America unit

This week we started Abeka's 1st grade history/geography curriculum. We've finished science and health so we are excited to do something new. It starts off with lessons about America, including learning patriotic songs and the Pledge of Allegiance. I've been feeling neglectful not teaching the pledge to the kids, especially since they say it at our homeschooling group. I was excited to see it taught in the curriculum along with facts about the flag that I've been wanting to teach the children. I am using the lesson plans as a base, but I mostly use my own materials and ideas. Some of the books we are using so far are:

America the Beautiful by Katharine Lee Bates

The American Flag by Judith Jango-Cohen

A is for America by Devin Scillian

One Nation- America by the Numbers by Devin Scillian

The Pledge of Allegiance by Pamela Dell

We've been talking about geographic features of the United States (with my trusty laminated map poster), like oceans, continents, states, and countries around America. We also learned the directions north, south, east and west (remember "Never Eat Soggy Wheaties"?) LOL!

My favorite thing has been using my pocket chart to teach the lyrics to a couple of patriotic songs and the pledge. I just wrote out the words on sentence strips and slipped them in the pockets and voila! Then I just use a pointer to follow along with the song. It's a great visual for the kids and it even helps Katelyn learn to recognize/read some of the words. I've found a few good YouTube videos of the songs, but I am going to look for a CD of patriotic songs, preferably sung by kids. Anyone know of any titles? Here's a video that the kids watched to learn the song "America the Beautiful". After they watched it a few times, we listened again while reading the words on the pocket chart. It worked out great. I did the same thing for the Pledge of Allegiance after reading a book to them about it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JXWXhteJ30

Here's a pic of the pocket chart with the words to the pledge:

Finally, we did a craft where we made flags out of construction paper. The kids cut strips of red and white paper for the flag's stripes (7 red and 6 white!) and then glued them and a field of blue onto a piece of white paper. It was great for cutting and pasting skills which we've been working on, as well as patterning when doing the stripes. Then they drew in stars in the blue with a white crayon. I thought they turned out pretty good. (:

Next week, we are going to learn about American freedoms like Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Worship. We will also talk about a favorite of mine- American symbols, like the Statue of Liberty, the Liberty Bell and more. From there we'll start in on American history with the Pilgrims and the 13 original colonies. I am excited about this whole unit. I will keep you updated with the fun things we do! I have so many ideas floating around in my head and can't wait to try them!