Tag: colonial

Liberty Kids

Kelly Tenkely1 Comment on Liberty Kids2160 views

Picture 4

What it is: Liberty Kids teaches about Colonial life in America through a variety of educational activities.  Students can explore the animated “Now and Then” segments which compare and contrast various lifestyles, cultural, technological, and health issues from the Revolutionary War period and life in the 21st century.  The Liberty News Maker lets students create newspapers that include headlines, stories, and pictures.  Students can engage in games and activities that allow them to discover important information about how the United States was founded.  The Revolution Archive allows students to learn more about historical figures of the Revolution.  Here students will find artists renderings and historical facts about important people, places, and events from the time period.  The site also includes a great teacher section that includes ideas for making the Colonial period relevant to your students, on and off line activities for students to complete, and scripts for short plays that students can perform where they will hear the voices of slaves and free men, American Indians, women, and a poor immigrant.


How to integrate Liberty Kids into the classroom: My 5th grade students LOVE Liberty Kids.  They especially enjoy watching the “Now and Then” video clips together as a class.  (In fact, their homeroom teacher has started using these clips as a reward in her classroom.)  This site bring history to a kid level and helps them understand history as it relates to them.  Students get a great view of what life was like during the Revolutionary War as well as learn about key events, people, and places of the Colonial period.  Use the play scripts to connect your students to the lesser known voices during the Revolutionary War.  Let them explore the site individually on classroom computers or explore as a class with an interactive whiteboard or with a projector.  The animated video clips and Revolution Archive can be used with the whole class but the games are best for students to play individually on their own computer.  After students have a good understanding of Colonial Life, they can create and print out a newspaper cover that they create.


Tips: There are some CBS advertisements on this site that will be very appealing to students. Make sure that they know which portions of the site are advertisements and which are part of the Liberty Kids website.  This is a great opportunity to teach students about how to spot an advertisement and why websites use advertising.

Leave a comment and share how you are using Liberty Kids  in your classroom.

Scholastic’s The First Thanksgiving

Kelly Tenkely1 Comment on Scholastic’s The First Thanksgiving3549 views

Picture 3

What it is: Scholastic has amazing resources all year long but the interactive on The First Thanksgiving is topnotch!  Students learn about how the Pilgrims reached America, and what daily life was before the First Thanksgiving.  Students can take a tour of the Mayflower, take the virtual journey to America, compare and contrast modern life with when the Pilgrims lived (housing, clothes, food, chores, school, games), and the Thanksgiving feast.  There is a great slideshow and play a webquest feature where kids can learn more about the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag and the famous harvest feast.  The site includes audio for every page and activity.  This is great for younger students.


How to integrate Scholastic’s The First Thanksgiving into the classroom: The First Thanksgiving is a collection of great activities for students to learn about Thanksgiving and the Pilgrims.  Students can use this site independently as young as first grade because of the audio features on The First Thanksgiving.  The site can be used as a center activity that a few students can explore together, independently in the computer lab setting, or as a whole class with a projector or interactive whiteboard.  The webquest at the end of the activity checks for student understanding with a quiz.  Increase students participation further with some The First Thanksgiving bonus features and extras.  Print out a Thanksgiving Readers theater, door signs, a fact hunt, a vocabulary quiz, and some letters from historical figures.  There are also research and historical fiction journals that students can continue learning with.  These range from a Plymoth Colony research starter to Our America: Colonial period.


Tips: Check out Scholastic’s Teaching resources for The First Thanksgiving as well as the literature connections that are available.

Leave a comment and share how you are using The First Thanksgiving  in your classroom.