Civil War On Sunday Part 2

Week 2 of Civil War

1. We talked about Drummer Boys

Johnny Clem-youngest drummer boy at 11

2. Made Civil War Drums


Elias, his ever-present 2 fingers, and his very non-civil war looking drum


3. Discussed field hospitals & women as nurses
Clara Barton, how the Red Cross formed....get a speaker or do a tour, or do a blood drive



4.Civil War Era Ginger Cakes



Kayley mixing the gingerbread dough


Ginger Crisps


Maddie eating them

What a yummy lesson this was...well, at least the Ginger Cakes part!


My previous posts on this subject are:

Forming a Co-op
Magic Tree House Index
Dinosaurs Part 1
Dinosaurs Part 2
Vikings
Ninjas
Pirates Part 1
Pirates Part 2
Knights Part 1
Knights Part 2
Ancient Rome & Pompeii Part 1
Ancient Rome & Pompeii Part 2
Ancient Greece & Olympics Part 1
Ancient Greece & Olympics Part 2
Day of the Dragon King; Ancient China
Ancient Egypt Part 1: Mummies
Ancient Egypt Part 2: Pyramids
Gorillas In The Morning
Tigers At Twilight
Polar Bears At Bedtime
Lions at Lunchtime
Afternoon on the Amazon
Thanksgiving on Thursday
Civil War on Sunday Part 1

Civil War On Sunday Part 1

This lesson was so busy that I didn't get to take any photos. (That's ok, after my grainy ones from the previous lesson you're probably glad!)

This book took us 2 weeks worth of activities to get through.



1. Gave some background on Slavery

2.  Lesson in Inequality:

Divide the students in the classroom arbitrarily by one of the following (shoe color, bus rider or pick up, etc.). Without giving any rationale, tell the first group that they will get candy. Don't respond to the other students cries of unfairness or questioning. Discuss the feelings of discriminating.
 The 5/6/7 crowd did not "get" this.

3. Discussed the Need for War

4. Advantages/Disadvantages during the war

5. Civil War Card Game...to show how the North had an advantage over the South


6. Death and The Civil War

7. Discuss the Underground Railroad

8. Read and learn about the Secret Signs of the Underground Railroad

9. Play a game to simulate running North as a slave

Game:1. Underground Railroad game.

1.Give one student a green star and have he/she place it in his/her palm. (This student represents a conductor on the Underground Railroad.)

2. Give two students yellow stars and have them place them in their palm. (These students represent the free Blacks who helped the slaves on the Underground Railroad.

3 Give three students red stars and have them place them in their palm. (These students represent the slave catchers.)

4. The rest of the students represent the slaves and do not receive any stars.

5. The objective of the game is for the slaves to get to the North (designated spot in the classroom) by trying to find out who the conductor is. If the slaves find the slave catchers, they are taken back to the South (the student’s seat). The free Blacks help the slave locate the conductors. (If a student finds a free Black, he/she can stay in the game and continue looking for the conductor.)

6 After the students have played the game, encourage the students to take part in a discussion. Use the following questions as prompts:


How did you determine who the conductor was?

How did you feel when you were caught by the slave catcher?

What would have helped you find the conductor?

My group did not read about the Secret Signs before hand and the game didn't really go too well.


Extras:
Simulate a slave auction

My previous posts on this subject are:

Forming a Co-op
Magic Tree House Index
Dinosaurs Part 1
Dinosaurs Part 2
Vikings
Ninjas
Pirates Part 1
Pirates Part 2
Knights Part 1
Knights Part 2
Ancient Rome & Pompeii Part 1
Ancient Rome & Pompeii Part 2
Ancient Greece & Olympics Part 1
Ancient Greece & Olympics Part 2
Day of the Dragon King; Ancient China
Ancient Egypt Part 1: Mummies
Ancient Egypt Part 2: Pyramids
Gorillas In The Morning
Tigers At Twilight
Polar Bears
Lions at Lunchtime
Afternoon on the Amazon
Thanksgiving on Thursday

Thanksgiving on Thursday

 We did a week on Thanksgiving, it was really neat.

1.Corn Pudding from Random House activities

2. Cranberry Sauce
Ok, this was in my plan, but guess what? Unless it's Christmas-time, you can't find cranberries! Note to self: by some and freeze for this activity next time!

3. Review who the Pilgrims were. Where were they leaving? Why? What would you take with you?
I taped off a 6x 6 square on the floor. I crammed the kids in there while I gave them all the above background information. We talked about how it would have been dark, and someone might be sick, and someone's baby might be crying, and you're all hungry, and all your belongings are in here with you too. Not much fun, huh?



4. Talk about being sloshed around.
Fill a one-liter plastic bottle about half full with mineral oil. Add a few drops of food coloring, and then fill the rest of the bottle with water. Add a small plastic object to represent the Mayflower. Screw the top on tightly and tape. Ask the students to make waves by shaking, rocking, and rolling the bottle.

5. Talk about the Mayflower Compact
We didnt really

6.Pilgrim hats
Boys
Girls
I suggest making a sample ahead of time. One of them took a little bit of brains to put together!



7. Make Butter

1. Fill baby food jars (or small prescription bottles) half full of whipping cream and screw the lids on tightly.
2. Show them how to shake the bottles in order to whip the cream.
3. After about five minutes the cream will be whipped, and after another couple of minutes, lumps of yellow butter will form. Continue shaking until most of the cream has formed into a ball.
4. Rinse off the liquid whey and add a little salt, if desired. Then spread the butter on crackers for tasting.

The key part here, is once it's made that ball, and has liquid around it, it's done! Don't keep shaking, it just redistributes it and it takes ...not like butter!



8. Read Sarah Morton's Day

9. Food, including 5 pieces of corn


10. Thanksgiving Cornucopia


Extras:
Turkey jokes-Let's celebrate Thanksgiving book
turkey color by number
Turkey Hokey Pokey
Turkey handprint

Additional Books to Read:
You Wouldn't Want to Sail on the Mayflower
The Pilgrims of Plimoth
On the Mayflower
The First Thanksgiving





My previous posts on this subject are:

Forming a Co-op
Magic Tree House Index
Dinosaurs Part 1
Dinosaurs Part 2
Vikings
Ninjas
Pirates Part 1
Pirates Part 2
Knights Part 1
Knights Part 2
Ancient Rome & Pompeii Part 1
Ancient Rome & Pompeii Part 2
Ancient Greece & Olympics Part 1
Ancient Greece & Olympics Part 2
Day of the Dragon King; Ancient China
Ancient Egypt Part 1: Mummies
Ancient Egypt Part 2: Pyramids
Gorillas In The Morning
Tigers At Twilight
Polar Bears At Bedtime
Lions at Lunchtime
Afternoon on the Amazon

Lions at the MGM Grand

While we were at the Rainforest Cafe for our field trip, we got to pass the Lion Habitat at the MGM Grand.  Aren't they amazing!

He's tired

And laying on the glass tunnel that you can walk through!

Seriously, right on top of us!

The trainers are in there with him. Apparently the lions get switched out every few hours and every few days  (Do they have labor laws for animals now?!?!) So, they had to go bye-bye with the trainers.


It was an awesome addition to our field trip!

Rain Forest- Afternoon on the Amazon

e started learning about Jungles and Rain Forests in our book club about Lions....this week we learned more during the Afternoon on the Amazon book.

We also took a field trip to the Rainforest Cafe ! Their educational field trips are not too expensive and certainly gave us a lot of information.

1. Review What is the rainforest...layers etc

2. Talked about the life cycle of frogs
I have a set of frogs in various metamorphic stages, from tadpole, all the way through frog.




3. poison arrow frogs and the bromeliad

4. Learn about Bromeliads

5. Make a bromeliad




6. Talk about all the animals that live in the rainforest

7. Share letters from Koko to class
Yes! Koko actually returned a letter to the class, along with a lot of FAQs and some samples of her artwork! It was very rewarding.

8. Make a rainstick
Ok, this is one of the most authentic, and harder, versions of rainsticks to make. There are easier ones available for younger kids.

Mailers with nails





Nails all through, criss-crossing each other




Rainstick with shower curtain as decoration


We just Modge Podged it on



Working on them


All done!



Extras

Monkeys in the rainforest game
Read the great kapok tree and talk about it
Facts about Tarantulas

My previous posts on this subject are:

Forming a Co-op
Magic Tree House Index
Dinosaurs Part 1
Dinosaurs Part 2
Vikings
Ninjas
Pirates Part 1
Pirates Part 2
Knights Part 1
Knights Part 2
Ancient Rome & Pompeii Part 1
Ancient Rome & Pompeii Part 2
Ancient Greece & Olympics Part 1
Ancient Greece & Olympics Part 2
Day of the Dragon King; Ancient China
Ancient Egypt Part 1: Mummies
Ancient Egypt Part 2: Pyramids
Gorillas In The Morning
Tigers At Twilight
Polar Bears At Bedtime
Lions at Lunchtime

Lions at Lunchtime

Lions at Lunchtime, a Magic Tree House Book, was set in Africa. For our book club we learned about lions, of course, and also various African things....


1.Who were the Masai
I used various websites to share information with the children
masai culture
africa
masai and i

2. Swahili words
I found a website (sorry didn't save it!) that has pictures of objects and their swahili names. I cut them out and gave each child a few to read. It was fun seeing which words we already know in the English Language (Simba, etc)

3. Honey Guides
I told the children how these birds were used...which brought us to honeycombs!

4. Honey Combs
I bought a jar of honey with the comb still in it, so the kids could see what it is. Then they got to try some








5. Crayon Batik Craft
I printed out various African Animals Coloring Sheets. I explained batiking and away they went.





6. Rumble in the Jungle
I read this to them, showcasing all the various animals in the Jungle

7. Lions facts


8. Color African Masks
They colored these while I read some Lion Facts

9. Sleeping Lions Game

10. Lion Cub Game




Extra:
Making Drums out of cups

My previous posts on this subject are:

Forming a Co-op
Magic Tree House Index
Dinosaurs Part 1
Dinosaurs Part 2
Vikings
Ninjas
Pirates Part 1
Pirates Part 2
Knights Part 1
Knights Part 2
Ancient Rome & Pompeii Part 1
Ancient Rome & Pompeii Part 2
Ancient Greece & Olympics Part 1
Ancient Greece & Olympics Part 2
Day of the Dragon King; Ancient China
Ancient Egypt Part 1: Mummies
Ancient Egypt Part 2: Pyramids
Gorillas In The Morning
Tigers At Twilight
Polar Bears Past Bedtime

Polar Bears Past Bedtime

Out of all the Magic Tree House Books and crafts, the below Northern Lights craft has to be one of the most beautiful...I wish I could someday see them myself!

1. First we talked about "What is the arctic circle?"
I use a globe and a print out of the Arctic Circle

2. Read some facts about the arctic from the research guide

3. Learned about the Aurora Burelais (Northern Lights)

4. Paint Northern Lights
I used this picture of the Northern Lights as my inspiration. We used black construction paper and painted broad sweeping strokes of beautiful colors of paint all across the paper. Then added some sugar to some water and brushed that over the paint. When it dried it glistened. This was my favorite because it was really pretty!

Painting the Aurora Burelais




5. Polar Bear book
I had these pre-printed. The kids colored them while I was talking about Polar Bears

6. Polar Bear Facts


7. Snowflake craft
If you hate glitter, this is not for you. I did not enjoy this craft!

Snowflakes





8. Snowman snack
Made out of marshmallows and pretzel sticks





My previous posts on this subject are:

Forming a Co-op
Magic Tree House Index
Dinosaurs Part 1
Dinosaurs Part 2
Vikings
Ninjas
Pirates Part 1
Pirates Part 2
Knights Part 1
Knights Part 2
Ancient Rome & Pompeii Part 1
Ancient Rome & Pompeii Part 2
Ancient Greece & Olympics Part 1
Ancient Greece & Olympics Part 2
Day of the Dragon King; Ancient China
Ancient Egypt Part 1: Mummies
Ancient Egypt Part 2: Pyramids
Gorillas In The Morning
Tigers At Twilight

Tigers At Twilight

For our lesson on Tigers at Twilight we did some various crafts and games..and had a jungle themed snack. I don't always incorporate food, but I try to when I can!

1. Snake craft
We did a combo between Felt Snakes and Hanging Snakes Combining them didn't work too well..I'd choose one or the other next time!


2. Tiger Bookmarks
I printed these out and let them cut them out, color, add borders etc, while I was talking to them about Tiger Facts.

3. Snack!
Jungle Juice and Animal Crackers which they had to eat like an anteater...picking up with straws

Sucking up the Animal Crackers



The ingredients being added


The juice mixing up


4. Some more Tiger Facts

5. How The Tiger Got His Stripes
This is a script. Before class I printed out 4 or 5 copies, highlighted speaker 1 throughout, speaker 2 throughout, etc. They read this story aloud to the other children.


6. Why do they really have stripes?
Camouflage

7. Games!
Lion Lion Lion Tiger game. Instead of Duck Duck Goose....it's Lion Lion Tiger!

Hot Potato-Lion game- I turned my back on the group and gave them a stuffed lion (didn't have a tiger). They had to toss it back and forth amongst themselves and whoever was left holding it when I said LION! was out


Lion Lion Tiger Game



My previous posts on this subject are:

Forming a Co-op
Magic Tree House Index
Dinosaurs Part 1
Dinosaurs Part 2
Vikings
Ninjas
Pirates Part 1
Pirates Part 2
Knights Part 1
Knights Part 2
Ancient Rome & Pompeii Part 1
Ancient Rome & Pompeii Part 2
Ancient Greece & Olympics Part 1
Ancient Greece & Olympics Part 2
Day of the Dragon King; Ancient China
Ancient Egypt Part 1: Mummies
Ancient Egypt Part 2: Pyramids
Gorillas In The Morning

Gorillas In the Morning

This was a relatively short lesson....a lot of talk, not a lot of crafts.

1. Gorilla Facts
I printed off some basic facts and went over them

2. Sign Language
We discussed the concept of sign language and learned a few signs. Some of the children knew some, so they shared their knowledge also.


3. Endangered species
We learned about this in our previous lesson, so it was a good reminder

4. How humans affect mountain gorillas
Poaching and Environmental Encroaching

5. Read Koko's Kitten


6. Draft a letter or draw a picture for Koko.
Originally I was going to have the children draft a letter each, and then time providing, type them into email for Koko. When the actual lesson came, I had less help than needed to transcript for all the non-writers, so I added in drawing, and just decided to mail the whole packet.
Koko.org has a Kids Club...info for teachers and how to contact Koko.


Extra
Make a Rain Stick
(this seems like it has been my fallback activity a couple of times now! Maybe one day we'll get to it.)


My previous posts on this subject are:

Forming a Co-op
Magic Tree House Index
Dinosaurs Part 1
Dinosaurs Part 2
Vikings
Ninjas
Pirates Part 1
Pirates Part 2
Knights Part 1
Knights Part 2
Ancient Rome & Pompeii Part 1
Ancient Rome & Pompeii Part 2
Ancient Greece & Olympics Part 1
Ancient Greece & Olympics Part 2
Day of the Dragon King; Ancient China
Ancient Egypt Part 1: Mummies
Ancient Egypt Part 2: Pyramids

Ancient Egypt Part 2: pyramids

Our second week on Ancient Egypt was about Pyramids!

1. Read them Hidden World: Egyptian Tomb

2. Make sugar cube pyramid

Elias and friend making pyramid


Chase and Elias with Pyramid



3. Learn about the Egyptian Language-hieroglyphs
I used a set I had bought years ago
Fun With Hieroglyphs Stamp Set




4. Stamp names on Cartouches (necklace nameplates)

Elias stamping his name in hieroglyphs


The whole group with their cartouches


Extras
101 Wacky Facts About Mummies

My previous posts on this subject are:

Forming a Co-op
Magic Tree House Index
Dinosaurs Part 1
Dinosaurs Part 2
Vikings
Ninjas
Pirates Part 1
Pirates Part 2
Knights Part 1
Knights Part 2
Ancient Rome & Pompeii Part 1
Ancient Rome & Pompeii Part 2
Ancient Greece & Olympics Part 1
Ancient Greece & Olympics Part 2
Day of the Dragon King; Ancient China
Ancient Egypt Part 1: Mummies