Tag Archive | Don Nardo

India, a Resource Project

Ok another WAAAAAAY delayed post, no images just resources. (I fib, one image of a sari skirt I splurged on for this year’s wardrobe. The colours of India are AMAZING!) I am determined to get my bum in gear and get these posts up in a more timely manner. But for today, humble pie. I should have had this up half a year ago!!! Check back tomorrow as I continue to prove to my kids that even MOM finishes EVERYTHING (within reason…) she starts! 

 

So we had these grand plans to do a family project on India in a timely manner, oops. But we did spend a summer and then some learning about a very distinct and colourful country and I will try and share the links, books, etc that we used. And then I took a lifetime and a half to post this post

First off. Google is your friend. We spent a lot of time searching for pictures for topics to colour. Mandalas, saris, the Taj Mahal. There are all sorts of colouring pages out there.

Since my resource list is a bit weak this time around, here is the list of topics the kids chose from. I gave them the option to pick and chose and varied the expectations of report content and length according to each child. So Trinity would do a list of facts vs. Zander having paragraphs or Echo colouring a picture.

  • Globe location
  • Government – levels, type, capital, voting rights
  • Country – independence, languages, time zones, founding, state/provinces
  • Landscape – mountains, water bodies, landmarks, position on map
  • Climate – seasons, one week of comparative weather, snow, natural disasters
  • Animals – unique to country – we chose one to do a report on
  • Plants – unique to country
  • Agriculture – most prevalent and where
  • Food – famous for
  • Symbols/emblems – flag, official symbols
  • Religions – main religions
  • Currency – what is used, exchange rate to USD, when it came into use
  • Main groups of people – who are they, caste system, poverty vs. rich numbers
  • School – minimum grade required, types
  • Inventions
  • Imports/exports/economy – what are the main ones
  • Sports – most popular
  • Holidays – major holidays
  • Music and crafts – most common, popular, make some
  • Tourism/Famous people
  • Choose a topic

Books were an important resource. Here is my short list. Libraries really are life saving

  • India by Manina Chatterjee
  • Focus on India by Bojang Brownlie
  • Taj Mahal by Linda Tagliaferro
  • India ABC’s by Marcie Aboff
  • Welcome to India by Patric Ryan
  • India by Don Nardo
  • India by Joanne Mattern
  • The Mauryan Empire and India by Ellis Roxburgh
  • India by Julie Murray
  • India by A. Kamala Dalal
  • Living in India by Chloe Perkins

For a fun activity we tried out making Henna decorations on paper hands as explained by Activity Village HERE. Education.com is always a help HERE.  Beyond the Henna activity Activity Village has a whole selection of resources HERE.IMG_20180328_150104_136

Abraham Lincoln and the Declaration of Independence

As I write that it totally looks like I am saying Lincoln was AT the signing… rather we covered BOTH of these rather interesting topics recently and I figured why not bundle the two together for the blog post?

The 2016/2017 school year has had a focus more towards history and the United States of America. It has been a learning experience for students AND teacher. These two topics were the twins’ choice. We started with the Declaration of Independence. Such an important piece of paper. We used a lot of sheets from Education.com HERE.

We had a few books we requested from the library that were helpful:

  • What is the Declaration of Independence by Michael C. Harris HERE
  • The Declaration of Independence by Don Nardo HERE
  • American Documents: The Declaration of Independence by Judith Lloyd Yero HERE
  • The Declaration of Independence by Lori Mortensen HERE

I have to share a rather interesting link passed along by a good friend (and fellow twin mom)… this one looks at what happened to the signers of the Declaration of Independence AFTER they signed at USHistory.org. They truly risked life and limb to do so, as they were really committing treason against the crown and King of England. The twins spent quite a bit of time picking out some interesting people to put into our hand out and report folder.

Abraham Lincoln was a huge success. The boys have always had a vague interest in him with his distinctive look and hat that he apparently kept things in. Our final conclusion was that Abraham Lincoln was a great president, one of the best, BUT his life seemed rather miserable. Granted there was a shorter life expectancy and much higher general death rate but… wow… so much sadness, death and difficulty in the life of someone who now is seen as such an inspirational figure.

We ended up choosing a labook set up that was not free, but it was well worth it. We went with a Knowledge Box product you can find for 5.00 (US) HERE. They have a study guide, lapbook and clear instructions.20170320_200116

20170320_200124You can check out my Education.com collection of worksheets HERE. Activity Village has some very helpful worksheets as well (sadly these are all pay for sites to get the full experience, but we have found it well worth it.) HERE. You can do a helpful search on EnchantedLearning as well to get these pages HERE.

Books:

  • I am Abraham Lincoln by Brad Meltzer HERE
  • Abraham Lincoln: Lawyer, President, Emancipator by Pamela Hill Nettleton HERE
  • Abraham Lincoln by Barbara Knox HERE
  • Abe Lincoln: The boy who loved books by Kay Winters HERE
  • Abraham Lincoln by Tanya Lee Stone HERE
  • Encyclopedia of Presidents and Their Times by David Rubel HERE
  • Magic Tree House #47: Abe Lincoln at Last! by Mary Pope Osborne HERE
  • Abraham Lincoln by Sarah Hansen HERE

DVD:

  • Getting to Know The U.S. Presidents: Lincoln HERE

These were wonderful topics for us to cover one after the other. We really haven’t spent as much time on US history as we have researching countries from other parts of the world. I can’t say we will stick with these kind of topics, but the more we can cover and find interest in the better. From Lincoln it is a quick jump to Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. I will share our resources from these topics to. From slavery to a country declaring independence, to a man realizing that a whole group of people also deserved their independence… then to a man who made sure that it was realized that segregation is wrong and a woman who helped courageously help attain that dream. Not bad for taking topics the kids chose themselves!

This entry was posted on 23/03/2017, in Uncategorized. 1 Comment