IdeaShare

Homeschool Pop: Kansas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gEmSa0esDs
7 facts about Kansas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXvN_fA2wAo

Homeschool Pop: Maine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nm2kZHa41nY
7 Facts about Maine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z33zhmU26wo
Nat Geo Kids (Rap Birds): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNitlbq2Drc

This site has a Book Cover Creator. It allows users to type and illustrate book covers.

• link: https://http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/student-interacti

Play online games to learn the states of the US. "States 1" allows you to select regions, so you don't have to work through all 50 at once. Also, use a United States puzzle.

• link: https://www.sheppardsoftware.com/web_games.htm

We just started this unit and enjoyed both the movie Oklahoma and the first episode of the Little House series. One thing that I have learned is that during the filming of the little house movie, they ate beef denty moore soup or Kentucky fried chicken on the set. It got me thinking about incorporating a day of making foods similar to those that would have been eaten during that time period. So We will be adding a pioneer menu to our lesson plan and plan out the food for the day then prepare it as they used to prepare it. It may also make an impact to have them handwash some clothing or planting a garden. The most impactful teaching is that in which allows the learner to live in someones shoes for the day.

• link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYWnXjTgaa0

• link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kfov_EZrrRI

• link: https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/explore/states/kansas/

• link: https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/explore/states/maine/

We got the Little House on the Prairie season 1 DVD from the library and it fit well with this unit. My boys loved it!

I am attempting to combine two of my children into one curriculum this year so we have more time to go in depth into the subjects. My nine year old (who used MBtP ages 8-10 successfully last year) is working with my son this year on ages 7-9. I am providing many extra activities for her with appropriate expectations for her age.

The main modification I used for an extra challenge with this unit was to have her read Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse along with Sarah Plain and Tall. It is a novel that is beautifully written in verse. The setting is also on a farm in Kansas, but during the dust bowl in 1934. The two stories work wonderfully together. Both stories are historical fiction and are narrated by a young girl who lost her mother in childbirth. There are many parallels in the story (singing in the homes, for example). I had my daughter write letters back and forth between Anna to the Billie Jo, the main character in Out of the Dust.

Connections can also be made with the corresponding social studies unit on the land. The cause of the dust storms in the 1930s was not only due to drought, but also due to farming techniques which took away the grasses that would have anchored the soil in place (see link).

• link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_Bowl

This is a pinterest link to lots of great ideas. There are activities and there is even a picture of a moon shell.

• link: http://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=sarah%20plain%20and%20

We found this series of movies to fit in well with the theme. Our local library carried them.

• link: http://www.amazon.com/Daily-Pioneer-Life-Children/dp/B000OIP4M2/ref=pd_sim_

We are brand new to this curriculum, but I am really excited to get started. My daughter has been wanting to read this book, so we are beginning here. One thing I did notice, however was this quote "Explain that when people first came to live in the land we now call America, they came to the part of the United States we call the East Coast." from the lesson plan. You may consider editing that statement to reflect that the first Europeans settlers or colonists, etc. arrived on the East Coast. I'm rather particular about instilling in my children the fact that their was already a thriving indigenous population living on this land before the English Settlers, and they arrived several thousand years prior via the land bridge across the Bering Strait.

Another book we have found helpful for this unit. National Geographic Kids Beginner's United States Atlas. It was published in 2009 and we were able to get it through our local library. It has good info. on every state broken down by region. In the front it has information about maps as well as the physical and political maps of the US.

Scholastic has great new series of books (published in 2009) entitled America the Beautiful. There is a book on each state in the United States. We used them to learn more about Kansas and Maine. We were able to check them out through our local library.