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kristinannie
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My husband and I are huge history buffs and I can't imagine not doing history right away. I want to keep it laid back with living books and lots of crafts mixed in. I had thought about doing Beautiful Feet Early American History. I have also thought about focussing on geography. Can anyone make any suggestions? I have almost everything figured out, but I just can't seem to settle on a theme! BTW, I plan on doing ancients in 1st grade if that helps.
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JennGM
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Kristin Anne,
Here's what we did. I found that my son needed a sense of history, understanding a bit more of time. He needed to see a broad brushstroke. This approach we used for Kindergarten and First Grade.
We used Mary Daly's First Timeline for that broad brushstroke. For some of the events or persons, we fleshed out with art or picture books.
Then we did living American history around us. We live in Virginia and have opportunities like Mount Vernon, DC museums, Williamsburg, etc. And these we introduced according to holidays or local events, or picture books. We didn't really focus on sequential time, but persons, the same way Mary Daly did in her timeline. So we enjoyed books on George Washington, James Madison, etc.
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hylabrook1
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What about learning the history of where you live (even if it's not as steeped in history as Virginia is  )? You might look at when and by whom the area was first settled, maybe start with the Native Americans who were there before any Europeans came. What was going on in your area during the major events of US history? Read picture books or simple stories from the library about the time period and then do field trips or walking tours to local sites, maybe even local museums, that feature your area in that time. Where did the street names, town names, etc. come from? You could make and add to a timeline to keep some kind of perspective that could elaborated on as you add more history in future years.You might include simple craft projects that relate to what you're talking and reading about.
Or it might be fun to do something similar with your own family history.
I think at the young ages of your children, you mostly want to grab their interest - and I'm sure that having history buffs for parents will have that effect - your interest and enjoyment of the subject will be contagious.
Peace,
Nancy
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violingirl
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For Kindergarten this year we've been spending 1 month on each of the continents reading about the people and animals that live there and learning a bit about the geography. It's been a nice introduction to other places and cultures.
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kristinannie
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I was sort of thinking of that and that was why I was going to do early American Lit. We live in Southern West Virginia, but go to Williamsburg every year. Also, my sister lives in Boston so I thought we could do a roadtrip there next spring when we are finishing up. I guess I could teach about Lincoln and the Civil War since that is how our state was formed. There were a lot of native american tribes here as well (we have ancient burial mounds here). Thanks so much for the ideas!
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guitarnan
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Kristin, I think your ideas will work wonderfully. My dd (now 13) has disliked history for years...or so she says...but in reality, she has really enjoyed our field trips to historic sites, near and far. (Colonial Williamsburg, Historic London Town (MD), Plimoth Plantation and Jamestown Settlement are her favorites so far.)
We lived in WV for two years; during that time we concentrated on places important to local and state history (and, I must confess, places with maple festivals - we love food!).
History isn't just about past events; in WV, coal mining is very important. I'm not sure where you are, but if you're near the demonstration coal mine in Beckley, it's wonderful. Coalwood's annual celebration of Homer Hickam's works is another fantastic event, I've heard.
You can tie history to arts/crafts either via hands-on activities or field trips (Fenton Glass?). West Virginia also has an amazing music and dance heritage, kept alive all over the state (e.g. Augusta Heritage).
You live in a beautiful, historic part of the USA...experience it together, with gentleness and age-appropriate activities, and you'll find that the memories will last a lifetime, for all of you!
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kristinannie
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violingirl wrote:
| For Kindergarten this year we've been spending 1 month on each of the continents reading about the people and animals that live there and learning a bit about the geography. It's been a nice introduction to other places and cultures. |
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That is a really good idea! Can you tell me some of the books you used?
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kristinannie
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guitarnan wrote:
Kristin, I think your ideas will work wonderfully. My dd (now 13) has disliked history for years...or so she says...but in reality, she has really enjoyed our field trips to historic sites, near and far. (Colonial Williamsburg, Historic London Town (MD), Plimoth Plantation and Jamestown Settlement are her favorites so far.)
We lived in WV for two years; during that time we concentrated on places important to local and state history (and, I must confess, places with maple festivals - we love food!).
History isn't just about past events; in WV, coal mining is very important. I'm not sure where you are, but if you're near the demonstration coal mine in Beckley, it's wonderful. Coalwood's annual celebration of Homer Hickam's works is another fantastic event, I've heard.
You can tie history to arts/crafts either via hands-on activities or field trips (Fenton Glass?). West Virginia also has an amazing music and dance heritage, kept alive all over the state (e.g. Augusta Heritage).
You live in a beautiful, historic part of the USA...experience it together, with gentleness and age-appropriate activities, and you'll find that the memories will last a lifetime, for all of you! |
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Doing some coal history is a great idea. We live in Princeton so are only about 45 min from the Exhibition Coal Mine. Also, we are planning on going to Cass Railroad this summer so he can see an old logging train that runs on coal. Where did you live when you were in WV. This is such a beautiful state.
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violingirl
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kristinannie wrote:
violingirl wrote:
| For Kindergarten this year we've been spending 1 month on each of the continents reading about the people and animals that live there and learning a bit about the geography. It's been a nice introduction to other places and cultures. |
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That is a really good idea! Can you tell me some of the books you used? |
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This is our continent work that I've posted so far. I'm a little behind on posting them as we've also completed Antarctica and Africa, (almost done with Europe now) but hopefully that will give you a good idea. :)
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Erin
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Topic: History for kindergarten?
