Today's Lesson: Benjamin Franklin

"Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn."-  Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin was a classic renaissance man.  He has worn many hats in his life, most notably as a printer, postmaster, author, diplomat, inventor and philosopher. Use this sheet to write your quote, and draw a picture of Ben Franklin.   Khan Academy has a complete overview of his life. Here's a lapbook from Homeschool Share where you can fill in the details of what you learned.   We will also be watching Animated Hero Classics: Benjamin Franklin.  I found a copy through my local library system.  We will  be using some of the activities from the resource book that I found at the Dripping Springs Community Library website (scroll down and click on 'Ben Franklin').  Ben Franklin was famous for printing his Pennsylvania Gazette and Poor Richard's Almanack, have fun making your own letter press stamps.


Ben Franklin is a main character in Liberty's kids but is featured in episode 10 "Postmaster General Franklin" and episode 30 "In Praise of Ben."

-Have Fun Learning! 

Today's Lesson: African Americans in the American Revolution

We have already learned about life during the Revolutionary war, and what life was like before the Revolution.  Life during Colonial times was hard, but it was even harder for slaves.  Slavery ran rampant during the Colonial times, and many slaves saw the American Revolution as a way to escape slavery.  Some simply sympathized with Colonists, who were "slaves" to England.  The British promised slaves their freedom, however some slaves still decided to fight on the side of the Colonists, who promised them nothing. When researching the topic on the internet I found a few really good resources.  My library system wasn't so helpful through.  I did manage to find a book called Afro-Americans '76 : Black Americans in the founding of our nation, I did not find any copies on Amazon and only a couple of listings on Ebay.

Activity Sheets:
From Tavis Smiley's "America I Am" there are free activity sheets and lesson plans, we will be using pages 1-11
From Rockford Public Schools, these activities are suitable for grades 4-6, but I think they could be used up to high school. We will be using pages 27-29 and 40-42.

Reading:
I found this great reading source from "earstohear.net" if you cannot find a copy of the book I recommended this would be a great substitute.
Apparently the US Department of Defense published a booklet titled "Black Americans in Defense of Our Nation." I couldn't find a hard copy but I did find the text at Sam Houston State University.
From PBS "Africans in America"
"Fighting...Maybe for Freedom, but probably not"
Colonial Williamsburg has a lot of information in their section titled "The African American Experience."

Videos:
Why African Americans wanted to fight in the war
For Love of Liberty

Interactive Activities: 
Within These Walls, features a house with a very long history that goes back to colonial times.  This site is interactive, click on all the links for clues then click on the "Go Back in time" link to play the game.

James Armisted
Biography
Another short biography
A biography for more advanced readers
Read Comprehension Worksheet -  this one will cost you $0.27
A short video

Mum Bett
A Biography
A lesson plan comparing George Washington and Mum Bett
An article about Mum Bett for older readers

Crispus Attucks

Here is a  coloring page accept terms, then download.   The life of the man is not well documented but this Biography  and this one  biography should help. This patriot is also included on this  Heroes of the American Revolution matching worksheet.  Here is Document from the trial for the murder of Crispus Attucks. Olivia Ward Bush-Banks wrote a  Poem honoring Attucks.  Here is a  unit study to accompany the book, Crispus Attucks: Black Leader of Colonial Patriots (Childhood of Famous Americans)   I bought a copy for a total of $4! 


 


Take a break to watch Schoolhouse Rock "Shot Heard Round the World" and Liberty's Kids episode 6 "The Shot Heard Round the World."

-Have Fun Learning!

Product Reviews: So I'm Trying To Get Organized - Lapbooks

You would think that with all of the lapbooks my kids make, that I would have came up with some clever way to store them by now.  Honestly they were all over the place.  First we had them in a cardboard box but that tore and I ended up cramming them in our already overflowing bookshelves.  Then I bought magazine holders that the kids could keep on their tables.  That didn't work out well because they would get bent from taking them in and out again. Determined to get organized I found a portable file tote. Which worked great until the kids started fighting over it because the lapbooks were touching each others lapbooks.  So I went to Staples and found these really cool portable file boxes by Iris.  They are pretty durable and have a hinged top closure so I don't have to worry about misplacing lid. They can be easily stacked and have handles so the kids can tote them back and forth from their rooms. They currently keep them under their work tables because they are constantly in and out of them.  In bought them in store for about 9.00 each.  So for 18 bucks the kids stop fighting and I get to keep my sanity and precious bookshelf space! 

Today's Lesson: St. Patrick's Day

We are taking a break from our American Revolution unit studies, to learn about St. Patrick's Day.  There are lots of interesting videos about the history and traditions of St. Patrick's Day on History.com... and lucky for us there are TONS of free worksheets on the internet.  I found a few that we will be learning on TeachersPayTeachers.com.  (Make an account, it's free! To search free resources type in what you are looking for, then sort by price.) Gift of Curiosity.com, also has a really nice selection of free printables, that are great for younger kids.  You can also find some great, free printables on InAllYouDo.net.

This would also be a good time to start a unit study or lapbook on Ireland.

In addition to our traditional corned beef and cabbage dinner, we are also making shamrock pretzels.  Use a basic pretzel dough recipe, add a few drops of green food coloring and shape into shamrocks.

No St. Patrick's Day is complete with out a craft or three...  We are making torn paper shamrocks! Print and cut out a shamrock template, we used this one from allkidsnetwork.com.  Tear green construction paper into small pieces then glue on.  Let dry then hang to display your handy work.  Add glitter if you have it.  St. Patrick's day mobiles are easy and fun to make and so are Lunchbag Leprechans.  Then make quick and easy paper chain snakes.

-Have Fun Learning!

Today's Lesson: Virginia Lapbook

I don't know how the weather is where you live, but today we are having an epic rain, wind and thunderstorm, which is good because we need the rain!  Usually on stormy or snowy day we gather around the fireplace to a read a book, but I thought I'd change things up a bit.  Our lesson on Thomas Jefferson has lasted us all week long due to extenuating circumstances.  We are coming to the end and I thought it would be a great day to make a lapbook on Virginia, home of Jefferson and many others that we have been or will be studying such as Patrick Henry and George Washington.

Here is a list of the materials we will be using and where to get them:

Capitol Classroom:
This site has quite a few different activity books available for free download.  Most deal with Virginia's legislative process but also have some fun state activities as well. Please note page numbers are the book page numbers and will show up differently in PDF.
Your Key to the Virginia General Assembly -  we will be using pages 1, 2, 12-17
The Virginia General Assembly - we will be using pages 2, 20
Virginia House of Delegates Coloring Book - 2-10, omitting some of the content that we are not studying.
Virginia House of Delegates Activity Book -  6-11, omitting some of the content that we are not studying.

Education.com
We used this outlining sheet which we are going to cut up and use for our cover.

-Have Fun Learning!