Treasure Box

 After much debate, I based my treasure box on the life of George Washington and the era in which he lived.  I read aloud the book George/George Washington, Our Founding Father, by George Keating. I found my inspiration for items in the box from the book , the Library of Congress website, The National Archives website, and the information that we got in our class this summer. The items were geared to students in a fifth grade classroom.

After reading the book to the class, I divided the class into teams. Each team had one bag that came out of the box with items for them to examine and answer questions that were related to the items they explored.  The hands-on approach allowed the students to learn using a brain-based approach.

Activity 1: Colonial Clothing: Students looked at photos of people dressed in colonial attire. They then were allowed to examine various items that they saw in the photos such as a wig, leggings, colonial fabrics (in the book that we were given this summer), colonial buttons, and other items. The students also looked at a picture of the colonial three corner hat, and were given directions to make one of their own by folding newspaper to make a hat similar to the ones worn in colonial times.

Activity 2: George Washington timeline:
Students were allowed to read over a  timeline of major events in the life of George Washington. Then they were given a stack of pictures that were taken from the National Archives website and were asked to match the photos to various events in George's lifetime. The photos were labeled with the correct answer  on the back, and students had to answer a series of questions about what they saw in the photos.

Activity 3:  Colonial Jobs :Students were given a list of colonial jobs that were mentioned in the book about George Washington (surveyor, blacksmith, cooper), as well as other colonial time jobs. Students were shown a picture of an object and had to match it to the "job title" that went with it.

Activity 4:  Calligraphy Writing Students were given a copy of the Constitution and were asked to find George Washington's signature, as well as those of other famous men. They were then asked to
attempt to write their name with a quill (feather) dipped in ink. After a few minutes, the students were given black felt tip pens and models of upper and lower case letters written in a calligraphy alphabet. Students were allowed to write their names on parchment paper .

Activity 5: Colonial Objects: At this station, students were allowed to explore some of the other objects that we were given at our summer institute, such as the block of tea, spices in their original form, and the bilbo catcher. Students were then asked to answer a series of reflective questions about some of the items (How would you feel about having toys that did not run on batteries? Why do you think that tea and spices were valued by the colonists?   etc....)


I also gave the class a pre and post assessment about George Washington. Students later made a foldable in their student notebook based on the activity. The students really enjoyed this activity.

My thoughts about this is that it was fun for the students, but was a tremendous amount of work. I like the idea, but found it very difficult to complete.  I am happy that it is now finished, because I can use it again and again. I think I could focus on one topic at a time and make more each year (I would love to do one based on Ben Franklin and one on the Pilgrims).

I read Signing Their Rights Away by Denise Kierman. What a fascinating book! I liked that you could focus on the signers by states.  Of course, I first focused on George.  I laughed when I learned that he "loved good times, drinking, gambling, cockfights, dancing, and salty jokes" (who knew???)! His infamous false teeth were made of crazy stuff like hippo, walrus, and elephant ivory, but never fit very well . It does explain why he never smiled in pictures!

Hard Work

After reading many of the assignments that we have had to read the last few months, I have to say that historians have an incredibly hard job. When you read all of the details that are included in many of the books we have been assigned, you realize the difficult job they have in authenticating information, especially if the information is included in a journal or autobiography. The use of primary sources is critical (and much easier) for historians to use to validate facts.  They also must rule out bias as they look at events in our past. I do have a greater admiration for historians and archivists after reading many of our assignments.

Biography Assignment

            It was certainly an eye opener reading both The Shoemaker and the Tea Party and The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.  I have always been a fan of biographies. I love to read accounts of someone’s personal experiences. I also find that my fifth grade students adore reading about the lives of famous people in history. My students have loved reading stories about Rosa Parks, Roberto Clemente , and Benjamin Franklin’s lives. The thing that I have been enlightened about the use of biographies and autobiographies! The issue of using that book as your sole “window” of looking at a period in history is a big one. The bias or limited memories of the author can make this view of a historical period inaccurate or limited to say the least.

            I truly had never heard of George Robert Twelves Hewes.  The portion that I did read was an interesting window into the time period in which he lived. However, the fact that the story is the faded memories of an elderly man makes one skeptical about the authenticity of using an autobiography as a history book. Readers and historians need to use a variety of sources (especially primary sources) to authenticate the details written in these type of books.

            I struggled to read the book The Autobiography of Ben Franklin. It was not the fact that his day to day recounting of his early life was not interesting.  The part that I struggled with was the 18^th century language. I consider myself to be a person who has a pretty decent vocabulary, but I could not get past the questions about what certain words and phrases meant.  It made me sympathize with my fifth grade students when they are asked to read difficult material and cannot clarify words by using context clues! I finally discovered the book was on my daughter’s Kindle, and I was able to use the tool on the Kindle that clarifies words in a story. WHEW! I could actually figure out some of the unique vocabulary.

            I continue to be a huge admirer of Benjamin, because he was a visionary in so many ways. It was interesting to read about the back story of many of his  contributions to life in Philadelphia and the colonies. I also learned about the club  the Junto, which was quite incredible for it’s time period. I also greatly admire his wife, who was quite a tolerant person.She raised William’s son who was not her own,  and certainly knew of his “lady friends” before they were married. She also was quite tolerant of his trips abroad as he pursued his civic and scientific interests.

June Activity

I found the book The American Revolution, a History by Gordon S. Wood to be an interesting, but less engaging book than Joy Hakim's text. The book by Wood certainly went into much more detail than the Hakim text, but the thing that was missing for me was the actual photo, illustration, or trivia that Hakim used. I compared the section in Wood's text where he discussed the writing of the state constitutions. This section was very engaging and interesting, but I felt much more connected to the Hakim text, which shows actual pictures of the New York State Constitution and the North Carolina Constitution, as well as important details about the information shared. 

I feel that the Wood text is much more appropriate to be used as a background text for teachers to use to build their base knowledge on this period in American history. The Hakim text is a book that I would actually use with my students to show them primary sources to help them to understand the facts that are given. 

An interesting "sidebar" to the Wood text was that while I was reading it, the movie "The Patriot" came on AMC on cable. Of course, I just happened to be reading the Wood text and could add commentary about Cornwallis at the end of the movie to my husband based on what I had read.I guess the point is made that we as teachers need to build our base knowledge about historical events. We can then help our students discern what is fact and what is fiction in the movies and other media that they often rely on to build their knowledge of our nation's past.

Joy's Book is a Joy!

I truly enjoyed reading Joy Hakim's book.  I have always been a trivia buff, and this book certainly was a treasure of information for me. I have taught lessons on many of the topics that Joy shared in her book, and I look forward to incorporating this new information into my lessons. I loved her technique of sharing historical information in a narrative instead of the lists and third person point of view that is used in typical textbooks. I think my fifth graders would love her style and would be more excited to learn about some of the events of this time period if it was presented in this new approach.

Joy certainly seems to be a writer with a sense of humor! Her stories certainly capture some of the more unusual and funny events that happened during a very serious time in history. I love some of her clever titles ("Party on, George", "Senior Citizen's Arrest", and "They Called It Macaroni"......!).  I learned that Thomas Jefferson was a fiddler, asked his secretary William Short to buy him a pasta maker in Europe, and was 6 feet 2 inches tall....! I certainly wouldn't learn these unique and unusual facts in a regular text.

Hakim also used primary sources throughout her text. This connects with our readings on brain studies and how people learn. As a classroom teacher, I could use her examples of primary sources in the text as a springboard for hands-on activities in the classroom. It is a reference that I feel would have many applications. After reading this text, it is a bit unattractive to use texts that are presented in a dry, unengaging style like our typical textbooks.

April Assignment

These videos and articles were very interesting. I learned that teachers should increase the amount of active learning that they use with their students. This will appeal to both sides of the brain and increase learning in students.

We also need to make sure that our students are learning in a safe environment. I was intrigued to learn about how fear can affect learning. We look at some of the other factors that affect instruction, but with all of the focus on bullying in schools today, we cannot downplay how the fear of someone or something in school (a scary, gruesome picture on a wall or in a book) can really affect young learners. I think that we need to work hard not to overlook this as an issue as we plan our teaching.

After reading the research, it also is disturbing to think that schools are cutting art, music, and physical education programs.  If we want our students to be well-rounded learners who are making "adequate yearly progress", we cannot forget that we need to teach more than reading and math. We cannot forget about the connections between both sides of the brain and the impact of things like music or physical activity on learning.

Trying Something New......!

They say that you are never too old to try something new! Well, as a seasoned (should I say veteran?) educator, I think that this course is going to stretch me to try many new things. I have posted comments on a Wiki within my district, but posting on (and setting up) a blog is a new experience for me. I guess as a Social Studies teacher I should take my inspiration from Benjamin Franklin. He was always inventing, and always looking for new opportunities to serve and to learn, even in the later part of his life. I hope that this course does that for me...!