Homemade, Recycle Bin Shoe Box Dioramas, Miniatures, Props with Free Printables

Does this scene sound familiar in your home? It's 8 pm and darling daughter is wailing. She forgot to make her school shoebox diorama project due TOMORROW! Been there done that. I wanted to say "tough luck. Take the F" (which she deserved). But being a forgetful, eleventh-hour girl myself, I confess, I empathized. So I bailed her out. The whole family helped. We made an awesome woodland Native American shoebox diorama with recycled trash and household stuff. 

For homemade shoe box dioramas for any content area, all you need is a recycle bin, craft scraps, household junk and a little ingenuity. Here are free printable dollhouse miniatures and free printable habitat diorama backgrounds. I've included free printable scale model building patterns too. 

* Backdrop. Stand shoe box upright inside box lid. Get little-miss-last-minute busy drawing background inside lid (or on plain paper to attach to lid. Our shoebox diorama required an eastern woodland background. For a science habitat diorama, draw a nature scene. For English literature, create a scene from book. One son made a baseball field for a shoebox diorama from "The Chosen." Glue on cotton balls for clouds. Tape tinsel to box top for rain. 

* Buildings. Make 3-D house from smaller box. For 3-D yard or city scene, cut boxes and attach small portions to sides. Make a row of different sizes boxes for city. Cut doors to open. Decorate as house, church, store, office building, school. We made a longhouse from a butter tub. For a tipi, use a paper cone or cup.

* Furniture.  Use dollhouse furniture. Cover small boxes with fabric, wallpaper or wrapping paper for couch, table, bed or chairs. Cut chairs from cardboard. 

* Figures. Use action figures, dolls, Fisher Price or Lego people or Polly Pockets. Or draw face on round-head peg clothespin, pencil or toilet paper tube. Bend pipe cleaners or twist ties into dolls. Add wooden bead for head or paper face. Stuff a glove. Tie with yarn to make arms from outer fingers, legs from middle, head from thumb. Wrap dolls in scrap fabric or colored paper for clothes. Tie. Glue yarn, twine, plastic or paper scraps for hair. 

* Props. Use game pieces, toy sets, doll and action figure accessories, building sets, miniatures. Postage stamps and stickers make rugs, pictures, decorations. Roll paper strip and tie with yarn for scroll or diploma. Tiny yarn balls, beads and marbles make fruit, balls, rocks, cannon balls. Lids, pill bottle covers and tube caps make glasses and dishes. Thimbles and spools are buckets, hay bales, workshop accessories. For our native American shoebox diorama fire, we used broken pencils as logs and orange and red clear plastic for fire. Cut props from cardboard. Staple fabric scraps for curtains, blankets, doors. 

* Landscape. Use small branches for trees. Draw a"garden" on brown fabric or use striped material. Cover little boxes and pill bottles with fabric, grey for rocks and brown for hills, blue for water. Make paper trees and plants from paper tubes or straws. Use plastic toy animals for farm or nature scenes. 

* Military. Use vehicles, weapons and equipment from toy soldiers or GI Joe sets. Make bandages from brown grocery bags colored red (I used this in my Crimean War diorama from "Lady of the Lamp" in 6th grade). Drape material over tripod of sticks for tent. 

Make shoebox dioramas for literature, science, history or social studies crafts. 

Free Printable Labor Day Coloring Pages and Lesson Plans

Spring is a poignant time in labor history. March 25, 1911 remembers 146 workers, mostly women, lost in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. April 16 mourns Ireland's Easter Rising of slain Feinians. April 28 marks Workers' Memorial Day, on which the organized labor movement pays tribute to the fallen in workplace accidents or in organized labor struggles. May 1 is May Day, honoring International Workers' Day. May 4 commemorates casualties at Chicago's Haymarket riot at a 1886 labor rally. May 19, 1920 is a day when the organized labor movement grieves the Matewan and Mingo County massacre of coal miners. On May 26, 1937 those who would from unions were assaulted at Ford's River Rouge plant "Battle of the Overpass" in Detroit.

Organized labor history is taught as part of American history, but there is no American (or world) history without labor history. Unions, collective bargaining--the fight for workers' rights impact every industry, occupation and person. Teachers and homeschoolers, you can educate students about unions with these free printable May Day and labor history lesson plans. These links include websites, activities, worksheets, movies and books on the organized labor movement.

The American Labor Studies Center offers a gamut of free printable organized labor movement lesson plans. It covers history, events, strikes, lockouts, workplace injuries, child labor, working conditions, collective bargaining, 8-hour workday, sweatshops, slavery, organizing, indentured servitude, socialism and labor, women's rights, African American labor issues, minority discrimination concerns, ULP (unfair labor practices). Lessons cover the Triangle fire (the worst workplace accident in history), West Virginia labor, Pullman Strike (1894), Lawrence Textile Strike (1913), Lowell Strike, Paterson Silk Strike, agriculture strikes and other events. Get free printable union labor worksheets, fill-ins, puzzles and study guides. There are links to films

Explore famous labor leaders: Noam Chomsky, Joe Hill, "Big Bill" Haywood, Pete Seeger, Jimmy Hoffa, Caesar Chavez, the Wisconsin 14 and others from the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World), AFL-CIO, Teamsters and more. This site has biographies of women labor leaders including Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Mary Harris "Mother" Jones and more. To use in lessons, print the list of names on one side and short bios on the other side (mixed up). Students match person with details. Print photos and pin to a map at places they are associated with. Or make a time line along the wall. Plot images in history.

The National Endowment for the Humanities offers two companion lessons in its series The Industrial Age in America. "Sweatshops, Steel Mills and Factories" and "Robber Barons and Captains of Industry" define the problems faced by workers in labor history and the reasons for the organized labor movement. Use the worksheets and activities with middle school and high school students.

The Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs at Wayne State University in Detroit maintains the largest organized labor history archive in the U.S. It has an impressive collection of images in physical exhibits and digital archives on The Labor Movement and Organizations. Walther Reuther who was one of several injured at Ford's Rouge factory "Battle of the Overpass" in Detroit.

The United Farm Workers is the union begun by Cesar Chavez that tends to itinerant and agricultural labor issues. Along with labor movement, the UFW educates people about food safety, immigration, deportation, earth and green initiatives, pesticides and more. An important piece is the youth activism page. UFW seeks to take union and agricultural awareness beyond the classroom walls and into real life.

In honor of May Day, here's a quote from the Albert Shanker Institute. "Imagine opening a high school U.S. history textbook and finding no mention of-or at most a passing sentence about-Valley Forge, the Missouri Compromise...Benjamin Franklin, Lewis and Clark. Imagine if these key events and people just disappeared as if they'd never existed...That is what has happened in history textbooks when it comes to labor's part in the American story." Use these lesson plans to keep the May Day stories and message alive.

Free Printable Ramadan and Islamic Activities for Children

For Muslims, Ramadan is holy season marked by prayer, fasting and abstinence. Ramadan, in the Islamic calendar is a month-long observance, falling roughly in the months of July or August. Ramadan fasting ends with the festival of Eid al Fitr (lesser Eid). It's celebrated July 17 in 2015. Here are free printable Ramadan Eid al Fitr activities to help Muslim children explore their faith and for non-Muslims to understand it better.

Islam 101 offers free Ramadan lessons. Ramadan is an Arabic word that refers to a dry, parched season. It is a season for sacrifice and purification, like the Christian Catholic season of Advent and Lent and the Jewish feast of Yom Kippur. Muslims seek to draw closer to Allah by practicing the Five Pillars of Islam. They are: Iman (faith), Salah (prayer, said five times daily, facing the Holy City of Mecca and recited from the Qu'ran.), Zakah (almsgiving, sacrificial giving, pruning back one's lifestyle to honor God and help others), Sawn (abstaining from food, alcohol and sexual relations with spouses), Hajj (pilgrimage, if possible to Makkah, otherwise known as Mecca).

Islamic Playground has free printable Ramadan and Muslim holiday coloring pages and Arabic letter worksheets. There are also quizzes, worksheets, jigsaw puzzles, crossword puzzles, activities and word searches about Islam. The Holiday Spot has free printable Ramadan word games,crossword puzzles and word searches, using words and concept from Islam. You can print free Ramadan greeting cards, Children might like to make these and send them to family and friends.

Primary Games has free printable Ramadan and Islamic coloring pages. 123 Greetings has free printable Ramadan greeting cards in several designs and styles.

 

Free Printable Famous Places Around the World Coloring Pages for Social Studies

 The most interesting social studies activities are hands-on. Explore geography and cultures around the world with free printable coloring pages, maps, famous landmarks, buildings around the world. Students will love taking around the world tours of different countries with these interactive, hands on social studies lessons. Then keep reading for free printable 3D paper models of landmarks and famous buildings.

Our trip around the world begins at Activity Village has free printable coloring pages of famous landmarks, famous buildings of the world and sights to see in different countries. Your free printable around the world tour covers England, Scotland, France, Brazil, Egypt, India, New Zealand, Russia, South Africa and the United States. Print the Loch Ness monster, Eiffel Tower, Table Mountain, Statue of Liberty, Christ the Redeemer statue (to name a few famous landmarks). Print world maps showing national products, landmarks and sights to see.

Now for free printable 3D models of famous buildings to print--hang onto your hats because Paper Toys has free printable 3D paper models galore. Then when you thought you'd seen all the cool 3D paper models of buildings you could want, hit this site for more free printable 3D paper models of famous buildings. Get free printable paper models of castles, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, a haunted house, a medieval manor house, plus really cool 3D paper models of artifacts, vehicles, ancient wonders of the world and even Jimi Hendrix's guitar and Guy Fawkes mask! There are masks, race cars, pyramids, ships, paper airplanes, paper dolls and more.

Free Printable Lent Lesson Plans

Catholic Relief Services is the single largest non-governmental relief agency in the world. Each year at Lent CRS initiates what is called 'Operation Rice Bowl'. Operation Rice Bowl is a program which focuses our attention on the cardinal aims of the Lenten season: prayer, fasting and alms-giving.

The Rice Bowl project consists of a cardboard box which when assembled, looks very much like the take out boxes that rice comes in. The Rice Bowl is a box which families set up in their homes during Lent to collect loose change and offerings for the poor and hungry of the world. Operation Rice bowl also includes a Lenten prayer calendar with devotional activities, feast days and stations of the cross. Each calendar day has a prayer focus. Specific information about world poverty statistics and needs from around the world are listed also. These lessons could work for classroom, homeschool, CCD, Sunday School, 4H and scouts. Great for social studies, geography and volunteerism. Here are free printable Lenten Rice Bowl activities, Devotional and Lesson Plans. 

Free Printable Castles, Medieval History paper crafts

Cut and paste activities make ideal educational tools. 3D models and dioramas are excellent book activities for reading response lessons. How about some free printable paper castles and 3D castle models for kids? This article includes free printable coat of arms patterns and designs for heraldry crafts to decorate.

Here are free printable cut and paste paper crafts of castle models of Neuschwanstein Castle in the Clouds. This German Cinderella castle is the poster child for fairytale castles. Neuschwanstein is one of the late Medieval castles in baroque renaissance style.

Here’s a website with tons of cool medieval stuff! There are free printable paper crafts of castles, a crossbow, knights, jousting, archery, medieval navigation and more. Visit  Storm the Castle. Print Assassin's Creed and Game of Thrones paper crafts too. 

Use these free printable castle models for dioramas, history lessons, engineering and design history lessons. Make these free printable castles part of a social studies unit on medieval times. It's always good in any unit to incorporate as many different subject areas. Cutting and assembling paper crafts adds science and math components to units. Students may want to design and color medieval castles before construction.

Now how about some free printable medieval castles, paper crafts and coloring pages? Visit--if only virtually--Skipton Castle in Yorkshire, England. Built in the 12th century Skipton Castle is beautifully preserved. The website includes free printable castle models paper crafts, knights, activities on kitchens of medieval castles, Elizabethan lord and lady and more free printable heraldry activities. DL-TK has a bunch more free printable medieval fantasy crafts.

What's heraldry, you ask? Heraldry refers to the crest or emblem associated with royal and noble families. Here are free printable coat of arms coloring pages.  These ancient symbols, also called family crests or coat of arms were used as ornamentation and communication, on battlements, flags, armor and weapons. A coat of arms, worn on shields, signified who led the army. Here are activities to make your own coat of arms. 

Free Printable Cinco De Mayo, Mexico Coloring Pages

Cinco de Mayo, or Fifth of May, celebrates the victory of the smaller Mexican army over the mighty French juggernaut, in the Battle of Puebla, 1862. Cinco de Mayo is not the Mexican Independence. Here are free printable lesson plans for Cinco de Mayo. 

Cinco de Mayo means the fifth of May. But it isn't Mexican Independence Day nor the equivalent of the U.S. Fourth of July. Cinco de Mayo is the day Mexicans remember El Día de la Batalla de Puebla (Battle of Puebla). Cinco de Mayo is mostly an Americanized Latino holiday. But also a great day to explore Mexican culture. Here are free printable Cinco de Mayo lesson plans, worksheets and games.

Mr Donn has free printable Cinco de Mayo activities, games, coloring pages, Powerpoint presentations, social studies worksheets, history lesson plans and culture study activities.

A-Z Teacher Stuff has free printable Cinco de Mayo unit and lesson planner kit with materials, worksheets, games, crafts, recipes, movies and activities.

Enchanted Learning has free printable Cinco de Mayo worksheets, mini-booklets, history and social studies lesson plans. Print a map of Mexico, Mexican flag, info on the Battle of Puebla, Mexican leaders, posters, history, images and recipes. Print a nice poster featuring Cesar Chavez and other Mexican labor activists, political figures, scientists, artists, musicians and more.

The Teachers Corner has free printable Cinco de Mayo crafts, counting lessons, words in Spanish, cultural heritage activities and more. Lesson Planet has free printable lesson plans on Cinco de Mayo to sample.

For preschool and younger kids, visit DL-TK for free Cinco de Mayo coloring pages, crafts, games, puzzles and recipes. Kids Soup offers free Cinco de Mayo printables to sample.

Apples 4 the Teacher offers free printable Cinco de Mayo lessons, maps, history projects, puzzles, games, music, crafts, recipes and more. There are ideas for several ages groups. ELCivics has printable Cinco de Mayo lessons for older students.

One Room Schoolhouse Lesson Plans for Pioneer Day

As a teacher and home schooler, I have created a complete unit of pioneer and early American history lesson plans and activities. Here is a DIY guide to create your own "One Room School House" experience for  your students or homeschool group. 

I was fortunate to be able to rent a one room schoolhouse from our local Blandford Nature Center Interpretive history facility in Grand Rapids, MI, for our home school group. However I have also taught this unit as an in-school field trip using just my classroom. 

-Choose a time period and compile a workbook of information and activities. Familiarize yourself with that time period and be sure your activities are period correct. 

  -Create a flyer to get parents onboard with your "day in a one room schoolhouse" activity. Request volunteers to help you create an environment, share artifacts and prepare an Early America picnic lunch. Lunch should be simple: hard-boiled eggs, cheese and cornbread, pickles, apples, clam chowder, water with dipper. Serve on cloth napkin, checked tablecloth, mason jar glasses.

  -Each student should be encouraged to create an early American costume. This may be simply overalls, flannel shirts or skirt and blouse.

  -Each child should create quill a pen and a "parchment" journal to write in. Make simple journals using brown paper grocery bags for a cover. Insert several sheets of plain paper, punch holes and tie with twine. In times past, vellum was used but vellum is freakishly expensive. You can also assign students to make a hornbook. Slates were commonly used, too. Make slates by spray-painting chalkboard paint (available from any paint dealer) on square pieces of wood. Here are instructions to make natural homemade ink. Make quill pens, ink and hornbooks or journals as social studies craft projects.

-Contact local high school history classes. Request volunteer high school girl students to teach. In early American schools teachers were generally very young and female. Laura Ingalls Wilder was 15 when she earned her teaching certificate and began teaching.

-Assign each girl a subject and time slot that she will teach that subject. Popular early American school subjects included: penmanship, spelling, nature study, drawing, geography, arithmetic, civics, dictation, recitation and reading. Lesson should be simple and last no longer than 20-30 minutes. Some ideas we've used include:

--copy a proverb from from Poor Richard's Almanac

--trace one of these free printable early American maps appropriate to the time you are setting your one room school house. 

--figure sums (arithmetic

--make butter

--explore natural objects: seeds, leaves, fur pelt (natural science)

--draw a tree

--recite a poem (Samuel Taylor Coleridge "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" or Henry Wadsworth Longfellow "The Wreck of the Hesperus" were commonly used.

--Read from McGuffey Readers

--Use early American textbooks. Common textbooks included, the McGuffey Readers series. McGuffey Readers are available online for 1836, 1869 and 1889. Spencerian Handwriting/Penmanship (1848 and 1874). Ray's Arithmetic 1834, Harvey's Grammar 1868) and History/Civics Under God. You don't need to purchase textbooks if you can borrow from your local library or historical society. 

Teachers should create a simple historical costume for the day. Local history museums or community theater guilds may have costumes to rent or borrow. The costume can be as simple as a long skirt, blouse, bonnet and shawl. The girls who participated in my one room schoolhouse events had a wonderful time preparing their lesson plans and creating their costumes. It was a great experience for all of us.

Write the schedule on a chalkboard. Begin the day with the pledge of allegiance, prayer and a song. "Good Morning to You" was a popular one. At recess children can play jump rope or one of these group games. Assign follow up social studies activities to your one room schoolhouse. Here are free printable one room schoolhouse lesson plans. 

  

Mask Making Crafts for Social Studies

Mask lore is fascinating and tribal masks are significant in many world cultural traditions, religious activities and ceremonial dances. Ceremonial tribal masks are important in Native North American, Central American, South American, Pacific Islander, Asian, African, Maori and other tribal groups. Here are several social studies activities on mask-making and recycled trash mask crafts to help students explore the tradition masks. 

Paper plate, paper bag or Styrofoam mask crafts are the easiest. Use mask-making lessons in preschool through high school social studies activities. Mask crafts incorporate green, recycled trash materials. It may seem odd that tribal masks of such significance could be made from recycled trash. But it's important to stress in social studies activities that most tribal masks are made from just that--"found" materials, scraps and natural elements. The gorgeous collection of African tribal masks at the Detroit Institute of Arts are made from leaves, grass, mud, clay, pebbles, shells, animal fur, skin and hair, human hair, seeds and nut hulls. It the artisan's ability to create beautiful mask crafts from found objects that makes mask-making so fascinating. 

The teacher's role in mask-making social studies activities is facilitator. She provides recycled trash, art supplies and found objects for mask crafts. Students bring the creativity. For preschool mask making, adults might draw eye and mouth holes on mask crafts for kids to cut. Older students should be left to explore different facial features, eye hole and mouth hole designs for their tribal masks. They might decide to shape mouths and eyes like stars, squares or diamonds. They might make animal head mask crafts (a common design in tribal masks). They create teeth, hair, skin, fur or scales. 

Here are art supplies and recycle trash needed for mask-making social studies activities. recycled paper or Styrofoam plates, large paper grocery bags, turned inside out to hide advertising print hot glue guns, school glue or Glue Dots. Glue dots are extra tacky, easy to work with and reduce mess by pricey. If glue dots are too expensive, school glue will work. Use up leftover school glue by melting in microwave to remove from bottles. recycled pot pie tins or egg cartons for glue and paint holders and mask-making details. You'll need Q-Tips cotton swabs, tape and staplers. 

Mask decorations from recycled trash or found objects include --old jewelry --craft feathers --beads, glitter --appliques --faux gems --animal feathers --pebbles --shells--assorted dried seeds, beans, popcorn and legumes (these make excellent teeth) --assorted scraps of yarn, twist paper, twine, raffia, straw, reed, strips of paper or plastic, string, scrap electrical cord, wire for hair (unravel recycled knitted garments for curly hair) --fabric scraps --tissue paper, wrapping paper, construction paper and magazine scraps --gift ribbons and bows --assorted recycled pom poms, tassels, buttons, ribbons, --paint or markers (don't allow students to simply draw a design; encourage them to create a 3-D mask with found objects) --plastic mesh from orange bags (excellent for decorating) --recycled trash container lids, milk rings, small lids, jar lids, cardboard scraps (nothing sharp and all thoroughly washed) --clay or play dough: mold into embellishments and decorations, allow to dry, glue in place, paint.

Provide pictures and examples of native tribal masks. Encourage students to choose a basic mask theme (animal, facial expression), sketch it out and create pattern using a collage of materials. 

Free Printable World Flags Coloring Pages. Lesson Plans

  United Nations Day is October 24. There is no more enduring symbol of a nation that the national flag. It 's a thumbnail, an icon for a country. The flag symbolizes pride and rallies people. The flag is flown or lowered to reflect national joy or sorrow. Here are free printable world flags from around the globe. Use these flag coloring pages in geography lessons and social studies cultures units. Students should not be allowed to "free color" the world flags. They should be taught to color them correctly. 

Coloring Castle has free printable flag coloring pages. There are black and white flags to color and colored flag templates that shows students how to properly color the flag. Countries represented include: Australia, Canada, China, Cuba, Czeck Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands (Holland), Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States. 

Activity Village includes free printable world flags from the six of the seven continents: Asia, Africa, North and South America, Australia and Europe. The site has many free printable flag coloring pages from Algeria, Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Cameroon, Chile, Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Croatia, Cyprus, England, Ghana, Honduras, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Malaysia, Malta, New Zealand, Nigeria, North Korea, Paraguay, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay and Wales. Print geography lessons and social studies printables, coloring pages of famous buildings, landmarks and children in traditional native costume. Free printable geography lessons and social studies activities include maps and charts, too. 

World Flags Coloring Pages has free printable world flag coloring pages for just about any nation or country in the world. This site includes free printable United States flags from each state and provincial flags from countries around the world. Be sure to view the original to color properly. Enchanted Learning has many free printable world flags, national flag lesson plans and flag coloring pages. To print activities with no banner, users are asked to pay a $20 annual site fee. Check outthese sites for free printable social studies lesson plans and geography lessons.

Recycled Cardboard Play House for Preschool House Area Learning Center

Easy, DIY, Recycled Cardboard Play House for Preschool Learning Center Practical Life Area   

Preschool children are wonderfully imaginative. If you give them an old box and tell them to pretend it's a car, they will enjoy hours of fun in their Maserati. Kids don't need expensive playhouse to have fun. You can make a recycled cardboard playhouse easily. In fact, teachers and parents, you can create entire Montessori preschool practical life learning centers for home or school, with just a refrigerator box, available in dumpsters behind appliance stores.

First a word on the refrigerator box--it's a wonderful tool for Montessori preschool play. It's green, versatile, sturdy enough for children to play in and recyclable when you're finished with it. My father made me an entire cardboard playhouse full of furniture, with recycled cardboard boxes. Here's how to make a cardboard playhouse for Montessori preschool practical life learning centers. First, cut the refrigerator box along one of the long edges. Now open the box and flaps of both ends. Place refrigerator box upright around one corner of the room, flaps toward the floor. Alternate flaps, one in, then the next facing outward (to form a base). Arrange the cardboard playhouse so that it encloses the corner. Invert refrigerator box so printing faces inward. Duct tape edges of cardboard to the walls and tape flaps to floor. This is not meant to be a permanent structure; but the tape will prevent the cardboard box wall from collapsing. There is no need for a roof or ceiling. Children understand the concept and will be able to imagine a ceiling.

Cut a window or two in the sides of the box. Cut window panes and curtains and color them in. Or staple scrap fabric to make curtains. Draw a flower box on the outside or make a little rack to place real plants. Cut a door that opens and closes or cut a doorway and hang a piece of cloth like a curtain. Place green and brown towels along the bottom of the cardboard playhouse to look like earth and grass and to mask the edges. Inside your Montessori preschool practical life learning centers, place a doll cradle with assorted dolls, child-sized table and chairs, with play kitchen furniture, play food and dishes and house area costumes. Make recycled cardboard appliances. Set up artificial trees and flowers to lend verisimilitude. Inside the house, put a basket of books that pertains to the subject you're studying. Add comfy throw pillows. This makes your Montessori preschool practical life learning centers into a quiet reading or library learning centers.

Free Printable American History Lesson Plans: Battle of Yorktown

 The year is 1781. The colonial army of the United States has been at war with Great Britain for over six years. On April 19, 1775 'the shot heard round the world' began the bloody war for American independence. Yorktown ended the war. Here are free printable American history lessons on the Revolutionary War from Bunker

Hill, Lexington and Concord to the Battle of Yorktown. 

The Revolutionary War began when Paul Revere made his famous ride to warn American Continental Army of the American Revolution, of British "redcoat" troops arriving Lexington and Concord where the Revolutionary War commenced. Fighting continued at the Battle of Bunker Hill and the Battle of Quebec, led by American General Benedict Arnold. 

General George Washington led the Continental army of the American Revolution into battles at Fort Ticonderoga, Brandywine, Germantown, Saratoga and Camden and other New England sites. After terrible suffering over the winter at Valley Forge (click here for free printable American history lessons on Valley Forge) troops regrouped for a confrontation which came to be known as the Battle of Yorktown in Virginia.

The Battle of Yorktown (click here for free printable Battle of Yorktown lesson plans) lasted for

21 days from September 28 to October 19, 1781. General George Washington was helped by French

troops under General de Rochambeau. General Lord Cornwallis led the British troops. The British

soldiers hired German soldiers from Prussia to help them. These soldier were called Hessians and

both they and the British troops were highly trained in warfare and military tactics. Compared to the

Continental Army, the British "Lobsterbacks" and Hessians had more supplies, better weapons and

superior fighting skills.

But despite that, by 1781, things weren't going well for General Cornwallis and the British. His army

had suffered much. He took over the towns of Yorktown and Gloucester, but the help he was

supposed to receive from General Clinton never came until it was too late. French Admiral De Grasse

arrived in time to help General George Washington and together their armies attacked the British

from the York River. This river separated the two towns where Cornwallis had his troops. Without food

and ammunition from General Clinton, General Cornwallis was forced to surrender to General

George Washington on October 19, 1781. The Battle of Yorktown (click here for free printable

American history lesson plans, war maps and battle info) had ended the horrific Revolutionary War of

Independence in favor of the Continental Army.

Why did the superior forces of the British lose the Revolutionary War? They shouldn't have. The militia

of the American Revolution were glorified to Continental army, but they were just farmers, not

soldiers. They lacked guns, ammunition and training. Few soldiers in the American Revolution wore

uniforms. They wore regular clothing of homespun, animal skin leggings and fur trim. And that may

have saved their lives. Their uniforms may not have been as fancy, but they made great camouflage

in the wilderness battles. The British redcoats were easy to spot their bright uniforms.

British soldiers had also been trained on battlefields. British soldiers were used to life in a military

camp, not a rugged wilderness. The Continental army of the American Revolution knew all about

wilderness survival. They lived this every day! Colonials had learned hunting, trapping and fighting

skills from the native American Indians. They had learned to protect themselves. The Continental

army knew the land, the trails, how to stay hidden and how to navigate the area. In short, they fought

using guerrilla warfare. The Continental army was also fighting for their homeland. They had

families, loved ones, homesteads and farms to protect. They had risked more and so had more to

lose if they lost the war. British soldiers had homes to return to, so this war didn't mean as much to

them.

Hands-on Geography Social Studies Earth Science Lessons and Games Using Globes

April is Earth Month and it's a good time to explore earth science and world geography. With the National Geography Bee right around the corner, here are hands-on social studies lessons, map activities and geography games with globes. Playing geography games with globes helps students visualize the big picture better than with maps. Use map activities to locate specific places and use globes for accurate place countries in the world at large. Use geography games with globes to demonstrate earth science lessons, just in time for Earth Month in April!

Race Around the World map activities: Divide students into teams of 2-4. Give each team a globe and attach a world map to the wall or bulletin board. Call out countries, cities and provinces for teams to locate their globes. The first team to find the location wins a point. After the location is found indicate it on the wall map with a pin or sticky note arrow (available at most office supply retailers).

Earth Science Jeopardy: Students may play individually or in teams. Draw a Jeopardy grid on a Dry-Erase board, overhead projector or chalkboard. Label five categories across the top of the Earth Science Jeopardy board. Here are some suggested earth science categories: Rivers, Mountain Ranges, Africa, Asia, Islands, Europe, United States, South America, Bodies of Water, Northern Hemisphere, Locations that begin with ____ (fill in letter). Fill in dollar amounts as in regular Jeopardy. Players select a category and value. The geography games leader calls out a place and team members must locate it on globes. Give teams buzzers or bells to sound when they find the answer.

Latitude and Longitude Hide 'n Seek map activities: Explain the how lines and degrees of latitude and longitude work. Official latitude lines--also called parallels--go east to west and longitude lines go north and south. There are 180 latitude lines--90 above the equator (north) and 90 below (south). There are 360 lines of longitude (180 in the eastern hemisphere and 180 in the western hemisphere). They are divided into 24 groups which define time zones as well as geographical locations. Use coordinate geometry to place cities and landforms in lines of latitude and longitude. Ask students to list different earth science landforms located with the latitude and longitude markings. Ask students list cities and locales based on latitude and longitude coordinates or bearings.

Time zones bingo map activities: Using the small dial attached to the top of the globe, teach students how read lines of longitude to determine time zone. Call out a time zone. Students fill their card by locating and listing a city or province in that time zone. Require older students to calculate what time it is in different countries by giving the time in another time zone. Explain the Greenwich Mean Time system.

Play Dough Recipe and Easy Geography Landforms Lesson Plans

Here is an easy, hands-on geography lesson plan. Use this lesson plan in the general education classroom, homeschool and special needs classroom. Students of all ages enjoy this interactive geography activity. Begin by mixing up a large batch of play dough. Make the play dough in class and use it for an interactive math measuring lesson plan. Here's an easy play dough recipe:

  1 cup hot water

  

  1 cup white flour

  

  1/4 cup salt

  

  1 teaspoon vegetable oil

  

  2 teaspoons alum or cream of tartar

  

  blue or green food coloring

  Mix with fork or by hand. Adjust recipe for a larger group using a 1:1 ratio for water, flour and salt, a 1:2 ratio for alum or cream of tartar and a 1: one quarter ratio for salt. Measuring and mixing this play dough in class gives students practice in ratios, fractions and measurement. When mixed, separate into two balls. Color one ball blue (or green) for water. Leave one ball plain color for land. Give each student a paper plate, a plastic knife and a zippered bag of blue play dough and another of plain play dough.

Introduce geography terms and definitions used for landforms. Here are free printable landforms coloring pages and geography vocabulary lesson plans. Demonstrate the shape of the landform using play dough or drawing the landform on the overhead projector. Use black pen for land and blue for water. Students will use their blue and white clay to create landforms based on drawings from the board or overhead projector.

Tomie DePaola Christmas Kids Literature Activities

Christmas Kids Books--Have a Tomie DePaola Holiday Looking for the best Christmas stories and holiday books for children? Then have yourself a Tomie DePaola Christmas! Tomie DePaola is a one of the world's best-loved illustrator-authors in children's literature. Tomie DePaola admits that he loves Christmas and it shows in the holiday magic he imbues in his stories and art. Here's the definitive Tomie DePaola Christmas stories collection. Included are Advent books, too: Advent is the Catholic season of preparation leading up to Christmas and Tomie DePaola books indulge that spirit of anticipation. He's done a nice series on saints' feast day that fall in Advent.

"The Lady of Guadalupe" Hands-down best retelling of the story of Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Amercias, whose feast day, is December 12).

"The Legend of the Poinsettia" With no gift to offer the Bambino at Midnight mass, a little girl brings some flowers growing by the wayside, and a miracle occurs. It's similar to story in The Gift, by Aselin Debison

"The Night of Las Posadas" Posadas are parties celebrated during Advent in Mexico beginning nine days before Christmas as an Advent novena. They are similar to passion plays.

"Tomie DePaola's Make-Your-Own Christmas Cards" Tomie teaches you how to use your own artistic skill to make lovely holiday greeting cards.

"Get Dressed, Santa" Uh-oh, is Santa too tired to deliver the gifts this Christmas. Little children will love to help wake the sleepy elf. .

"Country Angel Christmas" Tomie DePaola specializes in angels. They peek out of every corner of his stories and nothing says Christmas like angels.

"Hark! A Christmas Sampler" Here's a delightful collection of Christmas songs, stories and fun from the Christmas man himself. Oh and there are Tomie DePaola Christmas recipes---there must always be recipes!

"Baby's First Christmas" Certain little grandchildren this author knows may find this in their stockings-shhh, don't tell.

"Tomie DePaola's Book of Christmas Carols" Here are all your favorite holiday tunes illustrated by Tomie DePaola

"The Night Before Christmas" Here is Clement C. Moore's timeless classic, DePaola style.

"The Friendly Beasts" This is a very satisfying retelling of the Welsh song and legend of the night the angels talked. Tomie DePaola's famous sheep figure heavily, but so do his other endearing animals.

"Merry Christmas, Strega Nona" Big Anthony goofs again-or does he? Can he really put one the Buon Natalia feast with no magic at Christmas?

"My First Christmas" This one is perfect for the wee ones' first holiday storybook.

"The Family Christmas Tree Book" Christmas deserve a family photo album, don't they? Here are holiday memories of Christmas trees past.

"The Legend of Old Befana" La Befana is the Italian equivalent to Russia's Baboushka, a woman too busy to stop for the baby Jesus and His guests.

"The Clown of God" Here's a haunting gestalt Medieval French tale of sacrifice and devotion.

"The Christmas Pageant" Tomie DePaola tells the nativity story.

"Sing Pierrot, Sing!" Okay, so perhaps not a Christmas story, but surely the old Italienne Comedie belongs with Christmas? Who can resist Harlequin and Columbine?

"An Early American Christmas" What was Christmas like for Jamestown pilgrims in a strange new world?

"Santa's Crash-Bang Christmas" Here's a very silly, noisy story that the littlest ones will love! "The Popcorn Book" This is not a Christmas book as such, but references are made to the holiday favorite popcorn balls and popcorn strung on Christmas trees. And popcorn and Christmas go together like Rudolph and red noses.

"Christmas Remembered" This is a tender, touching collection of holiday memories.

"Angels, Angels Everywhere" Tomie's angel shtick shows up again. His friendly cherubs crop up in the funniest places and remind us that angels are watching. That's much more comforting that Elf on a Shelf, don't you think.

"Guess Who's Coming for Santa's Dinner?" Poor Santa, he just wants to relax. But what do you do when Mama Santa invites all the relatives over for Christmas dinner? Children love imagining what Santa's relatives might be like.

Tomie has also written several lovely children's literature books for Jewish Chanukah. He's been illustrating books since 1965. Tomie originally published with Harcourt, Brace, Jovanvich, and now writes for G.P.Putnam's Sons, with many of his series books being published by Simon and Schuster. Some holiday children's literature books are published by Holiday House. This author and her children were privileged to meet Tomie DePaola in Muskegon, Michigan in 1993. Their autographed copy of "Strega Nona's Christmas" is a read each year. The oldest two children, now 27 and 25, remember it fondly and now there are grandchildren to pass it on to. Why not read a Tomie DePaola each night of Advent until Christmas and make your own memories. 

Free Printable Educational Board Games, Card Games

Card games and board games are excellent teaching tools. Card games can be created to teach content area and subject matter in lesson plans Card games help students memorize information. Here are free printable educational card games, playing cards, flashcards, dominoes and Memory games to use as lesson plans. 

The Kidz Page has free printable educational card games, word games, flashcards, math games, sudoku games and lots of other educational learning games. They are brightly colored, cheerful games. Activity Village has free printable educational cards games, deck of cards for learning games, Memory games and more. 

Free Printable File Folder Games

 Hello my Omschooligans! Games and craft projects make excellent lesson plans. Making learning games as craft projects is a perfect way to extend activities. And one of the simplest and easiest games to make are file folder games. Here are lesson plans to teach reading with file folder games. Students can learn just about any subject using file folder games to reinforce content and practice skills. Here are free printable file folders games online. Besides reading, teach math, reading, spelling, grammar, phonics, science, social studies and more. Print games for all ages and ability levels: preschool, kindergarten, elementary, special needs, middle school. Use for homeschool, too.

File Folder Fun has over 100 free printable file folder games in content areas across the curriculum. Search by age, grade level, theme and subject. File folder themes include animals, foods, flowers, weather, ocean life, circus. Themes teach math, reading, science, social studies, phonics, spelling, math,

ELA (English Language Arts) history, music and other preschool and elementary school subjects. Click the games you want. The click "download." And voila, a screen appears with game background, pieces, cards, all materials you need, free.

Play to Learn Preschool has a free downloadable pack of 10 free printable filefolder games for math, English, reading, writing, spelling, science, social studies and more. Games can be used with varied ages. Click the game you want. The print, cut out and and assemble. Or better still, print in black and white. Have students color, cut and paste and assemble. You get two activities--craft, lesson plan and game--all in one!

Cindy's Autistic Support has free printable math file folder games. Use to teach counting, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division file folder games. You can make individual games for each math fact (times table) family.

Stitching Hearts WW offers an assortment of free printable file folder games to download, print, color and assemble. 

To make file folder games:

Print game board and glue to inside of file folder. Write instructions on outside. Laminate or cover with contact paper. Make a spinner by drawing a circle. Divide like a pie. Label segments with game advancement options. Place paperclip on paper fastener (brad). Poke fastener through center of circle. Spin paper clip.

Store game cards or pieces in zippered plastic bag or envelope stapled to folder. File folder games store upright in filing cabinet or drawer. Get extra craft project mileage from free printable file folder games by assigning students make them. They can practice cutting, pasting, assembling and following directions. 

Free Printable Cut and Paste Vehicles and Famous Buildings

The most interesting social studies activities are those that explore geography and cultures around the world. Here are free printable coloring pages of world maps, country maps, famous landmarks, building and points of interest from countries around the world. Students will love taking around the world tours of different countries with these interactive, hands on social studies lessons. Then keep reading for free printable 3D paper models of landmarks and famous buildings.

Our trip around the world begins at Activity Village has free printable coloring pages of famous landmarks, famous buildings of the world and sights to see in different countries. In London, England, get free printable coloring pages of the London Eye, London Bridge, the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace and the changing of the guard, a Beefeater, Big Ben, a London cab a double-decker bus and more. Then go around the world to nearby Scotland and Wales.

Your free printable famous buildings around the world tour at Activity Village continues to France, Brazil, Egypt, India, New Zealand, Russia, South Africa and the United States. Print the Loch Ness monster, Eiffel Tower, Table Mountain, Statue of Liberty, Christ the Redeemer statue (to name a few famous landmarks). Print world maps showing national products, landmarks and sights to see.

Now for free printable 3D models of famous buildings to print--hang onto your hats because Paper Toys has free printable 3D paper models galore. Then when you thought you'd seen all the cool 3D paper models of buildings you could want, hit this site for more free printable 3D paper models of famous buildings. Get free printable paper models of castles, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, a haunted house, a medieval manor house, plus really cool 3D paper models of artifacts, vehicles, ancient wonders of the world and even Jimi Hendrix's guitar and Guy Fawkes mask! There are masks, race cars, pyramids, ships, paper airplanes, paper dolls and more.

Ash Wednesday Lenten calendars, Lent Lesson Plans

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is the single largest non-governmental relief agency in the world. Each year at Lent, CRS Rice Bowl collects millions of dollars for global poverty from nickels and dimes of Catholic parishioners. CRS Rice Bowl focuses attention on the Lenten virtues of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. The CRS Rice Bowl is a cardboard box which, when assembled, looks like a Chinese restaurant take-out box. During Lent, families place a CRS Rice Bowl in their homes to collect loose change for the poor and hungry of the world. The CRS Rice Bowl packet includes Lenten calendars with devotional activities, prayers, feast days and stations of the cross. Each calendar day has a global prayer focus with specific information about the country in need. Here are CRS Rice Bowl activities, printables, prayers, games, crafts and recipes. Use these Lenten lesson plans to teach social studies, history, economics, geography, language arts, culture, science and religious education 

Social studies lesson plans. Explore countries served by Lenten rice bowl. Lenten calendars list information about the seven countries (one for each week of Lent) supported by the CRS Rice Bowl. Each year CRS Rice Bowl highlights different countries to help. Lenten calendars introduce a person from each country and explain some of the conditions. Lenten calendars share recipes from that country. Printables, lesson plans and learning activities are provided to supplement the CRS rice bowl. 

Science and geography lesson plans. Research the seven countries served by Operation Rice Bowl. Hang a wall-sized world map. Create maps for CRS Rice Bowl countries and regions. Attach maps to wall with yarn indicating where they are on world map. Make a chart or graphic organizer showing cause and effect of poverty in each country (drought, poor sanitation, terrain, natural disasters, political regimes, military coups, loss of industry, urban crowding, etc.). Create and display a time line, running along the wall. Draw a separate line for each country to show events in each. Draw a world timeline and list important global events. Illustrate maps and time lines with native animals, artifacts and natural resources. Use printables for maps, charts and coloring pages. 

Language arts lesson plans. Write letters through Catholic Relief Services to children in each country. Write country name, language, region, capitol and keywords from each country. Use as vocabulary and spelling words. Have children create country booklets, using free social studies printables from Enchanted Learning. Older kids could create reading response journals and include maps and writing projects. Or have kids make scrapbooks. 

Make and try CRS Rice Bowl recipes included. Cooking is great hands-on application for math, chemistry and science lesson plans. Explore ethnic markets in your area and online to find the ingredients you need. Look for others foods that are similar. Be sure to emphasize meatless recipes. Research and discuss the biomes and habitats of the countries. What plants grow native in these regions? What animals are native? What is the terrain and climate? Explore other recipes from these areas or similar regions. See website for links on world research. Design a world cookbook and sell copies to raise money for the CRS Rice Bowl. 

Check out Catholic Relief Services Family site for more ideas. Use the Educators page for loads more social studies printables, lesson plans, activities, word games, puzzles, kids newsroom, interactive online activities and games. Use the Catholic prayer calendar in following Lenten calendars. Most schools incorporate calendar activities in their day. Include the prayers and information in your calendar routine.