Teaching with Ticia: Kentucky and Tennessee

I have to say, and I've probably said it several times, and will say it several more times, but these had some of my favorite books and activities.

KENTUCKY

What's SUPPOSED to be in the lapbook (my children lost/misglued some components):

Young Abraham Lincoln- This would be a great book to bring in if you're ever doing a tall tales unit, both of these states had some fun books like this.  It would also be great if you're teaching 6+1 Writing for Voice.  We concentrated on what is a friend.  They each had to write 4 things that make a good friend, which was rather enlightening for me about my kids.

Mohammad Ali's catchphrase- If that man hadn't gone into boxing he would have made a lot of money in advertising with his ability to write a jingle.  

Daniel Boone's Surveying Equipment- I found a fun book about Daniel Boone, but it was even more exciting to see his ACTUAL tools.  It gave me a great chance to show the kids about primary sources when learning about history.  Okay, so a first grader isn't going to absorb much of that, but it lays the groundwork.

Not pictured:

Night Boat to Freedom- Another great book about the Underground Railroad.  Each night he would row someone across to freedom, and each night his grandma would ask "What color did they wear?"  So, we drew what color we would wear to freedom.

Kentucky State Symbols

Not able to go in a lapbook:

Kentucky Derby hats- A great project for recycling and creativity.  

Additional Things for Kentucky:

Happy Birthday to You- the ladies who wrote the song were from there, so you could do a fun study of the song and all the variations on it.

Mammoth Caves- This is a huge cave labyrinth, and would make for a fun science unit.  A fun way to talk about it is to create your own cave system.  I also found a great stalactite experiment.

Kentucky Horse Park- this park is a monument to all things race horse, and has a lot of information about the history of racing in Kentucky.

Books used:
 

TENNESSEE

Our library for whatever reason has some great resources for Tennessee: (going clockwise in a circle)

Swamp Angel- A unique tall tale because the main character is a girl.  It was a fun story, and if you're inclined to do a writing unit for tall tales, Tennesse is a good state for it because I found several tall tales.  We drew what we thought Tarnation (the bear from the book) looked like after Swamp Angel threw him into the sky.


Luck with Potatoes- Another great tall tale about a farmer who grows potatoes so big you can only fit one in your truck at a time.  We drew/wrote what we found inside of our potatoes.

Tennessee State Symbols

Casey Jones-We read a book about this train engineer and watched the Disney cartoon short as well.  Afterwards we did a very simple comparison of the two.  This would be a great chance to use a Venn Diagram and start working with that.

Andrew Jackson- We read a book about Andrew Jackson, and afterwards talked about his "kitchen cabinet,"  after talking for a while they all wrote down who they would have advise them.


Sequoyah- This was a wonderful book about the man who created a written Cherokee language.  I always enjoy finding books that explore people who come from different cultures and how it made the American crazy quilt better.  Our activity was to try and create our own alphabet like he did.  I think a better activity might have been to concentrate on the illustration style in the book, which is fairly unique.  My activity went over the kids' heads a little.

NOT INCLUDED in the lapbook:

Bluegrass music- We read an adorable book about bluegrass music and a loving grandma and listened to some music.  Afterwards we made banjos.

MORE IDEAS:

Davy Crockett- I found a fabulous book about him, but honestly don't think my activity was all that great.  I tried to find a good tutorial for making a coon skin cap for kids, but only turned up directions for making real ones.  That's not so good.

Nashville- The home of Country Music and the Grand Ol' Opry

Fort Knox- one of the country's oldest forts, and of course where all the gold is kept.

It always amazes me how I can spend weeks and weeks on a state and then suddenly discover we haven't even come close to scratching the surface.

Books used:

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