Your kids are at a perfect age to start doing unit studies. Here are some ideas, even if they are suppliments to you cirriculum.
Patriotic Music. Take one song per month and sing it each morning. Have the students write a report on it, which can lead to studying the time period, people, wars, etc.
Put a time-line up on the upper wall of the classroom and have the kids draw pictures or print them and post them so they begin to understand the time period of events.
There are series of history books for kids, like the Sower series, which is funto read aloud during lunch or in the evenings. This has proven to give the most stick-to-it history with my family (meaning the history is remembered).
Study the history of your state.
There is a great book out called Catholic Nuns: the making of America---titls is close, not exact, please forgive me. But, it talks about how it was the nuns who came to America and it would not be what it is today without them. Not sure if it's readable to the kids, but would be a way to incorporate that into a study. Would be much work on your part.
Subscribe to Enchanted Learning as they have many printables, which are generally a good aid to activities.
Cobblestone Magazine seems to be one magazine that is not liberal and seems to support great historical figures.
Okay, I'm out of time. Enjoy!
Mar 14, 2010 Rating
History/Social Studies by: Judy
History is one subject that I have come to really LOVE as a homeschooling mother; while it was a least favorite of mine when I was a student!
For the grades you mention, we combine many well-loved books in our house. Some of those are:
1) Seton's "Catholic Saints Come to America"
2) Colonial Days and Pioneer Days by Scholastic
(These two books are SUCH treasures to us...we never tire of them for there are stories, lessons, crafts, recipes, games, etc...really giving kids an idea of what life as a child was like in those days...VERY MUCH "LIVING HISTORY" books!)
3) Men of Rome
4) I have downloaded some free lesson plans on George Washington and Early American History as well (happy to share those if you want me to forward links!)
* The above books help me to present a focus on EARLY AMERICA/PATRIOTISM (I am REALLY big on learning about the FLAG, songs of our Nation, etc...this is becoming obsolete in public schools!!!) while also giving attention to a bit of Ancient World History and the Catholic Church's significance in the beginnings of our nation!
Hope that helps!
NOTE: I use From Sea to Shining Sea and All Ye Lands for many many different grades...I imagine you could adapt things in there for 4th grade as well...not sure about 3rd...but these books work well from at least mid-elementary all the way through high school in my opinion!!! They are published by Catholic Textbooks of America.
Thanks so much for your great question! Can't wait to read others' thoughts on this:)
