A Free Thanksgiving Unit Study using a Charlotte Mason approach
Now I know, at this time of year, you can find these ALL over the internet. Chances are, you have already got at least one. But when I went looking, the ones I found didn't quite satisfy me. You see, my sons are nine and twelve, both are 'demanding' (to say the least!) when it comes to educational materials and keeping them interested and excited requires not sticking with old and constantly rehashed materials.
So... here is what I have put together. If you find it useful, please let me know :)
1) We begin by filling out this little KWL diagram... I am always surprised at what my children know. They seem to gather information out of the air...
2) Everyone begins studying Thanksgiving with the Indians and the Pilgrims but when did it actually become an 'American' holiday? --Though George Washington did proclaim November 26 'a day of public thanksgiving and prayer', this did not lead to a national holiday. It was President Abraham Lincoln who established the holiday on the final Thursday of the month of November as an official holiday on October 3rd, 1863.(This was changed to the second to last Thursday in 1939 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt -- who caused quite an uproar when he did so. See Here for that story.) Here is a link to the speech that he made. As we follow the Charlotte Mason method, my sons and I will be reading and learning this, then using it for recitation, dictation, and copywork. ( I have included copywork for both Lincoln's speech and the Giving Thanks prayer in this Dropbox folder collection.)
3) For Handicrafts I found the following SITE which has some wonderful videos including how to make wreaths, scarecrows, and cards. It also has Thanksgiving recipes if, like mine, your children plan to help cook Thanksgiving day dinner.
4) And speaking of Thanksgiving recipes -- HERE is the site where we are finding some of our favorites. The Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond has some lovely recipes and my sons are mad about cooking. Cooking is where we get a lot of our math done -- but it also a place to learn how to work cooperatively, as a team. We add Chemistry to our cooking by using the American Chemical Website's Thanksgiving Food and Chemistry
5) For grammar fun, I found the following SITE where kids can create a 'wacky Thanksgiving story' with the various parts of speech.
6) And for those of you with kids into the 'ick' factor -- HERE is a little science to spice up your Thanksgiving... A Buggy Thanksgiving. (Wink!)
7) Of course, history is incorporated throughout this study, but if you want to make this even more 'authentic' for your children, here is a SITE where they can learn the 'jargon' of the Pilgrims. Wouldn't it be fun to speak a little differently on Thanksgiving Day?
8) And, if you want to include truly beautiful Native American element in your Thanksgiving celebration, I recommend these two items:
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Find the classroom guide that accompanies this truly amazing poem/prayer HERE
HERE is another lesson plan for the book from Reading Rainbow.
HERE is the prayer/poem if you cannot get ahold of the book.
HERE is a link to the Scholastic Video of the book.
HERE is a biography of the author along with some interesting information about his tribe. Chief Jake Swamp was a member of the Haudenosaunee Nations, known to most people as the Mohawk Indians. For more on this group of people, look HERE.
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HERE is the author's website. Joseph Bruchac, a member of the Abenaki Tribe (Upper N.Y.), is one of the most prolific authors of Native American literature today.
HERE is a lesson plan related specifically to his 'Circle of Thanks'
HERE is a bibliography of materials on Native American Thanksgivings.
9) And finally, if you feel you need to cover the more traditional Thanksgiving materials, look HERE for information on the 1621 celebration, approached from the perspective of 'becoming an historian'.
So... with more than enough to fill the days between now and Thanksgiving day itself, I hope you have a wonderful time with your family and friends.
Teaching with Minecraft - Literature Reflections
In my previous post, I suggested the Minecraft could be used to encourage reluctant writers -- utilizing the creation of an 'Adventure Map' as the 'hook'. In this post, I am going to continue that theme but in a slightly different direction. Still using the device of the 'Adventure Map' and the student's creation of his/her own personal map, I am going to explore a different, though related area of language arts -- that of literature and reading comprehension.
I know that many teachers and parents are interested and concerned with the materials their students read. They want to be able to encourage and assess the quality and comprehension of the materials that their students are imbibing. I found the following rubric for assessing reading comprehension here: As I see it, this is yet another place where Minecraft -- and more particularly -- the Adventure Map -- can be of use
(I have also created my own rough rubric which can be foundhere at Dropbox. I will be tweaking it as I use it, of course and will update it as I go. If you do not use Dropbox but would like a copy of the rubric, please let me know.)
How can Adventure Maps be used as a Reading Comprehension assessment tool? Let me provide an example:
Currently my sons and I are reading the next in the 'Lost Hero' series by Rick Riordan. Anyone who follows Riordan knows of the Percy Jackson series -- Greek Demigods in the modern world battling to protect this world against the forces of Evil. In the second part of the series, Riordan introduces Roman Demigods who are attempting a similar feat -- and who have an historical antipathy to their Greek counterparts that must be overcome if success is to be achieved. Each book in the series is wonderfully full of descriptions -- descriptions of the places that the Demigods travel and the challenges that they face. It occurred to me today, as we were reading the most recent book, 'The House of Hades', that the books were chock full of material for Adventure maps. I ran the idea past my eldest son... He agreed, though, he pointed out to me, that 'You'd have to really know the book and pay close attention to what you were doing when you created the map because people who liked the books and who played your map would be real quick to notice mistakes!' -- AHA! Eureka! If a student has read and paid attention to the details of the book they will be able to reproduce that knowledge in the creation of an exacting Adventure map... one which they will be willing to share with a wide audience.
To be truly successful at creating an adventure map from a beloved book, a map maker would have to do two things (1) include specific details from the book being careful not use them casually or out of order/ out of place (2)create options for the player(s) that allow for interactions with the map while moving them toward the conclusion. To be able to achieve both of these goals requires a strong grasp of the story and its basic elements. The student may need to return to book over and over again, to refresh, relearn, re-investigate the material.
Once the student is fully engaged in the map creation process, the teacher could then go back through the writing process that the student has to follow and ask questions: Why is this here? What does that do? Why are you using Redstone here? What is the lava for? Are you spawning mobs? Why? Why not? Is this set on survival? Is it set in the Nether?
These questions do require a certain knowledge/vocabulary of the game but that knowledge is one that the students will be more than happy to help you acquire. One of the best parts of teaching with Minecraft lies in the fact that because your students have a chance to teach you, they see you as engaged in their learning, they see you as a partner and are more willing to work toward a shared goal. The challenges that you pose them become a positive goal rather than something negative.
At the moment, I am writing up my own list of Literature related Minecraft map challenges. I shall run them by my sons, to see which ones interest them. They will, no doubt, surprise me. When we have something solidly underway, I will return and post pictures. Meanwhile, I, myself, am going to attempt to build a Hobbit town. Why? Well, in all honesty, because I want to build a REAL set of small hobbit houses out in the back woods of my home and building them in Minecraft seems to me a good first step...
Teaching with Minecraft -- Creative writing
How many people have children who BURST with ideas but who fight bitterly at the thought of writing those ideas down? Maybe you are one of those people --- you have ideas but when you are faced with a blank page, be it paper or a computer screen, you find yourself panicking. It is very difficult, then, to encourage your children to do what you yourself cannot.
But children who are stymied at the thought of writing down their ideas can be energized to do so when those ideas are connected and developed through the mechanism of Minecraft.
One of the most 'exciting' aspects of Minecraft for many players is the possibility of creating their own personal 'adventure' map. An
'adventure map' is similar to a Minecraft World but more closely, to more clearly defined. It is a world with a story to it, a world through which the player moves with purpose.
Now HERE is where the creative writing part comes in. This link will take you to directions for creating an adventure map. As you see, the directions are quite clear -- you must WRITE out the back story. And then you must DRAW out the map so that you have a clear idea of what you are going to build in Minecraft.
Once you have built your Map and had it tested by friends, worked through the bugs that always seem to show up, you are ready to publish your map on Planet Minecraft.
