Germany is the home of Christmas trees and gingerbread, two aspects of the German celebration that have become well entrenched in American tradition. Click on the links to find plenty of classroom activities for both those topics. Don’t stop there! German Christmas traditions involve lots of handmade decorations. One that… Continue reading
Christmas is celebrated in many parts of the world, and the traditions for celebrating it vary from one country and region to another. This makes it a great way to study geography, and we also have ideas for art, math, English, and science under specific countries. Basic plans: Map it! Travel… Continue reading
Is Christmas actually celebrated at the North Pole? We think so. Examining this question lets you look at both actual and fictional geography. The North Pole is not on land, actually, but on ice in international waters. The countries nearby include Canada, the United States (Alaska, specifically), Russia, Greenland, Iceland,… Continue reading
As a Google Earth Pangaean, I had the opportunity to try out Google Earth 6 early. Now you can have it too! Go to Google Earth and download the new version. The view is better, the trees are quite realistic, and you can really feel that you are visiting… Continue reading
More Chanukah classroom ideas and resources Continue reading
Olive, the Other Reindeer, by J. Otto Seibold and Vivian Walsh, is a wonderfully fun Christmas book. Olive, a little dog, hears “All of the other reindeer” on the radio and decides she must be a reindeer. She heads for Santa’s workshop, where her adventures naturally include saving Christmas. The… Continue reading
Early American children had few store-bought toys. Usually, their toys were made at home from things that would otherwise have been discarded. Two excellent examples of this: apple head dolls and cornhusk dolls. To make an apple head doll, peel an apple. Decide where you will make the face. Having… Continue reading
Native Americans in the Plains cultural group used a leather pouch called a “parfleche” to carry things. If you’re doing lessons on Native Americans generally, explain that the parfleche was used by some Native Americans, but not all. Generally, this was a great solution for Plains tribes, since it was… Continue reading
The Osage are a Siouxan group of Native Americans. They migrated from the Ohio Valley down to Missouri, and had their traditional hunting grounds in Northwest Arkansas. In the 19th century, during what was then called “Indian Removal” and is now called “The Trail of Tears,” the Osage moved… Continue reading
November is Native American Heritage Month, but a study of this part of our national heritage is always appropriate. Here are some collections of lesson plans on Native Americans: TeAchnology‘s collection includes worksheets. Edsitement has history lesson plans at a number of time depths. Teaching with Historic Places includes reading… Continue reading
