Our geography travels for the 2010-2011 begins! Our first stop is the state of Missouri, which I consider my home state. My parents, my sister, and I were all born in Missouri, and I have spent most of my life there. Also, my older two children were born in Missouri. We are actually in Missouri right now, so it seemed like the most natural place to start!
I really wanted to take the kids to Laura Ingalls Wilder’s home and museum in Mansfield, to the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, to the Pony Express Museum in St. Joseph, and to the capitol building in Jefferson City. However, lack of finances and time have prevented all of those! Isn’t it sad? I’ve personally been to all of those places, and the kids have been to the Pony Express Museum before—they just don’t remember it that well. They have seen the Gateway Arch both from the air and from a car (at a distance). We have less than a month left before we go back to England (and a total of 15 days left in Missouri). After we leave, I’ll try to post some photos of the places we DID go to in Missouri!
Week 1
Monday: Located Missouri on a map, found capital, major cities, and borders. Listened to “Middle United States Song” from Geography Songs. We also labeled and colored in Missouri on a US map page (I got a pad of these maps at a teacher workshop years ago).
Read a chapter from Little House on Rocky Ridge (it’s a long book for a 2-week read-aloud—I began in the middle of the book, where they had just entered Missouri).
Discussed St. Louis:
Tuesday: Notebook page (I made this form myself, but I based it on Jolanthe’s Country Fact Sheet.)
Flag page (I got this from Apples 4 the Teacher):
Began “Famous People” chart--This is another form I made myself…I don’t know how to post my forms for people to copy, but it’s easy enough for anyone to make and not at all fancy. Here’s the finished chart (though I should have added more spaces):
Discussed Daniel Boone and watched a You Tube video:
Listened to The Missouri Waltz:
Read a chapter from Little House on Rocky Ridge
Wednesday: Discussed rivers, hills, forests in Missouri
Map page from Enchanted Learning:
Discussed George Caleb Bingham and look at some of his art. (Click “art” to go to a page with lots of links to his paintings.)
Read from Little House on Rocky Ridge
Thursday: Read from Little House on Rocky Ridge
Discussed Laura Ingalls Wilder and watched the trailer to LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE: The Legacy of Laura Ingalls Wilder on Youtube (embedding disabled—click on link)
Friday: Reviewed “Middle United States Song”
Discussed Dred Scott and George Washington Carver.
Read from Little House on Rocky Ridge
Ate a peanut butter treat (Carver)
Week 2
Monday: Missouri map puzzle—I bought this puzzle at a teacher supply store when I doing my student teaching in Springfield, MO. Isaac was the first person ever to use my puzzle—it was still in its shrink wrap! He isn’t really into puzzles, so I ended up helping him. I did point out counties we’d been in and landmarks shown on the map.
Discussed Harry S. Truman and John J. Pershing. I have a movie about Truman, but it’s in England (and we’re in Missouri). Pershing was interesting. Did you know that he is the ONLY person to be promoted in his own lifetime to the highest rank ever held in the United States Army? He and George Washington are the only Americans ever to have the status of a 6-star general, but Washington was promoted to that status after his death.
Read from Little House on Rocky Ridge
Tuesday: Notebook page on St. Louis Gateway Arch
Discussed Scott Joplin
Read from Little House on Rocky Ridge
Wednesday: Read from Little House on Rocky Ridge
Discussed J.C. Penney and Walt Disney
Thursday: Discussed Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) and Tom Sawyer
Read from Little House on Rocky Ridge
Friday: Discussed Twain’s book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (FYI: This trailer does contain one instance of the “D” word.)
Read from Little House on Rocky Ridge
Looked through books Images of Missouri and The Spirit of America: A State-by-State Celebration (the section on Missouri). We also looked at my Missouri photo scene placemats. I don’t remember where I got these placemats, but I’ve had them for years!
To conclude our travels through Missouri, Isaac had a Missouri treat—an ice cream cone! The idea came from the book American Grub: Eats for Kids from All 50 States. Now to get the story straight, I went to Wikipedia and found out that although several vendors at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair claimed to have invented the waffle cone there, it was most likely only popularized at the fair. Most people believe that the cone had already been invented a long time beforehand. At any rate, we counted it as a good enough example of a Missouri snack to end our studies with!
For more geography or history posts, see Children Grow, Children Explore, Children Learn
