We started our Ancient China unit for the youngest students by learning about the Chinese Zodiac and having a New Years celebration at school. Students learned about how the zodiac signs were formed with a folk tale about a race called: Cat and Rat : The legend of the Chinese Zodiac written by Ed Young. Read More >>
Ancient China
Students in grades 7 – 8 studied Ancient China, first by researching one of its many dynasties: the Han, Song, Zhou, Shang and Tang Dynasties. They had to develop a presentation by dressing up and acting as one of the emperors of their dynasty and bring to school an artifact that would represent something about Read More >>
Ancient Egypt for middle grades
For our study of Ancient Egypt we started learning about its geography and where Egypt was located. Children drew maps and located the Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, the Nile, Sahara Desert, Europe, Upper Egypt, Lower Egypt and Giza. We asked the question, “How do we know what we know about Ancient Egypt?” Children working with Read More >>
Ancient Egypt Older Students
This was five-day unit on ancient Egyptian beliefs taught by our student teacher. We focused on their religion because it was such a large part of every aspect of ancient Egyptian life. We focused a lot on how all ancient Egyptians did things in their daily life to please their gods and to increase their Read More >>
Freedom Bound Field Trip
The oldest students, who have been studying the Civil War and the Abolitionist movement, were treated to an end of the year field trip led by the amazing Vanessa Johnson. Vanessa Johnson is a gift teacher and storyteller, who brings history to life! The first part of our experience was to view the “object theater” Read More >>
Native American Class
The Native Americans class focused on the Iroquois tribe. We focused on the Iroquois tribe because it is right in our back door. The Onondaga nation is just south of Syracuse. We started with an overview of the Iroquois nation. They went over how stories were passed on, the six nations of the Iroquois, and Read More >>
Industrial Revolution Essay
As a culminating activity for our year long study of the Industrial Revolution, all the students were asked to develop an essay evaluating its positive and negative effects. Many historical documents, photos, journal entries, cartoons, were studied and discussed. The class sorted these documents into positive and negative piles, and of course some didn’t belong Read More >>
Lewis and Clark
From September to the end of October the Second and Third graders learned about the explorers who traveled across the United States to find a waterway to the Pacific Ocean. One of the first things that students learned was that it was that a large part of the U.S. was bought in the Louisiana Purchase. Read More >>
American Revolution
Students in 2nd – 4th grade participated in a class this spring about the American Revolution. Students listened to and discussed the books such as: Sam the Minuteman, George the Drummer Boy, Can’t You Make them Behave King George and Phoebe the Spy. They have learned about the differences between Minutemen and Redcoats, discussed Paul Read More >>
Thirteen Colonies and American Revolution
Five kids from our middle group of students have taken part in a social studies class on the Thirteen Colonies and American Revolution. They began the unit individually by researching explorers who traveled to the new world. As a class, they began researching the colonies of New York and Virginia. A large focus of class Read More >>