6/24/2014 Getting Ready For the 4th of July!

Summer is now officially in full swing!  June 21st marked the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year and the official beginning of the season.  It is hard to believe that Flag Day, Juneteenth, have already past, but Fourth of July is soon approaching and many Americans are already embracing the celebration of our national heritage.   

As I recently wrote about, this year the Smithsonian National Museum of American History is also leading celebration of the 200th anniversary of our national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner.”  

During the War of 1812, on September 13–14, 1814, Francis Scott Key http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Scott_Key watched Fort McHenry being bombed by the British forces in the Battle of Baltimore.  In the morning, Key could see that the American flag was still flown over Fort McHenry, showing that the Americans had not lost possession of it.

The inspired Key’s to write a poem, which became “The Star-Spangled Banner”   

Learn more about Francis Scott Key with your class with my book  Francis Scott Key and The Star-Spangled Banner: First Grade - Level I Reader.  

This first grade Level I reader gives students the interesting background of the United States national anthem "The Star-Spangled Banner".   Francis Scott Key and the American Flag are also featured in my First Grade Level I – Set 2 book set.  

My  five-page Level O reader The Founding Fathers is a wonderful resource to bring information about life in the American colonies about the founders of the United States into your classroom.  The book comes with three accompanying worksheets to help reinforce literacy skills involving reading comprehension, language, spelling, and writing.   

Your class can learn more about some of America’s other important Founding Fathers in my third grade level O reader Ben Franklin - A Man with an Electric Personality

my first-grade Level G reader Ben Franklin, my second grade Level L reader John Hancock and a Study of Pronouns.  Your students will learn more about The Liberty Bell, and The United States Flag in my set of leveled books Social Studies Topics - Leveled Books: First Grade Levels H/I

6/14/2014 Happy Flag Day!

The Smithsonian has special plans for Flag Day celebrations this year, as it also the 200th anniversary of our national anthem, The Star Spangled Banner by Francis Scott Key.  From the website of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History “the museum is organizing a grand singalong of the anthem on the Mall, but extending, we hope, much farther. Taking part in “Raise it Up! Anthem for America,” in Washington, D.C., will be a celebrity singer, hundreds of members of American choruses, and, well, anyone else who wants to join in the party. What’s more, organizers have approached the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts, and the State Department, about encouraging singalongs across the nation and the globe. We’ve got our eye on setting a new Guinness World Record for largest collective national-anthem performance. (Check in at anthemforamerica.si.edu for updates and multimedia features.)”  

During the War of 1812, on September 13–14, 1814, Francis Scott Key watched Fort McHenry being bombed by the British forces in the Battle of Baltimore.  In the morning, Key could see that the American flag was still flown over Fort McHenry, showing that the Americans had not lost possession of it.  The inspired Key’s to write a poem, which became “The Star-Spangled Banner”   

Learn more about Francis Scott Key with your class with my book Francis Scott Key and The Star-Spangled Banner: First Grade - Level I Reader.

This first grade Level I reader gives students the interesting background of the United States national anthem "The Star-Spangled Banner".   Francis Scott Key and the American Flag are also included in my First Grade Level I – Set 2 set of leveled books.

6/9/2014 Beat the Summer Slide!

For many classrooms across the country, the school year is now, or will soon be complete.  However, for many students these summer months mean summer school, continuing school within a year-round school schedule, or finding ways to fight the summer brain drain, aslo known as the “summer slide”  According to the U.S. Department of Education “Summer is the perfect time for students of all ages to relax, but it’s also a time when summer learning loss can occur. This learning loss is called the “summer slide,” and happens when children do not engage in educational activities during the summer months.”

The web is filled with helpful ideas for keeping kids engaged and learning during the summer months, including Six Great Online Games for Summer Learning, Ten of the Best Virtual Field Trips, and Free Ways To Beat The Summer Slide

Keeping kids reading consistently throughout the summer is one of the best ways to beat this dreaded “summer slide.”  Why not keep them reading with some of my original readers with relevant summer themes, such as What is Juneteenth?  This 4th grade Level Q reader tells the story of Juneteenth - a day celebrated at the end of the Civil War. From this story, students will about the oldest known celebration of the ending of slavery in the United States.  Around the Fourth of July, kids can learn more about the beginning of our country with my Level O reader The Founding Fathers.

Students can also have reading and acting out original plays, such as A Mixed-Up Bedtime Story: The Little Gray Wolf and Red Riding Hood.  Written with 13 parts, the students will have fun comparing this fairy tale to the familiar tale they know of Little Red Riding Hood.  Although the play is written for students in grades 1-3, it can be adapted for other grades and abilities.

6/5/2014 The 19th Amendment

Wednesday June 4, 2014 marked the  the 95th anniversary of the passage of the 19th amendment to the Constitution, guaranteeing women the right to vote.  The amendment was then ratified on August 18, 1920.  The amendment was first drafted and introduced by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton 41 years before, in 1878.  

My leveled book series Famous Women in History: Leveled Books for Grades 2 - 4 is a great source to learn about  other inspiring women from American history. This collection of leveled readers for second through fourth grade features stories about eight women and their contributions to history.