Here’s another geography unit from last school year, when Isaac was in 4th grade. After this state, I have Arizona, California, Alaska, and Hawaii to blog about...nearly done! We didn’t cover all 50 states…only 17, mostly chosen by Isaac. I wanted to do a good study of each state we chose, and 50 is a lot to cover in one school year. This year, both Isaac and Moriah are doing 2-week unit studies of different countries around the world. We’re halfway through the school year, so hopefully I can get to those soon.
Ever since I was a child, I’ve wanted to visit Montana. I used to hang calendar pictures of Glacier National Park on my closet door. I have yet to visit this beautiful state, but Isaac and I really enjoyed studying it in geography. Here’s what we did:
Week 1
Located Montana on a map; discussed name. Located capital and major cities.
Colored Montana’s flag (Apples for the Teacher)
Listen to Northern Border United States Song
Notebooking page (from Homeschool Creations)
Read from Geography from A to Z: mountain range, tableland prairie, plateau, peak, valley, river, badlands, buttes, glacier
Map page (from Enchanted Learning)
Discussed Glacier National Park (and viewed photos—click on link), read “A day in the life of a Park Ranger in Glacier National Park,” watched videos (see links below) and wrote a page on what he thought his day would be like as a park ranger.
Glacier National Park DVD part 1 (video footage with nice music). There are 3 parts to this video on YouTube; you can find links to the other 2 parts after watching part 1.
Discussed glaciers (science):
Surfnetkids has several links to glacier pages for kids.
Youtube video “Melting Glaciers in Glacier National Park” (I personally don’t believe in man-made global warming/climate change, but this is a good video showing the effects of climate change on the glaciers, and I felt it was a fair presentation).
Week 2
Began Famous People Chart: daredevil Evel Knievel, actor Gary Cooper, artist Charles M. Russell, and paleontologist John R. Horner.
Watched YouTube videos on Evel Knievel’s daredevil motorcycle jumps at Caesar’s Palace (unsuccessful) and Kings Island, Ohio (successful).
Watched YouTube video: High Noon trailer (Gary Cooper).
Music: Montana (state song)—YouTube video with tune HERE.
Learned song “My Home’s in Montana” (YouTube video)
Art Appreciation: Discussed western artist Charles M. Russell; Isaac chose his favorite Russell painting and did a page on why he liked it. (webpage on Sid Richardson Museum—Russell collection)
Watched YouTube videos on C.M. Russell HERE (discussion of Russell) and HERE (the second one is a song about Russell with a slide show of his paintings).
Discussed dinosaurs in Montana (Montanakids page) and watched YouTube video “Montana: Land of dinosaurs”.
Draw-Write-Now, Book 3, eagle and mountains
Viewed Montana animals webpage (from Montanakids website)
Not long after we studied Montana, a blogger friend from Montana sent us a package, full of Montana postcards, brochures, and other goodies. What a blessing that was! The kids were absolutely thrilled!
More Montana links:
I'm linking this post to the History and Geography meme at All Things Beautiful.
What a lovely study! Please link it up to my Meme!
ReplyDeleteI always like states that have a kid website, so very helpful.
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