This post is an overview of what we did as we “traveled” through the northeast region of the U.S.
The way I plan integrated units is with Google docs. I create a new doc for each unit and start organizing first by large topics, then get more detailed as I fill in each. Then I take all of that information and plug it into my full scope and sequence for the school year to make sure everything gets covered. On that scope and sequence I have holidays and any special dates written in so I can be mindful of them as I plan. Once I have the scope and sequence planned out, I create detailed, weekly plans.
For this year-long integrated unit I pulled from just about everywhere. It took a lot of time to research and align places to physically go that lined up with what we are learning, books, reading units to go along with our travels, videos, experiments, hands-on activities, etc. Although it is a lot of work, I LOVE IT! My favorite part is sifting through everything to find the golden nuggets that I can use in our unit. By then end, this US Regions unit ended up at 15 pages long!
We spent 5 weeks “traveling” around the northeast region spending more time in some states than others and tying in some earth and life sciences along with a little art. With the seasons changing to fall and us living so close to this area, I decided to start with the northeast and go from there.
LAPBOOKS
To keep all of our learning for each region in one place, we are using lap books. These particular templates are from Jill Russ (visit her store HERE), although I did tweak them a little for our needs. For each state, we record its abbreviation, population, state flower, bird and flag under the flap.
Climate, people, food, and fun are topics we discuss throughout our travels and we record as we go. We use an informational article also by Jill Russ along with various books to fill in these sections. We also create a web of the products and natural resources from that region.
We label each state’s abbreviation and specific places we “visit” on a large blown-up map I had printed onto foam board at Office Depot. As we go on “field trips”, I print out small photos of where we visit and we glue/label them onto the map!
MAINE
LIGHTHOUSES
Maine was our first state to visit. In addition to the normal state facts, we focused on learning a little about lighthouses. We read Gail Gibbons’ book, Beacons of Light, watched some video tours of real lighthouses in Maine, and tied science in by exploring erosion. For this little experiment, I printed out a photo of a lighthouse onto cardstock and planted it in very fine sand in an aluminum pan. We added water (with blue food coloring added to make it look more ocean-like) and made waves using a cardboard square. We observed what happened to the “coast” as the waves continued. Eventually our lighthouse was in danger of collapsing due to the erosion, so we brainstormed what we could do to keep the lighthouse safe (add rocks) and tried again using a new printed lighthouse, which worked at keeping erosion to a minimum!
We also did a fun 3D puzzle of a lighthouse (it even lit up)! My son loved doing it so much, he wanted to tear it down and do it again after we finished it! We got it from Amazon HERE.
FOOD
Of course we HAD to tie in food to Maine! First we watched a video on what whoopie pies are and how they are made. I admit I had never had one until this moment, which should be a crime because these things are FLIPPING DELICIOUS.
We ordered the whoopie pies and these real Maine wild blueberries from a site called A Box of Maine. You can find all kinds of fun treats that ship directly to you! We used the blueberries to make a pie that was amazing. I found a simple recipe online and my son and I walked through it together, and I have to admit, it looked and tasted incredible! He was very proud of himself!
VERMONT
After learning our facts about Vermont, we focused a little on maple syrup and how it is made. My son already had a little prior knowledge about this process, but we learned more by reading the book Maple Syrup Season by Ann Purmell and Jill Weber, and watching this video from Mystery Science on how it is made. (If you haven’t checked out Mystery Science experiments and videos, I HIGHLY recommend them! I have been so impressed with how they break concepts down in a way that is easy to understand.) We also watched this video to go on our virtual field trip. We then tried real maple syrup and compared it to regular pancake syrup!
Of course we HAD to take a virtual field trip to Ben & Jerry’s and then try the very best flavor of them all. Shockingly, my son only had a little bit and went on his merry way. Which just left more for me and the hubs!
MASSACHUSETTS
Our “trip” to Massachusetts coincided with our literature unit for that week over the book Hoop Genius, by John Coy, which is the story of how basketball was invented (which so happened to be in MA!).
At this point we also talked about more natural resources and fossil fuels. We watched videos on how they mine coal and granite, which my son found very interesting!
PENNSYLVANIA
Of course, we had to take a “field trip” to Independence Hall and then see the Liberty Bell. We watched a couple video tours and read about both from our library books.
We also took a virtual trip to Hershey Park, PA, as it is not that far from us and we are hoping to take the kids there in the near future for a visit! We had a lot of fun with this because there are a lot of YouTube videos of virtual rides of the different roller coasters! We are tying in engineering with roller coasters later when we “travel” to Disney, so we didn’t do too much with it this time around, but it was fun to get a preview of the park! I went as a child and cannot wait to go back with my family!
At this point we took a pause and dove back into science focusing on animal classification. We talked about the different animals found in the NE region and reviewed what vertebrates and invertebrates are. Then we broke up vertebrates into their subcategories and did the same with invertebrates the next day. You can find out more about this animal classification sort HERE. We focused a little more on arthropods and crustaceans and learned about how lobsters are caught in the NE region. We also had to try some real lobster, of course. Little man was not a fan! Ha!
To wrap up talking about animal classification, we dissected an owl pellet, which is always awesome! I think everyone remembers owl pellet day from when they were in school! My son thought it was pretty cool that we were able to find so many bones! We had a great time with this. I got our pellet from Amazon and it came with a few tools and a little investigative booklet.
NEW YORK
NEW YORK CITY & THE STATUE OF LIBERTY
Of course, NYC was a must visit as part of our unit. This is another place we are hoping to actually visit while we are here on the east coast. Both of my kids have always wanted to go, so we had fun exploring! We read about how Manhattan came to be what it is today with the book Manhattan: Mapping the Story of an Island, which was so interesting! It’s a bit above my son’s reading level, so I skimmed, but walking through how this area changed over time was definitely intriguing. We also walked through Kathy Jakobsen’s beautiful My New York, exploring what makes NYC a great city! Her illustrations are beautiful and detailed, and we both loved looking through this book.
We read Finding Liberty: A Statue is Born by Serge Hochain, which I thought was a great read. It’s written in parts, each from the perspective of a different person that contributed to the statue’s creation and voyage to the US. After reading, we took a virtual field trip by watching two videos. The first, which you can find HERE, is FANTASTIC and shows how the entire structure is laid out. We both found this fascinating! We then watched a few actual videos of the inside and from the top, which was very interesting.
We could’ve also tied in some science and discussed chemical changes by cleaning copper pennies using vinegar, but we did that last year, so I left it out. But it’s a great thing to do if you plan on learning about Lady Liberty!
We wrapped up NYC by building our own Statue of Liberty, which I found on Amazon HERE. My son had so much fun with the lighthouse that I had to get this as well. This one also lit up, which was fun! We are acquiring quite a collection of structures here!
NIAGARA FALLS
While in NY we also made a virtual trip to Niagara Falls! We learned some interesting facts about the falls, some of which include people doing some rather daring things, which I will never understand. Ha! We also learned how the falls generate a lot of electricity, which my son found very interesting. He is so curious as to how these things work, so we then went down a research rabbit hole to find out how.
THE GREAT LAKES & ERIE CANAL
We wrapped up NY by talking about the Great Lakes. I know more of them actually touch the midwest region, but we are doing so much with the midwest in the coming weeks, so I roped them into the northeast instead.
We first watched this fantastic video about the Great Lakes and then looked at this diagram which is a great visual that compares the depth of each lake. We went over the acronym HOMES to remember each lake and recorded them all on our large map.
We tied in some engineering by reading and exploring the Erie Canal. We read the book The Amazing Impossible Erie Canal by Cheryl Harness. I use the term read loosely here because, like Manhattan, this book was a bit above my son’s head in some parts, so we skimmed, but it was still quite interesting! We took a virtual field trip to the Erie Canal and watched this sped up video of it in action and also added it to our large map!
NEW JERSEY
We didn’t spend a ton of time exploring NJ, but we did learn how salt water taffy was made! We watched this video about Shriver’s taffy and then we tried some actual taffy from there. I ordered a small sample box from their website and we had fun exploring the flavors!
WASHINGTON D.C.
LINCOLN MEMORIAL & TIES TO LITERATURE
We live very close to DC, so I made sure to tie in a lot to this particular week. I planned it so our traveling week to DC coincided with our literature unit, which centered around When Marian Sang, a picture book written by Pam Muñoz Ryan and illustrated by Brian Selznick. This book tells the life story of the legendary Marian Anderson and how her strength and perseverance led to her becoming not only a world-renowned opera singer but also an agent of change in this country.
I wanted to tie our travels in with this book because after Marian came back to the United States from touring in Europe in sold out venues, she was met with discrimination multiple times when trying to find a venue to perform in that was large enough for her expected audience. She was barred from performing at Constitution Hall by the DAR due to being black. This decision spurred a firestorm in DC and even led Eleanor Roosevelt to step down from the DAR in protest. Marian was invited instead to sing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, and she did so in front of 75,000 people on Easter Sunday of 1939.
Marian would go on to become the first African American member of New York’s Metropolitan Opera, her greatest dream.
Being just a short drive from DC, we decided to go visit the Lincoln Memorial the weekend after reading this story. We had also watched Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s I Have a Dream speech again, to remind my son of this other momentous event that took place on those steps.
BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT & NATIONAL ARCHIVES
We took this week to also focus on our nation’s government. We went over the significance of The Declaration of Independence and The Constitution and then spent some time exploring the 3 branches of government.
On our same trip the Lincoln Memorial, we went to see these original documents in person at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. I was so excited to see these historic documents up close! And you had to have timed tickets to get in, so there was no line and it was not crowded, which made our trip there even better. Of course, we had to also watch National Treasure for movie night before going too!
Talking about our government’s structure can be confusing for a nine year old, so we went over the basics and I tried to make it as visual as possible. My son is VERY visual and kinesthetic, so I try to tie these ways of learning into as much as I can! So I give you, the literal branches of government! Ha!
On our trip downtown we also saw the Capitol building and the White House in the distance, which we’ve seen before on prior trips into the city. Hoping we can get a tour of both or either at some point, but we’ll just have to see how things go.
LEAVES CHANGING
One more way we tied science into the NE region was to explore why and how leaves change in the fall. Since it is literally fall here and the NE is known for its vibrant fall colors, it was the perfect time!
We started out by taking some of our own basil leaves that we are growing on our porch and tearing them up into a jar. We added nail polish to cover the leaves (can use straight rubbing alcohol) and added in a strip of paper towel (coffee filters work better, but I didn’t have any). We let it sit for a few hours and when we came back, we saw yellows and tinges of orange and pink on the paper towel! We then went on to predict why and explore.
We then watched Mystery Science’s explanation on why leaves change color, which is excellent.
We also tied in some fall art!
We had so much fun exploring the northeast region the past five weeks! Next up: the midwest!
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