A night at the museum

I found these links that may or may not be helpful.

http://www.homeschool-curriculum-for-life.com/free-printable-homeschool-worksheets.html – there are 2 sets of notebook type pages for both Night at the Museum 1 and 2.  The link for “How to Have a Party” has a lot of good information too.

A few links for #2 – http://elementaryspirits.com/2009/05/night-at-the-museum-battle-of-the-smithsonian/

This link shows the party someone did, with pictures which provide some good ideas.  http://www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com/2009/04/weekly-wrap-up-night-at-museum-edition/

I’m not Rebekah, but I’ll share what I came up with.  I’m teaching this to my kids (4 boys) and 2 other families (5 kids), so 9 total.  Ages 14, 12, 12, 12, 9, 8, 7, 6 and 5.  We’re meeting every other Friday for one hour.  The older kids should have read the materials beforehand then we’ll read a ‘younger’ kid book together, discuss what we just read and what the older kids read, then do some activities.  Once we’ve gone through it, I will teach it in a co-op setting.  

This is for the first movie only….I’m working on the second one and it will be finished by the time we’re done with the first.  I’ll have a small picture printed for each child to take home and glue to their personal timeline/book of centuries, and we’ll be making a class one (on a large posterboard).  Each family needs to watch the movie before we start the class, then at the end we’ll watch it all together and display the stuff we made.

Each child did a silent ballot of what order they wanted to study them, I added it all up and made the order based on their choices.

The books I chose are what I think are some of the best for the topic, but I’m also letting families chose what they want…what is available at the library, what they have on their shelves, etc.  My boys will be reading specifically from the list, and I’ll be using books in class from the list, but sometimes people don’t have funds to buy more and I didn’t want it to become undoable for them. 

I’ve listed a few videos.  Some are for families to watch at home (like the 3 1/2 hour Lewis & Clark video), some are to watch together in class.  Some are just for fun if they want to learn more.

Here is my Pinterest board:  http://pinterest.com/4mycrazyboys/night-at-the-museum-unit-study/

This is my “plan” with books, videos & activites.  I can email it if you want.  Once we’ve gone through it I’ll finalize it and post to my blog.  I’m sure there will be some tweaking as we go, things that worked, things that didn’t, new ideas.  If anyone has ideas, suggestions, etc please let me know!!!

Night at the Museum

Print in advance timeline characters

Teddy Roosevelt –

Bully for You, Teddy Roosevelt by Jean Fritz (128 pgs)

Teddy Roosevelt: Young Rough Rider (Childhood of Famous Americans) by Edd Winfield Parks (192 pgs)

The Remarkable Rough-Riding Life of Theodore Roosevelt and the Rise of Empire America – Cheryl Harness (144 pgs)

Theodore Roosevelt – Mike Venezia (32 pgs)

One Bad Thing About Father by F.N. Monjo (62 pgs)

http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/theodoreroosevelt

http://www.theodoreroosevelt.org/life/biotr.htm

He loved hiking and being outdoors….go on a nature hike 

He ran races and did obstacle courses.  One of his favorites was to pick a spot in the distance and you had to get there by going  straight ahead – over, under, whatever, but you could not turn.  You had to find your way through.

Do a report on one of the animals he knew about/hunted

Civil War –

If You Lived At the Time of the Civil War by Kay Moore (64 pgs)

With Lee in Virginia: A Story of the American Civil War by G.A. Henty (302 pgs)

Two Miserable Presidents: The Amazing, Terrible, and Totally True Story of the Civil War by Steve Sheinkin (256 pgs) 

History Pockets: The American Civil War by Evan-Moor Educational Publishers OR Homeschool in the Woods Civil War Time Travelers

Listen to some Civil War music

http://www.pbs.org/civilwar/classroom/lesson_music.html

Send and receive messages in Morse Code

http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/00-2/lp2012.shtml#

http://morsecode.scphillips.com/jtranslator.html

Write a letter/message using Civil War slang – http://score.rims.k12.ca.us/activity/manswar/pages/slang.html 

Easter Island –

http://www.netaxs.com/~trance/rapanui.html

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/easter/

http://www.mysteriousplaces.com/Easter_Island/

Wonders of the World – The Easter Island Statues by Deborah Underwood (48 pgs) 

http://video.pbs.org/video/2299677471 – (54 mins)

Carve a head in green foam or soap or make one from clay (pencil holder?).  Could even make a small one to wear on a necklace.

Bubble gum blowing contest

Learn how bubble gum is made

Pop! The Invention of Bubble Gum by Meghan McCarthy (40 pgs)

Bubblemania  by Lee Wardlaw (144 pgs)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InwMo2I28C8 (how bubble gum is made – 4:45 mins)

Romans – Octavian (who is not a real character)

Story of the World, Book 2 Ancient Times

Detectives in Togas by Henry Winterfeld (272 pgs)

Usborne Time Traveler (use the Roman World section)

Roman Diary by Richard Platt (64 pgs)

Roman Colosseum by Elizabeth Mann (48 pgs)

How to Be a Roman Soldier by Fiona MacDonald (32 pgs)

You Wouldn’t Want to Be a Roman Soldier by David Stewart (32 pgs)

Drive Thru History – Rome If You Want To

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAgA6G75XsI (13:46 mins, video simulation of Rome)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmKDQ4TWPC8 (2:44 mins, marching & formations)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzTt2uKUhYk (Legionary clothing, 9:26 mins)

Ancient Egypt – Akhmenrah (fictional) 

Mummies, Pyramids, and Pharaohs by Gail Gibbons (32 pgs)

Mummies Made in Egypt by Aliki (32 pgs)

The Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt by Elizabeth Payne (192 pgs)

Usborne Time Traveler Ancient Egypt

Could also do pyramids and such, but since the movie deals more with mummies and pharaohs (and because we’re doing Egypt right now, we’ll skip this)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dm8945K4dH0# (19:17 mins)

Mummify fruit (make a sarcophagus)

Old West

Which Way to the Wild West? by Steve Sheinkin (272 pgs)

Stagecoaches and Railroads by Sally Senzell Isaacs (32 pgs)

http://genealogytrails.com/main/stagecoaches.html# 

http://americanhistory.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.goldledge.com/history/docs%5Fhtml/stagetips.html (Stagecoach rules)

Make sure to discuss Manifest Destiny

Make a list of ‘car travel’ or ‘airplane’ rules (modern day stagecoach rules)

Visit a railroad museum

Attila the Hun

History’s Villains – Attila the Hun by W. Scott Ingram (112 pgs)

Story of the World ch. 41

Famous Men of the Middle Ages pgs. 39-44

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYm_4N0GFQw#

Sacagawea

Picture Book of Sacagawea by David Adler (28 pgs)

Sacagawea: Crossing the Continent with Lewis & Clark by Emma Carlson Berne (128 pgs)

Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery by Ken Burns – Netflix (3 hr 27 mins)

National Geographic: Lewis and Clark: Great Journey West – Netflix (41 min)

Animal tracking match game – http://www.parents.com/blogs/homeschool-den/2010/02/11/biomes-animal-habitats/forest-animal-tracks/#

There is also a tracking match game for sale on Etsy – http://www.etsy.com/listing/16389162/animal-tracks-abc-flash-cards

Mayans

Your Travel Guide to the Ancient Mayan Civilization by Nancy Day (96 pgs)

The Ancient Maya (True Books) by Jackie Maloy (48 pgs)

Tikal: The Center of the Maya World by Elizabeth Mann (48 pgs) – this is what they were building in the movie

Oh Me Oh Maya (Time Warp Trio)  by Jon Scieszka  (96 pgs)

http://www.brainpopjr.com/socialstudies/ancienthistory/mayacivilization/grownups.weml#

http://www.mayankids.com/mmkpeople/index.html#

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xOUEXko1rA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1hJU41MMX8

Christopher Columbus

Columbus by Ingri d’Aulaire (61 pgs)

Christopher Columbus by Stephen Krensky (48 pgs)

Meet Christopher Columbus by James T. de Kay (80 pgs)

Where Do You Think You’re Going, Christopher Columbus? By Jean Fritz (80 pgs)

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/kids/history-kids/christopher-columbus-kids/ (3 mins)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mw7H-eTCYWI (27:42)

Mark his voyages on a map

Write a paper discussing the hero vs. terrible person debate

Make a list of what you would take on a sea voyage 

African Animals

African Critters by Robert Haas (96 pgs) or ANY library book, there are hundreds!

Capuchin Monkey – http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/kids/species-profiles/capuchin-monkey

http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/African_Wild/70245984?trkid=2361637# (8 episodes)

Animals Are Beautiful People (movie, 1 hr 32 mins) 

Each child do a report on one animal

Trip to the zoo!

My plan is for the older kids to read ONE book only, even though I listed several.  I just wasn’t sure what books would be available to them (and again, they can use whatever is at the library or on their shelves).  My thought was that a kid around 10 or so should be reading a book at around 100 pages long (big type okay), and the middle school/junior high kids should be around 200 pages, read over 2 weeks.  If a kid really liked the topic they could study on their own, but I think one book is good!  The shorter 30 to 60 page books – I’ll choose ONE and read that during class, about 10 minutes worth of time.  If we didn’t have so many ‘little’ kids I would skip this part and just do a discussion of materials they read then do the activity.  

Once we go through this, I may find that’s asking too much of kids….or that it’s not enough!  For some topics, like Easter Island, there just aren’t many books so we’re relying more on internet research.  And some topics are just so HUGE, we have to pick one or two things (and one or two books) and just leave it at that.  We did say (as the moms) that if the kids were really interested in a topic that we could keep it going for a few weeks, but if after one class they were ‘done’, we’d move on.  Teaching it to family friends, we have that flexibility; in a co-op, not so much.

email sent.  

Thanks, ladies. I can use all of those great ideas and avoid re-inventing the wheel for that class. 

Crazy4boys – I don’t think the email came through, would you mind trying this one – christieATrchajaxDOTcom

Thank you! That’s such a huge help!

Here’s a link a friend shared today – http://ymiclassroom.com/lesson-plans/night-at-the-museum/