Posted in Galloping the Globe

We found North America to be the most difficult in terms of what to choose to cover! We know our own region so well and it's difficult to decide what needs to be highlighted.

In the end, I decided to focus on geographic and cultural literacy, especially when it came to the United States.  This seemed like a logical way to narrow down what we covered.

Canada

General Topics:

• Welcome to Canada - Robert Barlas
• Festivals of the World: Canada - Robert Barlas
• Exploring Canada with the Five Themes of Geography - Nancy Golden
• The Inuit of Canada - Danielle Corriveau

Readers (for those just beginning to read independently):

• Farm Animals - Gillis
• Living on Farms - Fowler
• If it Weren't for Farmers - Fowler

Literature:

• Wilderness Cat - Natalie Kinsey-Warnock

Science:

• The Magic School Bus Goes Cellular and  the experiment on yeast found on the MSB website.

 

Art and Activities:

• Make Your Own Inuksuk - Mary Wallace.  An Inuksuk is an Inuit stone marker that is a form of ancient signpost and message.  These really captured my kindergartener's imagination.
• We made pancakes with maple syrup from Canada.

United States

With the United States, there were clear decisions that had to be made regarding what we could feasibly cover regarding our history, culture, and literature.  The options seem endless. 

In the end, I chose to use this as an opportunity to introduce my daughter to some aspects of our history and culture that would enable her to be more "culturally literate." So, we covered some extreme basics about George Washington, Paul Revere, the Revolutionary War, the Lewis and Clark Expedition, some easy Little House picture books, major landmarks, and the like.  It was by no means comprehensive, but I've seen her put some of these bits of knowledge into practice since then, which is gratifying!

General Topics

• A is for America - Devin Scillian.  Unlike other, more simplistic, alphabet books, this one has many cultural details woven into the illustrations.  We spent a lot of time looking through this one and discussing the images.

Literature:

• Going to Town and Going West - Laura Ingalls Wilder.  Adaptations of the Little House books in picture format. 
• The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere
• Story of the Lady Slipper
• The Tales of Uncle Remus - read by Julius Lester

History:

• We the People - Peter Spier.  A cartoon rendition of the opening lines of our Constitution, illustrating the enormous meaning of these words.
• The One and Only Declaration of Independence - Judith St. George.  A factual, yet humorous, account of the physical history of the Declaration.  Goodness, it might have gotten *folded*! 
• The Story of the Liberty Bell - Natalie Miller. 
• Washington, DC - American History for Children video.  A isual tour of the primary monuments of our capitol.

Mexico
Mexico was made more interesting by the addition of lots of fun salsa music!  We also explored classical guitar music as well, which was a review of some things we'd covered while studying Spain.

General Topics:

• Exploring Mexico with the Five Themes of Geography - Nancy Golden.

Literature:

• The Legend of the Poinsettia - Tomie DePaola
• The Flame of Peace - Deborah Nourse Lattimore.  We really
  enjoyed this folktale from the ancient Aztecs.  The illustrations were wonderful and we re-read it several times, even checking it out as recently as summer 2009.
• Adelita - Tomie DePaola.  A Mexican Cinderella story.
• Pancho's Pinata - Stefan Czernecki

History:

• Hill of Fire - Lewis. An "easy reader" story of the formation of the Paricutin volcano.  It became apparent I needed to purchase this book when I found Kate trying to copy it so she could have "one for [her] own."
   

Art and Activities:

• Tissue paper flowers are easy to make and very decorative. They are used in several Latin American countries to decorate for festivals.
• Mini Pinatas are perfect for those who want an easy way to recreate these fun party treats.  A "no papier mache" version is found here.