First of all, thank you to everyone who is participating in this little trip of ours. So far, we've received eight postcards... and the school year isn't even over yet! This morning, my son T came downstairs, ready to "do Oklahoma"... okay, well, he really meant Ohio... but unfortunately breakfast took precedent, and he didn't get time to research Ohio yet. But, it's all ready for him when he gets home!
Here's a quick shout out to Tricia G., Alan G., the Fetch Family, the Fabec-Spangler Family, Denise B., the Hall Family, and Uncle Paul... who were really on the ball and helped us get this project off to a quick start!
We needed something in which to record our research-findings. A friend of mine, Terri, who is also doing a similar project, mentioned a composition/notebook that she was planning to use. Perfect!
We always have extra school supplies hanging around (doesn't everyone? I totally stock up on those back-to-school specials.) So rather than get all cutesy (like I usually do), I used a simple notebook and wrote this on the front cover:
I know, I know... if you know me at all, you are gasping, "What??!!" This totally isn't my style... usually I'd go out and buy a fancy-schmancy journal... one with a big map on it or something. Then I'd use my Cricut to cut out the cute title. But quite honestly, I expect this to be a big crumpled by the end of summer anyway, so why spend any extra money. I had this one already.
Inside the front cover, I wrote the template by which I want each kid to make their pages. State and Countries are slightly different. I plan to make a similar template on a piece of paper that'll tuck into a pocket on the back page... one that is laminated, so that it's easy to pull out and look at while writing on the page, and it'll stand the test of time. Just haven't gotten to it, yet.
In case it's difficult to read, the facts they need to research are: Capital, Year it Became a State, Population, How it Voted in 2012, Number of Representatives in the House, Geographical Features, Famous Person, "One More Fact", and "If it's noon here [in VA], it's ____ there." As the days go by, I think of more and more things to research, but since I expect this activity to keep them pretty busy as it is, I'll just leave the research questions to these.
And here's our first sheet (Washington, DC). This was written by R, my older daughter with the neatest handwriting. :) She and I did all of the online research together. As the summer goes on, I'll leave more and more responsibility to the kids... hopefully including this blog.
After she completed the research online, I made these extra notes at the bottom. That way I can go over the research with each kid later (so everyone learns a little about every location) and can make it a bit personal for each child.
I included these extra questions: Number of Postcards (since we've already received duplicates, this will help us keep track), "Who Wants to Visit?", "Have we been here?", and "What is something you would like to do or see here?"
Here is West Virginia, written by my youngest, who is just learning cursive. Because she took so much space, I edited my questions at the bottom a bit.
So... we're off on our adventure. If you can help these cute little faces learn a little more about our great country... AND our great world... and to color in our maps!...consider sending us a postcard from your own home town/state/country or from your vacation/business trip this summer. Email us for an address.
BTW, HAPPY 14th BIRTHDAY BEN!!!
