TOP 10 TEACHING POINTS for AMERICA's FOURTH OF JULY

America's 4th of July is a great celebration! But why? Here are some of the Who, What, Where, When, and Whys that will help lay a foundation for understanding this national holiday.


For many families, the learning really begins in the excitement of the fireworks, in the parades and the candy, in the waving of flags.Then the kids ask, "What's so special about the Fourth of July anyway?"

1. What: The Declaration of Independence was ratified on this day in 1776. Older students can delve into the actual words of this document and discover its purpose as stated in the words of the very Founders of the United States. Younger students can be told why the 4th of July is considered the "birthday" of the United States. Students of a variety of ages can memorize the introduction and/or the preamble, or read them out loud with some patriotic music playing in the background.

2. Who: Thomas Jefferson gets a lot of attention regarding the Declaration of Independence, and very rightfully so. BUT students can also hear about John Adams and Benjamin Franklin and their roles in the creation of this document. Students can make sense of Benjamin Franklin's feelings at this time that the colonists must "hang together" or surely "hang separately". Very often overlooked in the study of the Declaration is also the person of King George, but in some ways, there would have been no Declaration had it not been for the choices of King George. (You've got to love the rather lengthy list of grievances the Founders had against the King, as listed directly in the text of the Declaration.)

3. When: Though July 4th is the date celebrated as the birthday of the United States, the work of writing took many days during that summer of 1776. Also, investigate why John Adams predicted that the 2nd of July would be a day of "pomp", "parade" and "illuminations". 

4. Where: Though Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is an obvious choice of locations to mention, it is the perfect chance to point out all 13 of the original colonies and also the location of England.

5. Why: The very best way to see the answer to this question is to read the text of the declaration itself, which explains right at the outset what the reasons were for the 13 colonies to declare their independence from England. Older students can contemplate the questions of whether the decision was justified and imagine whether or not such a document would ever be needed in the future.

6. Effects: What different reactions did colonists have when this document was read aloud throughout the colonies? What was King George's reaction? Also important to note here is that in some ways, the United States Declaration of Independence became the groundwork for many other countries in the years following. See, for instance, France a decade later.

7. Where does it fit? Some people mistakenly remember the Declaration of Independence as the beginning of the American Revolution, but studying the events ten years before and after 1776 help put the Declaration in perspective.

8. Visualize the Declaration: John Trumbull, for example, painted "The Declaration of Independence" in which he paid attention to detail as to the location and appearance of people's faces. Look, also at a copy of the original document. Some students may wish to copy a small part of the Declaration onto some parchment or "aged" paper.

9. Other resources: There are so many great books written for children about the Declaration of Independence, the Fourth of July, and the people who had a hand in making the history of this date. There are also videos that might be appropriate for your children (as always, you may choose to preview these first yourself). Liberty's Kids has an episode about the Declaration of Independence, and the History Channel made an "American Revolution" series which more advanced students might find useful.

10. Other ideas: Of course, finding ways to celebrate the 4th of July as the birthday of the United States leaves plenty of room for fun! Red, white, and blue food and crafts, local parades and fireworks, and patriotic music set the stage for creating a feeling that "There's something special about the 4th of July!" 
  

Nature Study + Family Fun = A Great Day

I have to admit that the Charlotte-Mason style nature study has always interested me. We haven't done much with it, though. I'm not sure if it's because I didn't really know where to begin or because it seemed like we didn't have the time. Today's day out, though, has reminded me how great it could be.


Family Fun Magazine had a good article in this past month's issue which got us started. (I don't think this month's activities are on their website yet. I'll try to link to the specific ideas when Family Fun updates their site.)


1. We did some digging in the yard to look for worms and we tested Family Fun's idea of how to get worms to come up to the surface. 
2. We used materials that we had around the house to study the underwater critters at our nearby lake. We also tested the pH levels.

3. We had a picnic and made Family Fun's Sweet Seedlings (very cute!) 

In addition, we did a nature walk and journaling, and the kids also took some photographs. They took along our bird-identification book and also tried to identify the birds by their calls. One of the highlights of the day was finding a killdeer nest with four eggs in it. The momma bird treated us to her "broken wing" imitation so that we could see what she does when she feels her nest is threatened. We didn't stay long but snapped a few pictures before leaving momma to her work.

Since we had recently read "Sign of the Beaver" for history, we also tried to leave "signs" to show ourselves the way back (even though we already knew the way).


The kids and I really enjoyed our time!

Workshop at the Library--Poetry

Today I'm thankful for my library. It's not only the place where I get dozens of books for our learning each week. It's also a really fun destination for learning activities that I didn't have to plan!


This Saturday the kids and I participated in a poetry-writing workshop led by a children's book author. It was fun and both kids did really well with their poetry. The author gave many brainstorming ideas for poetry and writing. I included one poem from each child.


The pre-writing activity for this poem was to close our eyes and picture our name. The author asked several questions about what we saw. What color is it? Let it fall. Where did it land? Now try to fill in details about where your name landed. Is there an animal coming to visit your name? What is it? What other objects are around? Then we opened our eyes and drew the things in our mind-picture. They could be used to fill in details of our poems.


Ds8 drew a picture of his name on top of a crater-filled moon. There was a fox visiting his name.


My name is a fox with a bushy tail.
My name is a flower which withstands hail.
My name is the moon, with crater's deep.
My name is a vehicle, like a Ford or a Jeep.


Dd6 made a mental picture of her middle name. She drew a large red square, the beginning of the day. Inside the square was a blue tulip. There was a yellow sun in an orange box and a cloud with an angel. When asked to put the details into a poem, this is what she wrote.


K. is a cat saying purr all day long.
K. is a tulip burning in the sun.
K. is the angel that holds love in its hands.
K. is the sun burning so bright.
K. is love.

Projects for Care Center

Pretty soon it will be time to take the kids to the local retirement Care Center again. The kids always like to to take something along to give to the residents. I think it's a great way to interact a bit. It opens up conversation and gives the kids something to talk about. We're always looking for new things to take besides cards.


This trip the kids will be taking along some Perler Bead projects. These are a couple of their own designs that they'll be taking.

dd6

ds8

Here is a post from last year showing the cards we took once.

Into the Community-Visits to the Care Center

Dh and I take the kids to a local care center once every six weeks. We feel that it's valuable for them to be with people of all ages. It's also a little step toward being able to volunteer in the community.

The kids usually make art projects to give away. Sometimes it gets pretty busy for us and we don't have much chance to make things beforehand. These are good to make and keep on hand for those times.

I've been meaning to contact the activities director at the care center to see what other opportunities might be available to get the kids in regularly to visit, read books to the residents, or play chess or cards. Unfortunately I haven't gotten to it, yet, but this seems like a good time to take that on.