Geography Travels: Iowa

Iowa was a “must” in our studies, because that’s where my husband grew up.  We still travel there every year or so to visit family.  Other than Missouri, it’s probably the state Isaac has spent the most time in.  In planning this unit, I had the help of a little book I found here in England!  When visiting a National Trust site here in England, we stopped inside a little used book shop and found this little book called Art of the State: Iowa by Diana Landau.  Of course my husband wanted it as a reminder of “home.”  Even though it wasn’t written for children, this book formed the foundation for our Iowa unit.  Though I don’t mention it on the following schedule, we read from it daily, depending on which topic we were studying.

Week 1

Located Iowa on a map, found the capital and major cities, and read general information from Wikipedia.

Listened to Middle United States Song (from Geography Songs)

Watched this YouTube video on Iowa:

We also watched this one (below), with Iowa’s state song.  I thought it was interesting that it’s sung to the tune of “O, Tannenbaum.”  This video doesn’t have the words, but you can read them (or sing them) HERE.

Did a notebook page (from Homeschool Creations)

Colored the Iowa state flag (from Apples 4 the Teacher)

In the book Geography from A to Z, we looked up river, hills, valley, lakes, wetlands, and prairie.  I didn’t know before that Iowa had wetlands, but of course I haven’t visited that part!

Labeled a map of Iowa (from Enchanted Learning)

Began our Famous People Chart

Discussed John Wayne and watched movie West of the Divide from our DVD collection.  It’s one of his earlier movies, and it’s so cheesy that it’s actually very enjoyable to watch!  Anyway, Isaac loved it.

Discussed Johnny Carson

Discussed Donna Reed (clip from It’s a Wonderful Life) and also talked about preacher and baseball player Billy Sunday.

Discussed Glenn Miller

Discussed Andy Williams, YouTube clip HERE

For an Iowa snack, we made popcorn.  After all, Iowa is the largest corn producer in the US!

Cornfields in Iowa when we visited last September:

Week 2

Discussed William Buffalo Bill Cody.  Cody also lived in Nebraska for awhile, but since he was born in Iowa, we studied him in this unit.

Discussed Virginia Christine (Mrs. Olsen from old Folger’s commercials), as she was born in my husband’s home town.

Discussed US President Herbert Hoover

Discussed artist Grant Wood and looked at some of his paintings.  In case you don’t recognize the name, he’s famous for the painting American Gothic.  You can actually visit the house that’s in the painting (click HERE to see a picture).

Note about this video:  There is one painting of a nude man, shown from behind.  It’s at 1:35-1:40 on the video, if you prefer to skip that painting.

I gave Isaac some choices for an art project:  1)  Attempt to reproduce American Gothic, 2)  Make your own version of American Gothic, 3) Color an outline print-out of American Gothic (which you can find at About.com Art History).  He chose to create his own version.  We did look up some other funny versions, but you have to be very careful when you google it, or you end up with so not-so-very-nice ones!  This project, by the way, was not intended to be disrespectful of the original (which I love).  I view it as creativity.  : )

Discussed Madison County covered bridges (NOT the movie, which I have not seen)

Discussed Effigy Mounds National Monument

Discussed the Iowa State Fair and watched several YouTube videos on various contests they have.  You can follow links from these and choose your own, but Isaac enjoyed the ones I chose.  They have some pretty hilarious contests.  I particularly like the hog calling contest!

Discussed Amana Colonies and Living History Farms

Discussed some of the various immigrants who settled Iowa, particularly Swedish, Dutch, Danish, and German.  My husband’s home town, Stanton, is distinctly Swedish.  I love to visit because it’s such a quiet little town with almost all of the houses painted white, and several homes are adorned with a wooden Dala horse on or near the front door.  It’s very clean and tidy, and it’s known for its 2 decorated water towers—the world’s largest Swedish coffee pot and coffee cup!  Here’s a photo of the coffee pot:

Here’s a photo of our own Dala horse we bought once.  My husband is not Swedish, but most of the people in Stanton are descendents of the original Swedish settlers.  He grew up with all the Swedish traditions that his school and community had, so we appreciate our horse, which was handmade and painted locally.  : )  Many horses simply say “Valkommen” (welcome in Swedish).  Ours has our last name (which I’ve blotted out on the photo).

I found a color sheet of a Dala horse at Making Learning Fun.

Here’s a YouTube video of Swedish dancing at Stanton:

We also learned about Pella, a Dutch community:

Finally, we learned a little about Elk Horn, a Danish community which we visited when Isaac was a toddler.  They have a windmill there which we toured.  This windmill was originally from Denmark, but the people of Elk Horn purchased it, shipped it, and reassembled it in Elk Horn.  You can read all about it HERE. 

Elkhorn also has The Danish Immigrant Museum (which we did not visit).

Did a second notebook page (from Homeschool Creations)

I’m linking this post to Geography/History at Children Grow, Children Explore, Children Learn.  We’ve just finished our Nebraska unit (which I hope to post next week), and I’m making preparations for our next geography trip…Kansas!