🇺🇸🔔🗽 American History
I hope you enjoy the American History Unit Study Lesson Plan! Here are some highlights:
American Symbols - Printable Book
Learn the Star-Spangled Banner
Liberty’s Kids - American Revolution
Pilgrim Lap Book
Patriotic Word Search and Scramble
Patriotic Color by Code
President Coloring Pages
Patriotic Bubbly Science
13 American Colonies Video
Study a Historical Figure
George Washington - The Who Was Show?
American Flag Sensory Play
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Enjoy! Tiff
🇺🇸🔔🗽 American History
American Symbols Printable Book
Explore the deep symbolism of the United States of America with this fun printable book. Learn about our nation's flag and how we honor it with the Pledge of Allegiance and the National Anthem. Recognize important buildings in American History and what they represent. Great for handwriting and reading practice as students read and trace the words to create their book.
Learn the Star-Spangled Banner
By: The Kiboomers
Learn the national anthem with this fun animated video that features the lyrics. If your students enjoy this, here are some other great patriotic songs:
Liberty’s Kids - American Revolution
By: Liberty’s Kids - Wild Brain
Make history come alive with these animated history cartoons for kids. In the pilot, learn about the Boston Tea Part as colonists in Boston rebel against "taxation without representation" by throwing a fortune in tea into the harbor.
Pilgrim Life
By: Scholastic
Get a glimpse into the lives of Pilgrims with this historical reenactment video. Learn about what everyday life was like for Pilgrim children including chores like collecting water, gathering wood, preparing food and gardening.
Pilgrim Lap Book
This fun and engaging Pilgrims lap book is just part of an awesome free 36 week U.S. History Curriculum by Miniature Masterminds.
Read about Freedom of Religion and learn about how the Pilgrims lived, then students create their own lap book to share with others. We combined this activity with read alouds about Pilgrims which I read while my daughter drew the cover and pictures.
English Language Arts
Patriotic Word Search and Scramble
Learn new vocabulary words and practice spelling with these cute patriotic ELA activities. First, search for key words in the Patriotic Word Search. Then, unscramble the words FREEDOM and LIBERTY to see how many words you can create with those letters.
Reading Lessons
There are only two resources I like to make sure I include on each week’s lesson plan, Prodigies Music (below) and Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons. This book has thousands of 5 star reviews on Amazon for a reason. It’s an effective, no-prep way to teach reading. We are 40 or so lessons in and I can already see a huge difference, my daughter actually sounds out the words instead of guessing.
The lessons are short (15-20min), easy to grasp and sequential. The entire lesson is scripted and color coded so it’s fool proof, just read the words in pink. It also is designed for kids that don’t know their alphabet or letter sounds yet, so you can start right away. Their claim is that after completing all 100 lessons your child will be able to read at a 2nd grade level!
Math
Flag Geoboard
This week I stumbled across my daughter making her own American flag geoboard. She just loves geoboard challenges. It’s amazing what you can create with these simple peg boards and some rubber bands.
Supplies: geoboard set
Patriotic Color By Code
Practice math facts with these fun red, white and blue color by code worksheets. Perfect for morning work or as part of an independent work binder.
Art and Music
President Coloring Pages & Read Aloud
By: Kindergarten Worksheets and Games
We love pairing coloring pages with read aloud books. It’s a great way to focus my student’s attention while learning about new topics. These cute President coloring pages also feature basic information about each president and a fun “Did you know?” section with interesting and memorable facts.
Prodigies Music
Do…Re…Mi…
We love Prodigies! Prodigies Music is simply an incredible curriculum for teaching music. Ages 2-5 is the critical time to develop a life-long sense of pitch. Their curriculum is designed to develop a sense of pitch with easy to use desk bells that don’t require any tuning. They also teach piano, recorder and ukulele. Their subscription includes everything you can think of 450+ videos, worksheets, free bell mats, sheet music all color coded so it’s super easy to learn. If you don’t have an instrument they have a bunch of rhythm focused content that doesn’t require an instrument.
They have a free trial and discounts for annual memberships! Great deal! You can even check out some of their videos for free on YouTube.
Science
Patriotic Bubbly Science
Any baking soda + vinegar experiment is always a hit with my girls. They are always delighted by this simple chemical reaction.
To make this activity I combined 2 cups baking soda with a packet of gelatin and 1/2 cup of water and mixed. I split the mixture into two bowls and added blue food coloring to one bowl and red to the other. Then I used some patriotic cookie cutters to form the shapes. I stuck them in the freezer for a couple hours and voila…patriotic baking soda shapes. Then we used eyedroppers for our fizzy fun!
Supplies: baking soda, gelatin, water, food coloring, patriotic cookie cutters, eye droppers, white vinegar.
Social Studies
13 American Colonies
This short video is the perfect way to introduce the 13 American colonies. Learn that the stars on the flag represent states or colonies. Also learn the names of the first 13 states and what the 3 main regions were known for.
Study a Historical Figure
Explore U.S. History by studying the life of American historical figures like Harriet Tubman, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Sacagawea and Martin Luther King, Jr. .
It is no surprise that my daughter’s favorite biographies are the Ordinary People Change the World series by Brad Meltzer. These beautifully illustrated books make history come alive as you journey through the lives of incredible people who are yet so relatable.
We pair these books with this biography report outline for primary grades by Lindsey Goff Viducich and use it to take notes during research and help structure free writing activities.
George Washington - The Who Was Show?
Based on the popular book series, The Who Was? Show features historically inspired biographies. In this episode learn all about the first president of the United States of America, George Washington. Learn about other important historical figures like Benjamin Franklin and Sacagawea in their other episodes.
Sensory Play
American Flag Sensory Play
Learn about our nation’s flag with this patriotic sensory activity. I just dyed two boxed of pasta red and blue and added marshmallows and star buttons. I used two different types of pasta for added variation. And I had old marshmallows so I just threw those in, you could use un-dyed pasta or dye it white for the stripes instead. We played with this while reading The Flag We Love and learning about one of our nation’s most important national symbols.
Filler: dyed pasta
Supplies: mini marshmallows, star buttons, wooden scoops, stacking cups
Physical Education
Family Fun Cardio Workout
Your entire family will enjoy this fun and easy 10 minute cardio workout. Compete to see who can do the longest plank or the most roll-ups and you can even give out the same prizes they do in the video like the winner gets to pick dinner or stay up 15 minutes late.
Book List
Books We Love!
- Harriet Tubman: Freedom Fighter
- Helen Keller: The World At Her Fingertips
- Albert Einstein: A Curious Mind
- Major Events in American History
- What’s the Big Idea, Benjamin Franklin?
- The History of the American Revolution
- And Then What Happened, Paul Revere?
- Alexander Hamilton: A Plan For America
- Buffalo Bill and the Pony Express
- George Washington: The First President
- Martin Luther King, Jr.: A Peaceful Leader
Don’t have the budget or space to get more books? The library has been pretty great for us so far, but they are sometimes out of the more popular books. One place that you can always count on to find great books is Epic Books! Try Epic Basic for FREE! You can find awesome read to me books for free. Unlimited plan includes access to 40,000+ books!
Know of any other awesome American History themed resources? Please comment below!
Do you know anyone else that would enjoy these free weekly lesson plans? Get them on the list!
