
Columbus, Balboa, Ponce de Leon, Pizarro, Cortes
Native Americans
St. Augustine
The Lost Colony of Roanoke
Jamestown
Geography and Culture Links
For ease of use I thought I would link all my posts on US history (followed by some Geography/Cultures studies) thus far. This will cover the US history portion of the Core Knowledge 1st grade objectives. In planning the ancient history objectives I think it might be good to use the lesson planning links on the Core Knowledge site (especially the Colorado plans).
Links to Complete Online US History Plans
Wampanoag
Plymouth Colony
13 Colonies and French Settlement
Revolutionary War
Daniel Boone and the Wilderness Road
Louisiana Purchase/Lewis and Clark/Sacagawea
Prairie Dogs (I used these lessons for a science unit rather than history)
Ohio River Valley Pioneers and Johnny Appleseed
War of 1812, White House, Presidents
Covered Wagon Travel
Santa Fe Trail
I didn’t think to share my links and plans until I started the Wampanoag. At that point I went back and tried to remember what we did for the previous topics. I had erased my plans but tried to use memory and my internet history. So I don’t have nearly the detail for these topics but I still think there are some good links in the plans.
Previous US History Topics Link
Other Links Covering
Native Americans
Columbus, Balboa, Ponce de Leon, Pizarro, Cortes
Native Americans
St. Augustine
The Lost Colony of Roanoke
Jamestown
Geography and Culture Links
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Louisiana Purchase, Lewis and Clark Expedition
Louisiana Purchase, Lewis and Clark
I’m using the terrific free lapbook and the minibook on the Louisiana Purchase from this site.
We talked about the Wilderness Road and desire to spread out that Boone and those early westward travelers showed. Then we watched this little clip about “Elbow Room” to introduce this and coming units in a simplified way.
Louisiana Purchase---Read details about it in the Complete Book of United States History, Jefferson Buys Louisiana section or another book and discuss.
To help solidify we acted out the purchase using this plan. Honestly, you could probably provide the details yourself in the context of preparing for and acting it out using these plans if a good book isn’t available.
I emphasized that this land was “claimed” by France but we had to remember that it was really the land of the Native Americans. We looked at at a map I made of some of the Native American Tribes in this area. We talked about what this might have felt like. I think this is important to stress and the acting above doesn’t really emphasize that point.
I used these hat and crown patterns.
To close:
We completed the free lapbook minibook on the Louisiana Purchase from the dynamic2moms site. Here is another free option.
The People
I will be reading the Complete Book of United States History, Lewis and Clark Prepare for an Adventure and a book I got from the library about Sacagewea. We might watch this clip.
We completed The Mission and People lapbook components from here.
We didn’t but a person could make a parfleche from this site while emphasizing her contribution to the journey.
The Journey
We read a library book on the journey. I just picked the best available from our local library.
We added What did they take and How long lapbook components.
We did this interactive. This is a nice activity to help the child reflect on the online interactive.
Closing Activity:
We could go outside and make our own nature journals or we could make a diorama of the journey of some sort. I think we're actually going to set up a little masking tape outline of the rivers, blankets and pillows for mountains, laundry basket for boat etc. so we can sort of act out the journey because one of mine particularly learns a lot from those sorts of activities.
Journey—Day 2
We watched Lewis and Clark the great journey west by National Geographic which our library has. It’s also pretty cheap second hand it seems.
We’ll complete the Scholastic Interactive 3-D Map for Lewis and Clark’s Journey and add the map lapbook component of the journey to our lapbooks. I like the map because it has some of the Native American tribes encountered and wanted to emphasize that point.
I also had the boys dictate a summary of the journey experience to add to their lapbooks.
Journey—Day 3
We focused on Native Americans and how they were vital to the journey today. I thought the video I used yesterday did a good job making that point. This activity is really good for emphasizing it I think.
We then added information about those four tribes to our lapbook using this link. I really like the Dynamic for Mom Native American booklet with pictures. However, I didn’t feel they included all the most important tribes to the mission and in fact included some (like Osage) where there was no contact. PBS and National Geographic both have information including pictures of the tribes encountered (I linked Nez Perce as an example) so a nice booklet with pictures could certainly be made. I just used the best photos of the Mandan, Shoshone, Nez Perce, and Clatsop tribes from those two sites for our cards. The boys added information about the tribe and how it helped Lewis and Clark on the back of the picture.
I’m using the terrific free lapbook and the minibook on the Louisiana Purchase from this site.
We talked about the Wilderness Road and desire to spread out that Boone and those early westward travelers showed. Then we watched this little clip about “Elbow Room” to introduce this and coming units in a simplified way.
Louisiana Purchase---Read details about it in the Complete Book of United States History, Jefferson Buys Louisiana section or another book and discuss.
To help solidify we acted out the purchase using this plan. Honestly, you could probably provide the details yourself in the context of preparing for and acting it out using these plans if a good book isn’t available.
I emphasized that this land was “claimed” by France but we had to remember that it was really the land of the Native Americans. We looked at at a map I made of some of the Native American Tribes in this area. We talked about what this might have felt like. I think this is important to stress and the acting above doesn’t really emphasize that point.
I used these hat and crown patterns.
To close:
We completed the free lapbook minibook on the Louisiana Purchase from the dynamic2moms site. Here is another free option.
The People
I will be reading the Complete Book of United States History, Lewis and Clark Prepare for an Adventure and a book I got from the library about Sacagewea. We might watch this clip.
We completed The Mission and People lapbook components from here.
We didn’t but a person could make a parfleche from this site while emphasizing her contribution to the journey.
The Journey
We read a library book on the journey. I just picked the best available from our local library.
We added What did they take and How long lapbook components.
We did this interactive. This is a nice activity to help the child reflect on the online interactive.
Closing Activity:
We could go outside and make our own nature journals or we could make a diorama of the journey of some sort. I think we're actually going to set up a little masking tape outline of the rivers, blankets and pillows for mountains, laundry basket for boat etc. so we can sort of act out the journey because one of mine particularly learns a lot from those sorts of activities.
Journey—Day 2
We watched Lewis and Clark the great journey west by National Geographic which our library has. It’s also pretty cheap second hand it seems.
We’ll complete the Scholastic Interactive 3-D Map for Lewis and Clark’s Journey and add the map lapbook component of the journey to our lapbooks. I like the map because it has some of the Native American tribes encountered and wanted to emphasize that point.
I also had the boys dictate a summary of the journey experience to add to their lapbooks.
Journey—Day 3
We focused on Native Americans and how they were vital to the journey today. I thought the video I used yesterday did a good job making that point. This activity is really good for emphasizing it I think.
We then added information about those four tribes to our lapbook using this link. I really like the Dynamic for Mom Native American booklet with pictures. However, I didn’t feel they included all the most important tribes to the mission and in fact included some (like Osage) where there was no contact. PBS and National Geographic both have information including pictures of the tribes encountered (I linked Nez Perce as an example) so a nice booklet with pictures could certainly be made. I just used the best photos of the Mandan, Shoshone, Nez Perce, and Clatsop tribes from those two sites for our cards. The boys added information about the tribe and how it helped Lewis and Clark on the back of the picture.
Daniel Boone and the Wilderness Road
Daniel Boone and the Wilderness Road
This occurred in the same time frame as the Revolutionary War on our time line.
A person could read Daniel Boone and Wilderness Road in The Complete book of United States History, these stories about Daniel Boone online, or another book. I used the online story but I did a copy paste so I could edit certain points especially in the wording about Native Americans. I also used a couple of library books though neither were terrific.
A link showing what he looked like.
Daniel Boone/History Bill Video (ok I suppose but I decided against using it for various reasons).
We used this map of the Wilderness Road.
Using our regular US map as a guide we made land masses type relief map using salt dough to show location of the Appalachian Mountains, Rocky Mountains, and the major rivers in the United States. As we study westward expansion it is my intention to mark the main pioneer movements on our map. For my salt dough I used 1 cup salt, 1 cup flour, ½ cup water and it was enough for printer paper sized maps for two kids.
Pioneers on the Wilderness Road
I used Pioneers and Patriots which has a three chapter story titled Pioneers Going West about the Wilderness Road. My library had no books on Wilderness Road. I had no luck finding a library book for this topic.
Chapter 1—Possible Activity—A loom type activity (I used a very simplified/small version of this) or do an activity using plant dyes. The idea I hoped to reinforce was the preparation and supplies needed to travel in that time.
Chapter 2—Possible Activity—make moccasins. The many instructions (and videos) available all seem to follow the same idea from this site. Again, this can be used to talk about preparation or how the journey was dangerous and hard on clothing/shoes, animals, and people. We actually just read the chapter and my son wanted to act out the journey.
Chapter 3—Possible Activity—paint the the salt dough map and mark the trail. You could make a log cabin type thing to go along with this chapter to emphasize life upon arrival perhaps.
I’ve got plans for Ohio River Pioneers (including Johnny Appleseed), Plains Pioneers, Sante Fe Trail, Oregon Trail, Gold Rush, Pony Express, Alamo, etc. coming later. However, I scheduled the Louisiana Purchase and Lewis and Clark next in our history chronology as I believe it follows this (and the Revolution) by date.
This occurred in the same time frame as the Revolutionary War on our time line.
A person could read Daniel Boone and Wilderness Road in The Complete book of United States History, these stories about Daniel Boone online, or another book. I used the online story but I did a copy paste so I could edit certain points especially in the wording about Native Americans. I also used a couple of library books though neither were terrific.
A link showing what he looked like.
Daniel Boone/History Bill Video (ok I suppose but I decided against using it for various reasons).
We used this map of the Wilderness Road.
Using our regular US map as a guide we made land masses type relief map using salt dough to show location of the Appalachian Mountains, Rocky Mountains, and the major rivers in the United States. As we study westward expansion it is my intention to mark the main pioneer movements on our map. For my salt dough I used 1 cup salt, 1 cup flour, ½ cup water and it was enough for printer paper sized maps for two kids.
Pioneers on the Wilderness Road
I used Pioneers and Patriots which has a three chapter story titled Pioneers Going West about the Wilderness Road. My library had no books on Wilderness Road. I had no luck finding a library book for this topic.
Chapter 1—Possible Activity—A loom type activity (I used a very simplified/small version of this) or do an activity using plant dyes. The idea I hoped to reinforce was the preparation and supplies needed to travel in that time.
Chapter 2—Possible Activity—make moccasins. The many instructions (and videos) available all seem to follow the same idea from this site. Again, this can be used to talk about preparation or how the journey was dangerous and hard on clothing/shoes, animals, and people. We actually just read the chapter and my son wanted to act out the journey.
Chapter 3—Possible Activity—paint the the salt dough map and mark the trail. You could make a log cabin type thing to go along with this chapter to emphasize life upon arrival perhaps.
I’ve got plans for Ohio River Pioneers (including Johnny Appleseed), Plains Pioneers, Sante Fe Trail, Oregon Trail, Gold Rush, Pony Express, Alamo, etc. coming later. However, I scheduled the Louisiana Purchase and Lewis and Clark next in our history chronology as I believe it follows this (and the Revolution) by date.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Science--Plants Unit
Note: for the vast majority of the Core Knowledge science objectives I found the online lesson plans were terrific just as written. For most I simply got library books and materials for the experiments to perform as written. If there is a Magic School Bus book and/or video on the topic I try to use one or the other depending on availability.
I found materials and specific books for studying plants so I’m including them here.
Parts of Plants and Water Transport
I used this work sheet and we examined a plant we pulled out of the ground by it’s roots.
We ran the celery experiment here to talk about water transport. This could fit in other parts of this plan perhaps better than this lesson but I used it on this day.
Seeds
We read the book A Seed is Sleepy to introduce this lesson.
We performed and discussed this experiment or here is another.
Seed Dispersal
I read Eric Carle’s book The Tiny Seed
Note: this covers only a seed flowing through the wind—so it can be used as an introduction here or as an introduction to talking about how a plant needs certain conditions to thrive. We tied this to the biblical parable about the farmer’s seeds.
You can run a little experiment to emphasize the points by placing seeds in various hospitable and inhospitable conditions.
I also used the book to introduce seed dispersal and followed up with this video clip which shows various ways seeds are dispersed. It’s really interesting! Note that a rhino does poo at the end--dispersing seeds of course!
Go exploring to find seeds and talk about how those seeds might disperse.
Plant Growth
Frog and Toad Together has a fun story—The Garden--which works nicely to introduce this lesson. Toad tries to get his seeds to grow in Lobel’s typical silly Toad fashion. I used this as an introduction.
Then we used The Magic Schoolbus Gets Planted for the meat of this lesson. Either the book or the video will enjoyably explain conditions seeds need to grow and photosynthesis.
Plant some seeds—talking about conditions to grow, how they will grow, etc.
Flowers
I integrated some core knowledge art and music objectives into this unit by using flowers.
I used the wonderful book The Gardener to introduce this lesson on flowers.
I played Tschaikovsky's "Waltz of the Flowers” using this clip as we moved to the music.
We talked about Vincent van Gogh and his love for sunflowers. We also talked about sunflowers and measured how large the biggest blossom on record, 32 inches, would look—reviewing ruler use. Then we looked at this panting and talked about what we liked and didn’t like about it. We talked about using thick paint techniques.
We ended by painting our own flowers talking about textures as we applied more or less paint.
Farming/Plants as Food
We talked about the parts of plants we eat (with real examples—here are pictures though) and here is a quick video on the topic.
I then used the Little Red Hen (this one by Jerry Pinkey is really nice) to introduce the next part of today’s lesson.
Farming Process video—From Wheat to Bread
If there is grain mill near by it would be a good field trip. We made bread for our activity today.
I found materials and specific books for studying plants so I’m including them here.
Parts of Plants and Water Transport
I used this work sheet and we examined a plant we pulled out of the ground by it’s roots.
We ran the celery experiment here to talk about water transport. This could fit in other parts of this plan perhaps better than this lesson but I used it on this day.
Seeds
We read the book A Seed is Sleepy to introduce this lesson.
We performed and discussed this experiment or here is another.
Seed Dispersal
I read Eric Carle’s book The Tiny Seed
Note: this covers only a seed flowing through the wind—so it can be used as an introduction here or as an introduction to talking about how a plant needs certain conditions to thrive. We tied this to the biblical parable about the farmer’s seeds.
You can run a little experiment to emphasize the points by placing seeds in various hospitable and inhospitable conditions.
I also used the book to introduce seed dispersal and followed up with this video clip which shows various ways seeds are dispersed. It’s really interesting! Note that a rhino does poo at the end--dispersing seeds of course!
Go exploring to find seeds and talk about how those seeds might disperse.
Plant Growth
Frog and Toad Together has a fun story—The Garden--which works nicely to introduce this lesson. Toad tries to get his seeds to grow in Lobel’s typical silly Toad fashion. I used this as an introduction.
Then we used The Magic Schoolbus Gets Planted for the meat of this lesson. Either the book or the video will enjoyably explain conditions seeds need to grow and photosynthesis.
Plant some seeds—talking about conditions to grow, how they will grow, etc.
Flowers
I integrated some core knowledge art and music objectives into this unit by using flowers.
I used the wonderful book The Gardener to introduce this lesson on flowers.
I played Tschaikovsky's "Waltz of the Flowers” using this clip as we moved to the music.
We talked about Vincent van Gogh and his love for sunflowers. We also talked about sunflowers and measured how large the biggest blossom on record, 32 inches, would look—reviewing ruler use. Then we looked at this panting and talked about what we liked and didn’t like about it. We talked about using thick paint techniques.
We ended by painting our own flowers talking about textures as we applied more or less paint.
Farming/Plants as Food
We talked about the parts of plants we eat (with real examples—here are pictures though) and here is a quick video on the topic.
I then used the Little Red Hen (this one by Jerry Pinkey is really nice) to introduce the next part of today’s lesson.
Farming Process video—From Wheat to Bread
If there is grain mill near by it would be a good field trip. We made bread for our activity today.
Friday, July 1, 2011
Revolutionary War Unit
French and Indian War Lesson
We'll begin with the events leading up to the Boston Tea Party using the resources above. My activity will be a modified version of a lesson highlighting the taxation without representation aspect of the tensions.
This is a nice Map of battles.
We watched Liberty Kids Video--The Shot Heard Around the World (again, part 1 of a video in two parts).
Thomas Jefferson Lesson
Declaration of Independence Lesson
Video--Soldier of the Revolution (two parts)
I made a coloring page from this site.
Note: The French and Indian War isn’t covered in the Core Knowledge Sequence for 1st grade but I think it’s worth touching on it given it acted as a precursor to the Revolutionary War.
I used online links to make a little story to hit the highlights of the war (copy and paste style). I included this image in my storybook to emphasize the reason for the British/French tensions over land.
An alternative that has less detail but hits the important points pretty well is to look at this set of slides. I found that link in the Lesson Pathways list of links and they have plenty of material for planning a longer lesson on this topic if you would like.
I used the idea in the above Lesson Pathways link to recreate the Fort Necessity fortress. This is the image I used in my story for this portion.
We colored maps of land claim before and after the Treaty of Paris.
Map of pre-war to color and Map of post-war.
Then we’ll put a $$$ sign in the middle to emphasize that costs, coming taxation, and how that indirectly resulted in the Revolutionary War.
We made books of our Revolutionary War studies and this was actually our first content page along with their summary about the outcome of the French and Indian War and increased tensions that resulted.
Note: I found this site with great information and videos of particular battles in Canadian history that I would use for older children. The battle reenactments would be too much for my young/senstive kids.
General Revolutionary War Introduction Lesson
For the Revolutionary War I will focus on the specific topics outlined in the Core Knowledge Sequence. We won’t cover every battle.
As mentioned in the last section, I believe it is most effective for my kids to make their own newspaper or book with the events we cover. For many we used a picture of the craft we did and their own words in summary.
Resources:
I’m using books (if I find something great I’ll mention it), Liberty Kids video clips, the Dover Revolutionary War coloring book, and activities to delve into the selected events Core Knowledge emphasizes. Those are the highlight events. However, I want to give them an overview of the events as a whole and sort of fill in the blanks between in a general way. As I was looking for my own resources I found this “newspaper” that’s too old for my two but might be helpful as is for an older child.
We mapped the major events using this resource.
Lesson:We'll begin with the events leading up to the Boston Tea Party using the resources above. My activity will be a modified version of a lesson highlighting the taxation without representation aspect of the tensions.
Specifically, we’ll watch this No More Kings video and then do something similar to this activity.
I hope to emphasize the causes as broader than the taxation point emphasizing the proclamation of 1763; taxes placed on sugar, paper, glass, tea, etc. without asking colonists; colonists forced to provide housing to soldiers without being asked; the Boston massacre; and the harbor blockade.
Boston Tea Party, 1773
Review yesterday’s material and then watch Boston Tea Party Liberty Kids video.
Note: This is a link to the first of two videos and we watched both parts.
The Complete Book of United States History has a little on the Tea Party as well as Revere’s Ride and the battles of Lexington and Concord.
Discuss and then act it out together to solidify what happened. Map it.
We’ll have a tea party and do the craft mentioned in this link though we’re going to add tea to construction paper water outside the ship. There is also a nice craft idea here.
As I mentioned we’ll take a picture (or draw if there is no item to picture) of the activity we did and then write up a summary to create our own book of this time period.
To provide context I’ll highlight what has happened to this point including the “Intolerable Acts” and First Continental Congress specifically.
Liberty Kids video midnight ride. This is the link to part one of a two part video set on this topic.
Follow up using resources to reinforce the events (library book/I found some video clips) and map the events. The book And Then What Happened, Paul Revere? looks good but seemed a little to old for my age of children when I previewed in the library.
This book has some information about this ride as mentioned in the previous lesson. I didn’t find a perfect book for this that outlined how it really happened and worked well for my kids.
Note: this is a nice resource on Paul Revere and includes a sequence (click and pop up) of the ride. The whole site is nice and I’m including it because if you wanted to make a series of lessons on Paul Revere it would be a great resource I think. For this activity I’m using this interactive map instead.
Read Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem Paul Revere’s Ride as outlined in these plans.
Note: This lesson was modified to be more accurate--I emphasized the roles of the other men (Dawes and Prescott) and how, because of the poem, we tend to remember Revere and not the others. I also emphasized that the riders likely spread the word that the “Regulars are coming” and certainly not the "British are coming" as they were all British!
Make a paper lantern and act out the Ride of Paul Revere. Instructions in this link.
A picture of us with our lanterns “calling out” and a little blurb they wrote about this event was added to our Revolutionary War books. One of mine has started making his own drawings of the events for the book as well.
,
Redcoats/Minutemen, 1775This is a nice Map of battles.
We watched Liberty Kids Video--The Shot Heard Around the World (again, part 1 of a video in two parts).
We covered the Minutemen and Redcoats and the beginning of the Revolution (Battle of Lexington) in this lesson somewhat as outlined in these plans.
There are scores of free paper Revolutionary soldiers at this site. You’ll need to scroll down.
Pictures of a Minutemen and British Soldier.
Thomas Jefferson Lesson
We’ll be reading the book A Picture Book of Thomas Jefferson. This book has highlights from his entire life really and I liked it for this age.
Possible video alternative for Jefferson information if a book can’t be found in your library system. However, it’s just facts and pictures and I don’t think ideal. Certainly preview before using.
I’m covering (briefly) John Adams as well though if I had it to do again I would go ahead and talk about the White House along with Adams. I’m also using Yo, Millard Fillmore! to attempt to learn the presidents as we go through each president in history. I also used the Dover Presidents coloring book. There are also coloring pages here and here and even a presidents lapbook that could be used.
Declaration of Independence Lesson
I’ll cover the context and events preceding the Declaration of Independence using my own words. Specifically I'll highlight the Capture of Fort Ticonderoga, George Washington takes command and eventually the British withdraw from New York.
We’ll read the Founding Fathers—East chapter in The American Story.
Then we’ll watch this Liberty’s Kids video and reinforce events. (link to part 1 of two parts)
I thought I might use parts of Will You Sign Here John Hancock but my interlibrary loan timing was off and it wasn’t great for our age anyway in my opinion so I didn’t try it. It does look like a good book.
We’ll view the Declaration of Independence and there are lots of images are available with a google image search. I’m not going to link because the links sometimes go dead. I will note Hancock’s signature—extra large so the King of England would have no problem reading it and also emphasize Thomas Jefferson’s role.
We’ll talk about the idiom “put your John Hancock here” and sign ourselves.
I’ll emphasize this was the first fourth of July with a craft. There are tons of craft ideas out there for this. Here is one and another with several printable paper crafts.
We added this event to our book of the revolution (Declaration of Independence picture, little blurb they wrote about it, and the first Fourth of July craft picture).
Benjamin Franklin and Electricity (Science) Lessons
Goal: Identify Benjamin Franklin as a patriot, inventor and writer.
I may show this video about him. (note: this is one of two parts, I show both) This is a Liberty Kid’s video so focuses on Franklin as a patriot.
We’re reading the Go Fly a Kite chapter in The American Story. This emphasizes his role as an inventor. I’m sure there are other books and online resources to make the same points but this one is interesting to read.We might make a kite using plans here or here.
We’ll do the Ben Franklin lessons much as outlined here. They have some nice ideas including working with static electricity.
I also started a science unit on electricity at this point and we’re using Snap Circuits (so fun and easy for the teacher too)! There are free Core Knowledge lesson plans including science experiments with electricity as well linked above.
I spent more than one day on these lessons—focusing on patriot and writing (using the core knowledge stuff linked above) and then some inventor/electricity lessons.
Crossing the Delaware/Battle of Trenton Lesson
Again, we’ll cover events leading up to the Battle of Trenton using my own summary and we’ll map the events as we go. Specifically I’ll touch on the Battle of Long Island and surrender of Fort Washington. We’ll talk about Benjamin Franklin sailing for France and hopefully emphasize that the revolution might fail.
We watched the Liberty's Kids Across the Delaware Video--part 1 of a 2 parts.
This is the Battle of Trenton but it does mention Concord as well at the end of part 2.
I used Scholastic Interactive 3-D Maps: American History for this lesson. It has an interactive map for crossing the Delaware and the Trenton and Concord battles.
Here is a coloring page if needed.
We added this to our book of the Revolution. One son drew pictures and the other used a picture of the 3-D map he made and his summary.
Saratoga Battle and Deborah Samson Lesson
Lots of video today and not a lot of activity. I might have just given a little context and then emphasized Samson and a short summary today with a coloring page if I were doing this again. I’m not sure.
I did the Battle of Saratoga because it seemed important in context and I wanted to emphasize the Hessians/Germany role.
Video: The Hessians are Coming, 1777 Battle of Saratoga (again, two parts)
We added this to our maps and I tried to emphasize with the map that many battles and years passed. We also touched on Benedict Arnold and the concept of treason.
Video--Soldier of the Revolution (two parts)
I made a coloring page from this site.
Again, I might do this differently if I were doing it again.
The American Revolution - Final Events Lesson
We’ll briefly review and cover the intervening events using resources as we have in the past.
I felt we should cover the Battle of Yorktown. I used this Yorktown video and have linked the first of two parts.
Noted: Benjamin Franklin and John Adams sign the peace treaty with England, ending the Revolutionary War (November 30, 1783).
Music: We did Yankee Doodle Dandee—emphasizing the core knowledge objective of moving to music mostly as well as the role music played in the Revolutionary War. Here is Music of the Revolutionary War.
We watched a Liberty Kids video about the Constitution called We the People (two parts--linked first).
The book Shh! We're Writing the Constitution would probably be good.
I planned to discuss/emphasize the need for a law of the land and the idea that they didn’t agree made it hard work.
We’ll watch this video: the Preamble, Schoolhouse Rock and do coloring page (Scroll down) of We the People emphasizing the colonies had to come together and make this agreement as a group. This page is what went into our Revolution Book along with our completed map of the major battles.
Do “signing the constitution” type activity with Quill pen I think using this really thorough quill pen lesson.
You could note that James Madison wrote the Constitution and is called the Father of the Constitution. He is also our fourth President. Here is a James Madison finger puppet idea.
Here are some video clips that might work if you want to delve deeper into the structure of our government or the Bill of Rights. I didn’t use these but they are worth mentioning for use along with the link above.
Video--It’s semi-catchy anyway!
Branches of Government video that might be used with the coloring pages here.Sunday, February 6, 2011
13 Colonies and French Settlement Unit
New England Colonies
Massachusetts (post Plymouth Colony), New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut
This link is a terrific Colonial Unit lesson plan and stands alone for someone wanting to really dig into the colonies. Lesson 3 (and then 4 for the next two New England colonies) has an abundance of wonderful activity ideas. If I had the time and inclination I would have done it pretty much as written adding a few videos and links I found. As it was I have cut out much of it because we spent so long on the Wampanoag and Plymouth Colony.
We will begin with this video. I’m going to have to emphasize certain points with the boys but I think I’ll include this video series anyway because they are quite good at pointing out the differences in the various colonies and their individual history.
To stress important points I made a small storybook using information from the Colonial America lesson plans also linked above together with this site which has great pictures and information about life specifically in each part of the colonies. I used copy and pastes of the photos (pop ups) with captions and my own additional information and images from google searches for our little booklet.
Activity we used:
I think I will make the first homes using the ideas from this plan to make “mud” homes as these were apparently much like the thatched huts the Puritans created and I had no idea. I found the information and images on this site. The resources and lesson plans from that link look really good for older kids I thought.
Some alternative activity ideas:
New England Primer with berry ink and quill on coffee or tea stained paper.
Instruction Link and quill pen link and idea link. Note: When I do this in a later unit (Revolutionary War likely) I probably won't make a quill pen. I plan to use a straw cut to a tip or maybe a toothpick instead.
Wax for sealing a letter.
Make dipped candles. There are lots of instructions online.
Closing:
We’ll map the colonies and maybe play the penny game mentioned in the Colonial Unit lesson plan link.
Middle Colonies
New Amsterdam/New Netherlands (Later New York), Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania
We’ll watch this video (again, I’ll need to reemphasize the main points).
I’m reading the story in American Pioneers and Patriots book about the Dutch New Amsterdam Colony. I really like this book, especially for this unit and for westward expansion later.
I’ve created a story about the middle colonies using some materials from this site and the things I wanted to stress. I particularly wanted to stress the Quakers, William Penn, and the founding of the Pennsylvania Colony as well as the transfer of power between countries in these colonies. We’ll look at this artwork and discuss the message it sends and message sent to Quakers from many countries.
Activities:
These were known as the Bread colonies so we’ll make bread and butter today as our activity. This emphasizes both the animals the settlers brought across the ocean and the land being suited for this type of farming/production.
We will also make a windmill to reinforce the original dutch colonization as well as the diversity in these colonies compared to the others.
Closing:
Map the colonies.
Southern Colonies
Virginia (originally Jamestown settlement which we’ve already covered and I’ll review briefly at this point—see lesson with model and my story), the Carolinas, and Georgia
Watch video.
Again, I’m using these materials and other information to put together a storybook about the Southern Colonies.
I’m touching some on the slave trade in this unit. Note: Interactive 3-D Maps has a slave trade mapping exercise and an exercise for the Roanoke Virgina and Jamestown Virginia settlements.
“Tour” a plantation online—the pictures are clickable for a larger view or sometimes an inside view of a structure.
Activity:
Make soap. I’m going to do this safe/kid friendly and easy form of soap making.
But we’ll talk about how they would have done it long ago in a much more involved process.
Alternate Activity:
You could make a hornbook here though I’m saving it for a future pioneers lesson. Link and link and link all with different patterns, pictures, or instructions.
Closing:
Map the colonies.
French Settlers
We’ll read the story about the French settlements in American Pioneers and Patriots book.
Unfortunately, my video links no longer work for the most part. This book makes an excellent base for the lesson all on it’s own. A person could also just talk about this.
I had some neat videos that I can't seem to either link (links reroute to main page now) or find on the site again. I'm going to list the links that no longer work—in case they can be found again by someone. I can't find them. I tried. I suspect they aren't gone because some still pop up with google searches for example but I can't figure out how to search within the site and now the links directly to the site (mine or google) just re-route to the main page.
This is (was...it won't link in anymore) a video of French Explorers and the Fur Trade. I'll leave the whole text of the link as it will simply link to the main page now.
http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/24102-french-explorers-father-marquette-and-the-fur-trade-video.htm
There are (were...) quite a few informative videos about French explorers—a series. http://videos.howstuffworks.com/search.php?media=video&terms=French+explorers
And this one covers (covered...) the cities founded by the French explorers. http://videos.howstuffworks.com/history/american-pioneer-videos-playlist.htm#video-5696
Activity:
Talk about relationships with Native Americans and the fur trade. This is a picture of a beaver fur hat.
We’ll make canoes. This emphasizes the use of waterway transportation and relationships with the Native Americans including trade.
Mock bartering for fur trade—use canoes and add river they sailed on along with supplies and furs. I plan to use much of the materials here for this lesson even though it wasn’t intended for this time in history.
Closing:
We will map England Colonies, French Claims, and the Spanish Claims.
This video is a nice way to sum up the colonies and adds in French and post French/Indian War information.
Next topics in history for us are the French and Indian War and then the Revolutionary War.
Massachusetts (post Plymouth Colony), New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut
This link is a terrific Colonial Unit lesson plan and stands alone for someone wanting to really dig into the colonies. Lesson 3 (and then 4 for the next two New England colonies) has an abundance of wonderful activity ideas. If I had the time and inclination I would have done it pretty much as written adding a few videos and links I found. As it was I have cut out much of it because we spent so long on the Wampanoag and Plymouth Colony.
We will begin with this video. I’m going to have to emphasize certain points with the boys but I think I’ll include this video series anyway because they are quite good at pointing out the differences in the various colonies and their individual history.
To stress important points I made a small storybook using information from the Colonial America lesson plans also linked above together with this site which has great pictures and information about life specifically in each part of the colonies. I used copy and pastes of the photos (pop ups) with captions and my own additional information and images from google searches for our little booklet.
Activity we used:
I think I will make the first homes using the ideas from this plan to make “mud” homes as these were apparently much like the thatched huts the Puritans created and I had no idea. I found the information and images on this site. The resources and lesson plans from that link look really good for older kids I thought.
Some alternative activity ideas:
New England Primer with berry ink and quill on coffee or tea stained paper.
Instruction Link and quill pen link and idea link. Note: When I do this in a later unit (Revolutionary War likely) I probably won't make a quill pen. I plan to use a straw cut to a tip or maybe a toothpick instead.
Wax for sealing a letter.
Make dipped candles. There are lots of instructions online.
Closing:
We’ll map the colonies and maybe play the penny game mentioned in the Colonial Unit lesson plan link.
Middle Colonies
New Amsterdam/New Netherlands (Later New York), Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania
We’ll watch this video (again, I’ll need to reemphasize the main points).
I’m reading the story in American Pioneers and Patriots book about the Dutch New Amsterdam Colony. I really like this book, especially for this unit and for westward expansion later.
I’ve created a story about the middle colonies using some materials from this site and the things I wanted to stress. I particularly wanted to stress the Quakers, William Penn, and the founding of the Pennsylvania Colony as well as the transfer of power between countries in these colonies. We’ll look at this artwork and discuss the message it sends and message sent to Quakers from many countries.
Activities:
These were known as the Bread colonies so we’ll make bread and butter today as our activity. This emphasizes both the animals the settlers brought across the ocean and the land being suited for this type of farming/production.
We will also make a windmill to reinforce the original dutch colonization as well as the diversity in these colonies compared to the others.
Closing:
Map the colonies.
Southern Colonies
Virginia (originally Jamestown settlement which we’ve already covered and I’ll review briefly at this point—see lesson with model and my story), the Carolinas, and Georgia
Watch video.
Again, I’m using these materials and other information to put together a storybook about the Southern Colonies.
I’m touching some on the slave trade in this unit. Note: Interactive 3-D Maps has a slave trade mapping exercise and an exercise for the Roanoke Virgina and Jamestown Virginia settlements.
“Tour” a plantation online—the pictures are clickable for a larger view or sometimes an inside view of a structure.
Activity:
Make soap. I’m going to do this safe/kid friendly and easy form of soap making.
But we’ll talk about how they would have done it long ago in a much more involved process.
Alternate Activity:
You could make a hornbook here though I’m saving it for a future pioneers lesson. Link and link and link all with different patterns, pictures, or instructions.
Closing:
Map the colonies.
French Settlers
We’ll read the story about the French settlements in American Pioneers and Patriots book.
Unfortunately, my video links no longer work for the most part. This book makes an excellent base for the lesson all on it’s own. A person could also just talk about this.
I had some neat videos that I can't seem to either link (links reroute to main page now) or find on the site again. I'm going to list the links that no longer work—in case they can be found again by someone. I can't find them. I tried. I suspect they aren't gone because some still pop up with google searches for example but I can't figure out how to search within the site and now the links directly to the site (mine or google) just re-route to the main page.
This is (was...it won't link in anymore) a video of French Explorers and the Fur Trade. I'll leave the whole text of the link as it will simply link to the main page now.
http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/24102-french-explorers-father-marquette-and-the-fur-trade-video.htm
There are (were...) quite a few informative videos about French explorers—a series. http://videos.howstuffworks.com/search.php?media=video&terms=French+explorers
And this one covers (covered...) the cities founded by the French explorers. http://videos.howstuffworks.com/history/american-pioneer-videos-playlist.htm#video-5696
Activity:
Talk about relationships with Native Americans and the fur trade. This is a picture of a beaver fur hat.
We’ll make canoes. This emphasizes the use of waterway transportation and relationships with the Native Americans including trade.
Mock bartering for fur trade—use canoes and add river they sailed on along with supplies and furs. I plan to use much of the materials here for this lesson even though it wasn’t intended for this time in history.
Closing:
We will map England Colonies, French Claims, and the Spanish Claims.
This video is a nice way to sum up the colonies and adds in French and post French/Indian War information.
Next topics in history for us are the French and Indian War and then the Revolutionary War.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Arctic and Antarctic Region Ideas
Not long ago we took a detour because one mine is very interested in penguins. I gathered some materials to go with Mr. Popper’s Penguins as our read aloud. Some of this dovetails with Core Knowledge objectives on habitats (my lesson plan here) so I thought I'd share since I have it. We had a really fun time with this unit.
I'm sorry for the lack of organization. It seems that if I wait to have something altogether the way I would like I don't get it posted at all so I'm just going to post "as is" for this.
Fun song on video highlighting Arctic/Antarctic differences
Antarctica scenery video
Really neat blue whale interactive
Animals and more Animals videos (here is another that may have some overlap)
Note: of course preview first--some great information but both have some things like birth, mention of death, etc. that some kids could be too sensitive for possibly. The second video linked covers the penguin life cycle well and talks about the protective oil on penguin feathers.
Arctic and Antarctic Animals videos (penguins and leopard seals particularly mentioned)
Penguins video
I've got a few other videos in the plans as I go on.
When Scholastic has their dollar days deals they typically put their Penguins Make and Learn Projects on sale for a dollar. I would not pay full price for this but it's more than worth $1 I think.
When I found that I stopped a lot of my own planning and used much of what I found in the download. But here are some links I found and saved in my planning to that point:
Penguin mask. We covered purpose of the penguin beak with this and characteristics of penguins compared to other birds as well.
oil protection (sidebar)
Experiment type demonstrations here and here
Species of penguins in this link. Pictures of species in a component of this lapbook to paste on a map perhaps. Page 12 of this link has a map of the Southern Hemisphere and the whole site (including species information) is really good. Note that 11 has a neat alternative to cover species.
Life cycle and food chain lapbook type components here.
Nice printable here as well. And this site has some food chain information and activities.
This site talks about penguin movement and this video was very good for showing that movement. This video has longer tobogganing and here is another. I am using the fun movement lesson plan ideas from a combination of these two sites to cover the topic in an active way.
Habitat resources:
Arctic and Antarctic animals in this video. Note: there are predator/prey relationships and a polar bear dies for lack of food and penguin death is mentioned as well.
Neat habitat introduction activity here.
This is a great video series (I think 5 part). Some will portions repeat from videos above but we watched it all and the boys seemed to like seeing it again even with some repeat.
This link includes an activity to cover polar bear blubber.
Inuit people:
I’m Using Children Just Like Me as it highlights a couple of children (one Inuit, one from Northern/remote Alaska).
This site was used for much of my lesson basis and our ending activities (scrimshaw and inuksuk).
Videos:
Intuit Music (and some art) and more throat singing
This link has some game ideas and historical information.
These are clips (need previewed possibly—I didn’t watch all--some animal death is shown) from an intuit documentary. I like that it focused on a modern Inuit family whose father is teaching his son traditional activities. I wanted my boys to get that history but also see that the modern life has similarities to their own.
Eskimo Hunting 1949 (not modern...and involves animal hunting/death obviously) This is US Eskimo so I think the term use is ok.
We did a scrimshaw and inuksuk to finish this particular lesson as indicated in the links above.
I'm sorry for the lack of organization. It seems that if I wait to have something altogether the way I would like I don't get it posted at all so I'm just going to post "as is" for this.
Fun song on video highlighting Arctic/Antarctic differences
Antarctica scenery video
Really neat blue whale interactive
Animals and more Animals videos (here is another that may have some overlap)
Note: of course preview first--some great information but both have some things like birth, mention of death, etc. that some kids could be too sensitive for possibly. The second video linked covers the penguin life cycle well and talks about the protective oil on penguin feathers.
Arctic and Antarctic Animals videos (penguins and leopard seals particularly mentioned)
Penguins video
I've got a few other videos in the plans as I go on.
When Scholastic has their dollar days deals they typically put their Penguins Make and Learn Projects on sale for a dollar. I would not pay full price for this but it's more than worth $1 I think.
When I found that I stopped a lot of my own planning and used much of what I found in the download. But here are some links I found and saved in my planning to that point:
Penguin mask. We covered purpose of the penguin beak with this and characteristics of penguins compared to other birds as well.
oil protection (sidebar)
Experiment type demonstrations here and here
Species of penguins in this link. Pictures of species in a component of this lapbook to paste on a map perhaps. Page 12 of this link has a map of the Southern Hemisphere and the whole site (including species information) is really good. Note that 11 has a neat alternative to cover species.
Life cycle and food chain lapbook type components here.
Nice printable here as well. And this site has some food chain information and activities.
This site talks about penguin movement and this video was very good for showing that movement. This video has longer tobogganing and here is another. I am using the fun movement lesson plan ideas from a combination of these two sites to cover the topic in an active way.
Habitat resources:
Arctic and Antarctic animals in this video. Note: there are predator/prey relationships and a polar bear dies for lack of food and penguin death is mentioned as well.
Neat habitat introduction activity here.
This is a great video series (I think 5 part). Some will portions repeat from videos above but we watched it all and the boys seemed to like seeing it again even with some repeat.
This link includes an activity to cover polar bear blubber.
Inuit people:
I’m Using Children Just Like Me as it highlights a couple of children (one Inuit, one from Northern/remote Alaska).
This site was used for much of my lesson basis and our ending activities (scrimshaw and inuksuk).
Videos:
Intuit Music (and some art) and more throat singing
This link has some game ideas and historical information.
These are clips (need previewed possibly—I didn’t watch all--some animal death is shown) from an intuit documentary. I like that it focused on a modern Inuit family whose father is teaching his son traditional activities. I wanted my boys to get that history but also see that the modern life has similarities to their own.
Eskimo Hunting 1949 (not modern...and involves animal hunting/death obviously) This is US Eskimo so I think the term use is ok.
We did a scrimshaw and inuksuk to finish this particular lesson as indicated in the links above.
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