Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Job Change!

I just completed my 7th year as a classroom teacher and have loved every moment. My husband and I have been working for several years towards the goal of me being home with my daughter. This year it is finally happening! I am excited to see how this new job goes and what I can do with my daughter. Not being in the classroom come August will be a BIG adjustment but one I am excited to make.

Of course I am going to blog, blogging is just too much fun to give up :)
My new blog is Encourage. Play. Learn.


Sarah

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Civil War Activites and Resources


At the end of the school year we completed my favorite unit of the year, the Civil War. I wanted to post each activity we did but decided to create one big post with everything in it. So, here it is everything we did as we learned about the Civil War. 

**Disclaimer - I did not create the projects below, only modified them for my students.

Underground Railroad and Secret Quilt Messages

In a previous post I shared the book we read and the site we used
to discuss how quilts were used in the Underground Railroad.

Underground Railroad Quilts



Union and Confederate Soldier Comparison

Original Idea

Soldier Comparison Project


Civil War Battle Project

Original Idea


 Battle Project



Lapbook Project








Helpful Websites:


Key West Labor Day Hurricane



This year my students read the book, Blown Away by Joan Hiatt Harlow. This is a wonderful book that tells the story of the 1935 hurricane that hit on Labor Day 1935. The students and myself enjoyed this book, it is a page turner.

After reading the book my students were given two articles about the hurricane. One article was eye witness accounts of the hurricane and the other was factual information about the hurricane. The students used this information to completed a literature writing assignment which included several questions and the front page from a newspaper published the week after the hurricane hit.


For the newspaper students included:
  • title and date
  • illustration and caption
  • eye witness account
  • cover story (factual information about hurricane)
  • how to help victims or how to prepare for hurricane


I love how the newspapers turned out!