American Symbols

This month we are studying American Symbols.  I introduced the concept by watching a BrainPop Jr. video.  (BrainPopJr. is a great site for videos, games, and lesson ideas on a variety of topics.)  Then we played an American Symbols BINGO as a fun review of the symbols we'd learned.  I also used this as a basic assessment of how well the kids could identify each symbol.

After the introduction lesson, I've spent each of the next few lessons exploring one symbol more in-depth. So far we have studied the Flag and the Bald Eagle.  I loved our Bald Eagle lesson.  We read The Bald Eagle, part of the American Symbols series, and learned about the Founding Fathers debate over which bird should be our National Emblem.  George Washington suggested the Bald Eagle, but Benjamin Franklin wanted it to be the Wild Turkey.  The kiddos got their own Bald Eagle to vote about whether they thought the Bald Eagle was a good choice.  (On the eagle they wrote things like, "Yes because it is a strong bird" or "Yes because it is a symbol of freedom.")  You can see there was no disagreement among my little patriots :)

I'm excited to continue this unit, especially as we approach an important election!  More to come on that...