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.

Flowers for Mother’s Day

Hailey and Hunter made these cute flowers for Mother’s Day.  (Hailey made Harper’s too.)

First they painted Popsicle sticks.  We broke the sticks in half and glued them onto the back of the pictures using a hot glue gun.

We put clothes pins all the way around a tuna fish can and they painted those too.

I put a round piece of floral foam into the tuna cans, to stick the flowers into so that they would stand up.

Hailey added some buttons for decorations to hers.

Hailey

Hunter

Harper

100 Day Celebration

Today was our 100th day of school! I can’t believe we are more than half way through this school year. I wish time would stop going by so fast.

When Hailey and Hunter came out to the dining room this morning they found some 100 day decorations.

All ready for our 100th day!

This was on the first day of school back in September.  I can’t believe how much they have changed since then… it seems like so long ago, but such a short time ago.

Anyway… on to some of the fun things we did today.

I gave Hailey 100 cups and told her she had to build something using all 100 cups.

Here is what she came up with- pretty cool! She really enjoyed this activity and asked if she could do it again after school.

I gave Hailey and Hunter a 100 that I cut out and told them to make a picture using the numbers.

Hailey got to work making her picture.

Hunter said he wanted to make a car, so I helped him put it together and he colored it.

Hailey made her picture so that it was a mask if you hold it one way…

…and a dress if you turn it over.

We made a 100 day snack- we took 10 different snacks and counted out 10 pieces of each kind of snack to total 100 pieces.

I saw this cute idea on Around the Kampfire.  Hailey made what she thinks she will look like when she is 100 and then wrote a paragraph about what she will be like when she is 100.

This is also from Around the Kampfire.  Hailey wrote about something she has been told 100 times and drew a picture to go with it.  She wrote about how I told her she could do a pullover on the bar at gymnastics.  She has been working on getting her pullover since September and she finally did it last week- we are so proud of her!

It was a fun day!  I still can’t believe how fast this year is going by.

Week in Review

I can’t believe how fast this school year went by.  This was our last week of 2nd grade (which was almost a month ago, I’m finally all caught up!).  I very clearly remember the first day of school and wondering how I was going to do this homeschooling thing all year long.  But, we made it and we both loved it!

 Hailey on her last day of second grade.  I wish I could slow down time, she is growing up so fast.

Here are some of the things we did during our last week:

Language Arts:

 We finished up our author unit study about Tomie dePaola from Around the Kampfire.  After we read “Little Grunt and the Big Egg,” Hailey created a book about how she would care for a prehistoric pet if she had one.

On the first day of school Hailey made the top picture (which Hunter colored on while I had it hanging up on the wall :-().  On the last day of school, I had her do the same paper and then we compared how her answers had changed or stayed the same.

Science:

Our butterflies hatched!  Hailey was able to watch one come out of its chrysalis.

We started with 5 caterpillars and ended up with 5 butterflies that were all able to fly away.  One seemed to have damaged wings, but when the time came to fly away it was able to fly.

Hailey put together a lapbook all about caterpillars and butterflies to show what she learned during our unit.  Most of the printables are from here and here.

Inside the first flap.  The top shows the life cycle of the butterfly.

On the bottom there is a little booklet where Hailey wrote out the life cycle of a butterfly.  Then she made a butterfly diagram.

This is inside the next flap of the lapbook.

On the top there are butterfly cards that show many of the types of butterflies.  Next to that is some butterfly math.  Underneath is a Venn diagram comparing butterflies and moths.

On the bottom of this flap there is a little booklet that shows the predators of butterflies, another booklet that shows the defenses butterflies use to protect themselves, and also a little booklet to show the lifespan of a butterfly.

This is the last page of the butterfly lapbook.

On the top there a book to show the different flowers that butterflies like.  There is a observation journal where Hailey wrote about what she observed in the caterpillars we watched turn into butterflies.  Then there is a little caterpillar with some facts about caterpillars.

This section has a butterfly Hailey made to show the symmetry of butterfly wings.  There is also information about what caterpillars and butterflies eat.

We had an amazing first year of homeschooling!!  We are enjoying summer vacation right now and waiting for our new baby to arrive 🙂

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