This term we will not be having a major presentation at the end of the term. Christmas is one of our busiest times of the year so instead of attempting to fit a big presentation around lots of concerts, charity fairs and the like we have decided to have a series of mini presentations instead. Each week the children will be presenting all they have learnt that week to my mum and Gary (and any other poor, unsuspecting soul I might be able to persuade to visit).
This week they have carried out a quick over view study of Native Americans, attempting to understand why there were so many tribes and why they were all so different. After making the map, they used this as well as the extra flap (the map was made on a large unfolded box) to create a small presentation board. And this was where everything from the past few days came together to create something quite special:
This was ideal as it displayed all they had learnt geographically speaking as well containing all their written work of the week and any hands on projects they had made. Here are some close-ups:
Everything was on hand. Unlike our other presentation the children did not write out what they would say and key word it. This time I simply asked them to narrate to Granny everything they had learnt, using the display board and map as reference. They were a bit nervous about this but I knew how hard they had worked during the week and how interesting they had found what they were studying. I knew they would do a great job. And they did.
The first photos are of C11:
Next was L11:
And finally T12:
Granny was then left in peace to read all their mini essays about all they had been learning:
To finish off our brief foray into Native Americans and before we moved onto studying the Ojibwe people the children watched the Disney Pocahontas Movie with some popcorn:
Next week I’ll be posting about the beginnings of our Ojibwe studies.
Great presentation and great listeners!
I love the pictures of your mother, she is really interested in what the kids are showing and explaining to her, this is very important!
She lives next door and is always enthusiastic about anything the children do.
I’m just catching up on your blog and have really enjoyed your native American unit. The biome map idea was fantastic and I also really like the bright masks. My kids are interested in American history right now, but we jumped ahead to the Revolution. Anyway, before jumping, we watched a few videos I would recommend in conjunction with Native American Studies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FItlStGMY4 – Native Americans before colonization – Your kids will get a lot out of this video with their extensive knowledge of European history, as it connects the two and how the cultures changed after being exposed to one another.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MazI9dFA6ME – America’s Great Indian Nations – This video highlights 8 or so Native American nations, briefly describes how they were unique and goes onto tell how they were effected by Europeans. (It’s rather sad in many cases.)
I’m looking forward to your continued unit studies. Thanks for taking the time to write about your learning adventures and activities.
Thanks, Julie, for leaving the video links, we’ll be sure to have a look.
So cool! I was totally impressed at how lovely your map was, thinking that it looked like a thing we’d turn out over a period of weeks, not just a handful of days, and then I realized how much bigger your kids are, lol. Amazing the difference that makes! Love those shirts – did they do those for the unit as well?
Yes, the shirts were the first project we did. Having older children, especially three the same age, is so much more helpful in terms of the turn over of work I can get out of them. You’re right, when they were younger it would have taken much longer and required my help, but apart from the outline in pencil they did it all themselves.
Hello Claire!
Great job your kids did! The biomes map is fabulous.
I’m so curious…where do you store all these great projects? Do u keep them? Take a pic and toss?
I have limited space and I’m always having a hard time deciding what to do with completed protects.
Many thanks!
Apart from little notes or personal home made gifts I photo and toss! We’re a seven person family in a two bed home and there is absolutely no room to be sentimental here!
I cannot tell you how helpful this is to me to tell me step-by-step how you do all the wonderful things you do. It will improve the quality of our homeschool as well. Thank you, my friend.
What a lovely comment to leave. Thank you Phyllis, you made my day!
Fingers crossed this time my comment will post.
How did your kids like/respond to Pocahontas? My daughter loved it, and the boys joined me in pointing out the historical problems.
Funnily enough, given this is the absolute first time we have studied Native Americans, the older ones did point things out based on the read alouds that week. The little ones loved it though, whilst T refused to watch it! He ate the popcorn alright!!
Indeed!