Just Around the Corner

I can hardly believe spring is just around the corner! Everyone around here is certainly eager for spring's arrival. Our semester has been a busy one! I decided to slow down our study of the historical events since the mid 1800's and study the time period more in depth. As a result, we are just completing the Indian Wars of the West at this time. I've outlined the rest of the semester and plan our studies to take us through the Great Depression. Next fall, we will begin with World War II and well, we'll see how far we get...

Some of the teachable moments we have experienced so far this semester...

• We read Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll and completed various activities related to the book. My favorite was the "Passports to Wonderland" we made. In their passports the children were asked to include an illustrated page depicting each place Alice found herself on her strange adventure through Wonderland. This was a great reading comprehension activity.
• We read Riding Freedom by Pam Munoz Ryan. This is the story of Charlotte "Charlie" Parkhurst who poses as a boy in order to escape the orphanage she has lived in her entire life and to be able to survive daily in a world that doesn't allow women the same freedoms as men. It is a wonderful account of some of the struggles girls encountered in the 19th century.

• We studied the time in the United States right before the Civil War which included a look at abolitionists, The Underground Railroad and women's rights. I read aloud several picture books during this study. They included January's Sparrow by Patricia Polacco, Word Set Me Free: The Story of Young Frederick Douglass by Lesa Cline-Ransome, The Real McCoy: The Life of an African-American Inventor by Wendy Towle and Marvelous Mattie: How Margaret E. Knight Became an Inventor by Emily Arnold McCully. My students and I really enjoyed all of these books and they each helped us better understand the time period we were studying. January's Sparrow was by far the most dramatic and emotional as it tells the story of the Crosswhite family and their escape from slavery to freedom in a small town in Michigan. The family spend several years living happily surrounded by new friends in the town, but "Paddy Rollers" eventually track them down. The townspeople come to the family's aid and through their actions give the Crosswhites the time they need to flee further north in Canada. I am a huge Patricia Polacco fan though and this book is now one of my favorites written by her.

That's about all I have time for today. Time to get everyone ready and out the door for another busy day. Enjoy your day! Just one week until it is officially spring!