The Revolution on Our Wall

I'm a little addicted to timelines.

I love them.

I think they help students visual the story of history.

I know they help me.

Our most recent story:  The American Revolution

It takes us from the French and Indian War to the Treaty of Paris. It's an exciting story filled with heroes and battles.

And now it's on our wall.

I used twine strung between small finishing nails and mini clothes pin to make our timeline.

Each card has the name of an integral person or event from the Revolutionary War.

There's room on the back for students to write how the person/event impacted the war. We also shaded the Colonial people and victories blue and the British ones red.

There are 48 cards in the set. They can be used individually as trading cards or put together in a flip book like this...

I punched a single hole in the bottom right hand corner and attached them with a brad. They could also be stapled.

Each card comes in three sizes and the set includes blank cards so you can add any person or event not included.

If these cards would be a help in your classroom or homeschool, you can find them here.

A Civil War set is also available here.

A View Through the Microscope

Microscopes.

My students used to love microscope lab days.

Who doesn't like seeing cool stuff like human skin cells, dog hair and pond scum magnified before their eyes?

Before I let them loose with the expensive instruments, however, I make them learn the parts and what they do.

That's where this came in handy...

I love color-coded mapping activities. I think the process of identifying the part and coloring it can help our more visual and kinesthetic learners retain the information.

I also have another version.

This allows students to label and color the microscope themselves. It also allows for differences in vocabulary. For example, you may use the term objective lens instead of objective in your classroom. I always have them circle the label with the color of the part. Sometimes I have them list the function alongside the label.

If this activity would be a help in your classroom, you can find it here.

I also have other mapping activities available here.

Being Creative with Charlotte's Web

Kids are different and in a classroom of twenty-five to thirty of them, you'll see a whole lot of different.

When I was teaching, I was always on the hunt for ways to draw every kid into a project.

I'm hoping this free resource can help.


If you're reading Charlotte's Web this year, here's something you might want to try.

I always liked to give my students a chance to be a little creative. Some of them loved it. Others, not so much. But this resource can cater to those on both sides of the fence.

Each student gets three pages of cut and paste pictures from the book.

Page one contains the human characters and some bigger props...



Page 2 has the animal characters...



Page 3 gives them props from each chapter...



They choose their pictures, arrange them on the page and then draw and color the rest of the scene.

With these small pictures they can create a scene from any chapter. You could let them pick the chapter they liked best or have them draw a chapter out of a hat. You could do this independently or as a cooperative project, having them work in twos or threes to create one picture, or even a series of pictures depicting the entire chapter.

Included are two types of pages for them to create on.

One uses the entire page and includes a second page of lines for them to describe or summarize their scene.




The second uses a half page for the scene and the other half for the description.




The small pictures are a help to those students who just don't know where to start and to those who aren't as project minded as others.

If this resource would be a help to you, you can find it here.