Civil War Unit Study Part 1

Our favorite study during third grade was definitely our Civil War Unit Study.  Both of us learned so much and had fun while we were learning.

It all started with this book- I had just planned to have Hailey read Harriet Tubman by Maryann Weidt.  While reading the book, she became very interested in Harriet Tubman, the underground railroad, and the civil war.  When we finished the book she begged to learn more.  So, I went with her interests.  We paused our study of ancient history, that we had been working on, and I put together a unit about slavery and the civil war.  That’s one of my favorite things about homeschooling- we can learn about what we find interesting.

Here is a small sampling of some of the activities we did:

These are some of the books we read during our unit.  I found many living books to use, rather than text book type books.  We both really enjoy the living books.  Even Hunter (age 3) listened to most of the books.

After we read Follow the Drinking Gourd by Jeanette Winter, Hailey made her own representation of the drinking gourd, or the big dipper constellation.  She learned how the slaves on the underground railroad would look toward the drinking gourd and follow it so that they would not get lost while they tried to find their way north.  We also listened to the Follow the Drinking Gourd song on YouTube- it has a catchy tune and we both found ourselves singing it.

Hailey learned that slaves on the underground railroad would know a house was a safe place to stop for rest if there was a lantern burning in the window.  So, she made a lantern by gluing tissue paper onto a jar.

Hailey’s finished lantern, with a battery operated tea light candle inside.

We learned about how the slaves made quilts and the patterns on the quilt were secret messages to help them escape to freedom.  I found printables for the different quilt patterns and Hailey colored them while I read to her.

Hailey made this 3-D map of the underground railroad from the book Interactive 3-D Maps: American History.

Hailey really enjoyed playing Flight to Freedom, an online game where she played a slave who was trying to escape.  Not only was it educational and fun, but it was actually pretty hard to make it through the journey.

We learned about how slaves could only bring a few belongings with them when they ran away.  Hailey used a bandana and had to try to decide what she would have brought with her.

Hailey also designed her own quilt pattern.

She made a house with a lantern burning in the window.

I gave Hailey an assignment to build a model safe house and she came up with this all on her own.  She used a box and set up some furniture inside.

There was a secret passage in the floor for slaves to hide in.

And a secret spot in the wall for slaves to hide behind a book shelf.

Then she had to write a story and pretend she was a slave who escaped to freedom.  She had to write about her journey and what happened along the way.  She did an excellent job bringing everything together that she learned about the slavery, the underground railroad, and what happened after they escaped.

There is so much to read, do, explore, and learn about!  I couldn’t fit it all into one post, so check back soon for part 2 of our study.

In Freedom’s Cause Review

It’s that time of year, for us anyway, when it’s nice to take a little break from our regular curriculum and change things up a bit.  We have been using an online history program this year and Hailey was starting to get a little bit tired of it.  So, when I was given the chance to review In Freedom’s Cause Single Package  from Heirloom Audio Productions I thought it would be a nice break from our regular curriculum.

Sometimes history can get a little bit dry and boring, but the goal of Heirloom Audio Productions is to bring real history to life.  As they researched and prepared to make this production, they actually traveled to Scotland and walked where the main characters of this story had once walked.  So you know they are serious about making the story exciting!

We received In Freedom’s Cause on CD- there were two CDs, with over 2 hours of entertainment to cover the entire story.  The story is about William Wallace and Robert Bruce and how they fought to try to gain Scotland’s freedom.  Scotland was suffering due to cruelty of their English leader.  Even though it seemed impossible, William Wallace took a stand and struggled to gain freedom and inspired many others.  Even though he would not live to see Scotland gain freedom he was the inspiration for Robert the Bruce, who later defeated the English.

This audio CD is more than just a reading of the story- it is like you are listening to a movie.  There are all sorts of sound effects and great music.  There are some pretty big name stars among the cast including Joanne Froggatt (from Downtown Abbey), Billy Boyd (from Lord of the Rings), Skandar Keynes (from Chronicles of Narnia), James Cosmo (from Braveheart), plus more.

We also received the In Freedom’s Cause Study Guide (Digital Download) to go along with the CD.  There is a set of questions to go along with each track on the CD.  In each set of questions there are three parts- a Listening Well section, Thinking Further questions, and a Defining Words section.  The Listening Well section is basically questions that you will find the answers to by listening to the story.  The Thinking Further section is just what it sounds like- it makes you think about what you heard by asking deeper questions.  Lastly the Defining Words section goes over new words that your child heard in the story.

In addition we received In Freedom’s Cause Soundtrack (MP3 download) which has all of the original music, and the Printable copy of the Prayer of William Wallace. (digital download)

So, how did we use this?  We took a break from our regular history curriculum and listened to part of the CD each day for history.  After we listened to part of the CD we would stop and go over the questions in the study guide.  Hailey enjoyed listening to the story and there were even parts that made her laugh.  She decided it would be fun to talk like the characters and she developed an accent after listening each day :-).  She did enjoy the story but also said that sometimes she was a little confused about who was talking.  We used the study guide for the beginning tracks but found that most of it was too difficult for Hailey (age 8, in 3rd grade). Although it is recommended for ages 6 and up, I think the study guide would be more for a middle school aged child.  I think it would have been nice to have included an answer key with the study guide because there were a couple of questions where I was unsure of the answer.

Overall, it was a good story.  I would recommend listening to it all at once, rather than a little at a time as we did.  When we listen to it again we will do it in the car on a trip.  I think it would be easier to follow along listening to it all at one time. I would recommend it for older children- probably middle school and up. It would be a fun addition to your history curriculum and Heirloom Audio Productions definitely knows how to bring history to life.

Third Grade Weeks in Review

Here are some of things Hailey has been busy learning about over the last couple of weeks.

Language Arts:

We used the Johnny Appleseed unit from The Razzle Dazzle Classroom to take a little break from our regular language arts curriculum.  We read several books about Johnny Appleseed and learned about what a tall tale is.  Hailey made this cute craftivity to show what she learned about him.

A little closer look

We also read “Amelia Bedelia’s First Apple Pie” and then Hailey described the characters, setting, problem,

steps to solve the problem, the solution, and her opinion of the book.

History:

We have been studying all about Egypt and made a representation of the Nile.  This is what it looked like after 1 week.  Hailey flooded the Nile again.

We took a break from our Egypt study to learn about Columbus Day.  We used a unit from The Razzle Dazzle Classroom for this too- I just love her stuff!

This is the inside of the lapbook that we made.

Science:

We did this fun experiment as Hailey is learning about light and reflection- there is a clear plastic container with water in it on the edge of the counter.  There is a fork on the bottom of the container.  When you kneel down on the ground and look up at the surface of the water the fork looks like it is upside down the on the surface of the water.

We did this demonstration to see how a lunar eclipse works.  The flashlight is the sun, the big ball is the earth, and the little ball is the moon.  Hailey was able to see how the earth is the the path of the sunlight.

So there is a little look at a few things we have been working on in 3rd grade.

Third Grade Weeks in Review

It has been a while since I posted about what Hailey has been doing in school.  I am having a hard time figuring out how to fit everything in that I want to do these days.  Having a newborn in the house sure does make it harder to get everything done.  She is a super good baby, there is just so much more to do.  Anyway, here is a quick review of what we have been up to over the last several weeks.

Language Arts:

Hailey has been learning how to diagram sentences in language arts.  Actually, I have been learning it too because I never learned in school how to do it.

Working on her cursive handwriting.

Hailey finished reading Capyboppy and her assignment when she finished the book was to create what a DVD cover for a movie of Capyboppy would look like.

We also finished reading Mrs. Pigglewiggle.  When she finished that book she had to write a friendly letter telling someone about the book.

She drew a picture of her favorite part of the book- which was the “fighter-quarrelers cure” where Mrs. Pigglewiggle told the parents to argue and act like their kids were acting to cure all the fighting the kids were doing.  We really loved reading Mrs. Pigglewiggle, it is definitely a favorite!

Science:

We are still having a lot of fun with our science curriculum.  We are using Science in the Beginning and it is working well for us.

Hailey was doing an experiment where she had to put a white piece of a plastic garbage bag and a black piece of a plastic garbage bag in the sunlight for 5 minutes and then check to see what happened.

Hailey has also been busy working in her science journal.

History:

We are using Veritas Press and Story of the World for history and both are working great for us.

After Hailey learned about the Tower of Babel, she did a craft to create her own using the idea I found here.

We have moved on to learning about Egypt and there are so many fun activities to do with Egypt that it is very easy to get carried away!

Hailey made a model of the Nile.  In the middle is the Nile and on the sides we put some grass seed.  Hailey also added some large rocks to represent mountains.  Each week will flood our Nile to represent how it flooded every year.

Then Hailey also used some clay and wrote her name using Cuneiform.

Other:

We took a field trip to learn how donuts and apple cider are made.  Hailey and Hunter enjoyed trying a delicious donut and some yummy cider!

We saw donuts being made.

We watched how cider is made.

Hailey checking out a piece of apple pumice.

Hunter and Hailey checking out the pumpkins at the end of our field trip.