 |
 |
WHERE DID IT HAPPEN? |
| |
Extend the learning by helping kids make up their own questions. You might do this as a group after viewing an episode of Liberty's Kids, inventing questions based on the story of the show. Or you can help kids research a particular colony or person and write questions based on what they find. |
|
|
I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG |
| |
Extend the learning by teaching kids the proper procedure for care and folding of the U.S. flag. If you need a source to provide instructions, you might invite a local Eagle Scout, Girl Scout, or member of the military to demonstrate. Consider beginning and/or ending your day with raising or otherwise displaying the flag and give children responsibility for caring for the flag you use. |
|
|
PAPER AND INK |
| |
Extend the learning by visiting a local newspaper and watching a press run, if possible. How do they print the newspaper? Find out about the paper and ink they use. How are newspapers different today from how they were in Colonial America? How did computers change the newspaper industry, including how type is created? |
|
|
COLONIAL QUILT |
| |
Extend the learning by arranging a field trip to a local quilt shop or the home of a quilt maker in your neighborhood. Ask them to show you their quilts and talk about what the symbols mean. A local natural history or craft museum may also have examples of quilts. |
|
|
YANKEE DOODLE |
| |
Extend the learning by helping children memorize Yankee Doodle or another song related to the Revolutionary War. Arrange for them to perform at a community event on Independence Day, Memorial Day, or Flag Day. |
|
|
LETTERS FROM HOME |
| |
In the series, Sarah often writes letters home to her mother. Extend the learning by reviewing proper letter format (e.g., opening with "Dear.", ending with "Sincerely", including date and address) as kids write their own letters. You might also talk about why it might be important for the contents of a letter to remain private. |
|
|
THE POET KNOWS IT |
| |
Extend the learning by helping children read and understand the poems included in the activity. Pausing after each line to make sure the meaning is clear can work well. Review the meanings of unfamiliar words. |
|
|
TRUE OR FALSE? |
| |
Extend the learning by helping kids see the impact of technology on people's everyday lives. Ask them to imagine things like how much time it would take to make an afternoon snack of chocolate chip cookies without a microwave, refrigerator, or toaster oven. What kinds of foods might they choose to eat that would be easy to prepare without electricity? |
|
|
SPY GAMES |
| |
Extend the learning by showing kids ways to use numbers to represent letters. The code in the activity is based on each letter's place in the alphabet, so the letter a=1; b=2;and z=26. How else might kids use math to make up a code? |
|
|
LOOKING FOR HEROES |
| |
Extend the learning by visiting your local historical society or touring your community to find historical plaques placed by the National Park Service. What do the historical markers say? When were they put up? Who wrote them? Are they accurate or have we learned new things since they were written? Do they mark something related to the Revolutionary War or something that happened before or after the nation was created? As a follow-up, you might find places in your own community that should have historical plaques. If they aren't already marked, help kids research and write text for the plaque and propose it to your local historical society. |
|
|
BATTLE GEAR |
| |
Extend the learning by helping children make costumes and dress up as Revolutionary War characters. Let them act out events or recite things written by a favorite historical figure. Help them see what men wore and what women wore and how those things were different from the clothes we wear today (e.g., men wearing powdered wigs and stockings, women wearing corsets or petticoats). |
|
|
JUST WHAT WE ALWAYS NEEDED |
| |
Extend the learning by arranging for a science or technology fair and helping children prepare projects to present. Encourage creative problem solving and inventing new ways to accomplish every day tasks. |
|
|
WORD POWER |
| |
Extend the learning by helping kids track down the source for each of the slogans mentioned in the activity. Review what each of the slogans means. |
|
|
WOMEN AT WAR |
| |
Extend the learning by helping kids see what kinds of things women do today that they were not allowed to do in Colonial times. You can start with voting, serving in the military, and owning property. |
|
