Revolutionary War Stuff

Ideas from this blog:
http://homeschooljournal-bergblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/american-revolution.html


Narration Variations

I also want to show you some interesting variations of narrations that can be done for history topics. Katie (several years ago) wrote a newspaper article about an incident in the Revolutionary War. She typed it out on the computer in a column and then stained the paper with a tea bag to make it look aged.

She even made it look more like a newspaper clipping by including a piece of article on the opposite side, and some ink stains, which were not uncommon in those days of printing.

Another similiar type of narration is to make a letter as if from a soldier to his family, including some factual information. This also was typed on the computer in a handwriting type font and aged with tea bags.

The third example is more of a cultural narration, a recipe written as they were then and made to look like a piece of aged torn paper.

Next Fall...
Ideas we will explore when we start school in the fall:

Examining the problems of Eyewittness Accounts.

Maps, of course.

Reporting the events that lead up to the Revolutionary War and the events within it.

Tea (tasting) Party

Define Liberty...it was what the war was about, so what is it?

Facts about the 18th Century -what was it like then?

Spies and spying-how hard it is to retain oral information -could you remember facts you heard correctly?

Codes and Cyphers

Paper Doll of a Revolutionary figure

A Revolutionary figure's pocket...what would you find there? Can you match the item to the person?

Paul Revere's Ride

Battle of Bunker Hill Reenactment

You're the General...what would you have done?

Winter Encampment Writing Exercise

Gunnery Drills

Sketch of George Washington's Portrait

Make an Almanac.

Music of the period.

 

American Revolution; Troubles in Boston, First Contiental Congress, The Shot Heard 'Round the World

This week I decided to start our history lesson by showing the episode of Andy Griffith (Andy Discovers America) in with there is a discussion about history. Here is the part of the episode where Andy ignites the children' interest in American history.

After this fun introduction, we read this version of Longfellow's Paul Revere's Ride.

I copied the map on the inside cover of the book, and they colored the routes, Revere, Dawes and Prescott took.

They took turns building the Old North Church and putting lanterns in them.

And then we decided to have our own Tea Party Teatime.

Quentin decided to make placecards.

 James decided to make a game to play.

Suddenly they were all caught up in the excitement and happily working on their own projects, needing no direction from me.

For the teatime, I poured the hot water into a bowl instead of a teapot (If you do this, be careful not to have the water boiling, or it might break a glass bowl. Our kids don't like their tea too hot, so it worked out well for this.) I floated a (washed) plastic boat with teabags in it. The steam coming off the water lended to the atmosphere.

 One by one we became Sons of Liberty and dumped the tea from the boat into the water.

And once the tea was dumped, we shared the teatime snack Katie had made for us...

homemade caramel popcorn, or sweetened parched corn, as they would have called it.

I ladled out cups of tea from the bowl...