Louisiana

Geography: Louisiana

Louisiana  by: Amy Van Zee

Feliciana Feydra LaRoux: A Cajun Tall Tale  by: Tynia Thomassie

Three Little Cajun Pigs  by: Mike Artell

Trombone Shorty  by: Troy Andrews

Freedom in Congo Square  by: Carole Weatherford

Alligator Sue  by: Sharon Doucet

Chicken Joy on Redbean Road: A Bayou Country Romp  by: Jacqueline Briggs Martin

A Good Night for Ghosts  by: Mary Pope Osbourne

 

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History: Ruby Bridges

The Story of Ruby Bridges  by: Robert Coles

Ruby Bridges  by: Simone T. Ribke

 

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Science: Hurricanes

Hurricane Watch  by: Melissa Stewart

Hurricanes  by: Carol Ryback

Two Bobbies: A True Story of Hurricane Katrina, Friendship, and Survival  by: Kirby Larson

Heroes of Hurricane Katrina  by: Allan Zullo

 

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Activities

• Visit New Orleans!
• Eat Cajun/Creole food
• Hurricane lamp experiment
• Watch “Reading Rainbow: Mama Don’t Allow” and “Boxes for Katje”

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Johnny Appleseed

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Geography

Ohio

Ohio  by: M.J. York

B is for Buckeye  by: Marcia Schonberg

The Price of Freedom: How One Town Stood Up to Slavery  by: Judith Bloom Fradin

 

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania: The Keystone State  by: Maria Lusted

The Liberty Bell  by: Mary Firestone

The Liberty Bell  by: Gail Sakurai

Can We Ring the Liberty Bell?  by: Martha Rustad

The Egg Tree  by: Katherine Milhous

 

 

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History: Johnny Appleseed

The Real Johnny Appleseed  by: Laurie Lawlor

The True Tale of Johnny Appleseed  by: Margaret Hodges

Seed by Seed: The Legend of John “Appleseed” Chapman  by: Esme Raji Codell

Johnny Appleseed  by: James Howard Kunstler

Johnny Appleseed: A Tall Tale  by: Steven Kellogg

Johnny Appleseed  by: Christin Ditchfield

 

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Science: Apples

How Do Apples Grow?  by: Betsy Maestro

From Blossom to Fruit  by: Gail Saunders-Smith

 

 

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Activities

• Bake an apple pie!
• Cut apples in half
• Plant an apple seed in a pot – test the seeds first to see if they float or sink
• Look up x-ray pictures of the Liberty Bell

Oregon Trail

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History

The Oregon Trail

The Oregon Trail  by: Karen Bush Gibson

How to Get Rich on the Oregon Trail  by: Tod Olson (not everything is appropriate for 2nd grade, but we just read bits and pieces)

Westward to Home  by: Patricia Hermes

The Golly Sisters Go West  by: Betsy Byars

 

Pioneers

Wagon Wheels  by: Barbara Brenner

I Have Heard of a Land  by: Joyce Carol Thomas

Little House Picture Book Treasury  by: Laura Ingalls Wilder

Welcome to Kirsten’s World  by: Susan Sinnott

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Lewis & Clark Expedition

We changed things up by revolving our studies around an event rather than a U.S. state.  We followed Lewis and Clark on their journey to Oregon, studying some of the states they journeyed through and some of the animals they encountered.

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History

Lewis and Clark

Lewis and Clark: A Prairie Dog for the President  by: Shirley-Raye Redmond

From Sea to Shining Sea  by: Callista Gingrich

Lewis and Clark: Opening the American West  by: Ellen Rodger

Lewis and Clark Expedition  by: John Perritano

Westward Expansion  (pg. 7-19)  by: Teresa Domnauer

Plains Indians

Indians of the Plains and Great Basin  by: World Book Inc.

Sacagawea

Sacagawea and the Bravest Deed  by: Stephen Krensky

 

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Geography

Missouri

Missouri: The Show Me State  by: Marcia Amidon Lusted

Gateway Arch  by: Julie Murray

Steamboat School  by: Deborah Hopkinson

Nebraska

Nebraska: The Cornhusker State  by: Miriam Coleman

Little Red Riding Hood: A Newfangled Prairie Tale  by: Lisa Campbell Ernst

Elsie’s Bird  by: Jane Yolen

Three Names   by: Patricia McLachlan

Tulip Sees America  by: Cynthia Rylant

 

Montana

Montana  by: M.J. York

Dust Devil  by: Anne Isaacs

 

Oregon

Oregon: The Beaver State  by: Marcia Amidon Lusted

Oregon  by: M.J. York

Apples to Oregon  by: Deborah Hopkinson

 

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Science

Bison

Thunder on the Plains: The Story of the American Buffalo by: Ken Robbins


Buffalo  by: Phyllis Jean Perry

American Bison: A Scary Prediction  by: William Caper

They Come From the Bronx: How the Buffalo Were Saved From Extinction  by: Neil Waldman

Grandfather Buffalo  by: Jim Arnosky

The Buffalo Storm  by: Katherine Applegate

Buffalo Music  by: Tracey E. Fern

Prairie Dogs

Prairie Dog Song: The Key to Saving North America’s Grasslands  by: Susan Roth

Prairie Dogs  by: Amanda Markle

Corn

Corn  by: Gail Gibbons

From Kernel to Corncob  by: Ellen Weiss

Grizzly Bears

Lions, Tigers, and Bears (pg. 28-31)  by: Ron Harchi

Eat Like a Bear  by: April Pulley Sayre

Beavers

The Lifecycle of a Beaver  by: Bobbie Kalman

A House in the Sky: And Other Uncommon Animal Homes  by: Steve Jenkins

 

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Activities

• Study Plains Indians pictographs & draw our own
• Watch “Wild Kratts: Where the Bison Roam,” “Prairie Who?” (S9, E2), “Prairie Mystery,” “Amazing Creature Race,” “Bandito,” “Build it Beaver”
• Watch “Reading Rainbow: Gift of the Sacred Dog”
• Make & eat popcorn
• Map Lewis and Clark’s journey
• Watch Old Faithful video
• Watch Yellowstone video

 

Hawaii

Geography: Hawaii

Hawaii: The Aloha State  by: Marcia Amidon Lusted

Uniquely Hawaii  by: Geok Yian Goh

National Parks of the U.S.A.  by: Kate Siber

Froggy Goes to Hawaii  by: Jonathan London

Grandma Calls Me Beautiful  by: Barbara M. Joosse

 

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History: Duke Kahanamoku

Surfer of the Century: The Life of Duke Kahanamoku  by: Ellie Crowe

Duke Kahanamoku  by: Laurie Calkhoven

 

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Science: Volcanoes

Inside Volcanoes  by: Melissa Stewart

The Magic School Bus Presents Volcanoes and Earthquakes  by: Tom Jackson

DirtMeister’s Nitty Gritty Planet Earth  by: Steve Tomecek

 

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Activities

• Make a lei for each member of your family out of tissue paper, cupcake liners, ribbons, and beads
• Have a luau! (we invited the kids’ grandparents over and had a chicken supper with fresh pineapple, watched a how to hula video, and hula danced to some of the songs from the movie “Moana.”
• Watch “Magic School Bus: Blows Its Top”
• Watch “Reading Rainbow: Hill of Fire”
• Do the magma experiment on page 47 of Nitty Gritty Earth
• Do the hei activity in the back of Grandma Calls Me Beautiful

 

 

Alaska

Geography: Alaska

Alaska: The Last Frontier  by: Marcia Amidon Lusted

State-by-State Atlas  by: Justine Ciovacco

Tlingit Indians  by: Suzanne Williams

Being Caribou  by: Karston Heuer  (we just looked at the pictures)

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Stories

Mama, Do You Love Me?  by: Barbara M. Joosse

Arctic White  by: Danna Smith

You’re Snug With Me  by: Chitra Soundar

The Bear Report  by: Thyra Heder

The Eyes of Gray Wolf  by: Jonathan London

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Science: Sled Dogs

Wind-Wild Dog  by: Barbara M. Joosse

Alaska’s Dog Heroes: True Stories of Remarkable Canines  by: Shelley Gill

Togo  by: Robert J. Blake

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History: Balto

The True Story of Balto  by: Natalie Standiford

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Language Arts

Reading: The True Story of Balto  by: Natalie Standiford (Step Into Reading: Step 3)

Spelling

Phonics

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Activities

• Watch Wild Kratts “Spirit Bear” (S12), “Hero’s Journey Part 1 & 2” (S5, E14&15), “The Fourth Bald Eagle” (S5, E18), “The Mystery of the Two Horned Narwhal” on Amazon Prime
• Watch polar episode on The Magic School Bus on Netflix
• Make paper snowflakes
• Paint the aurora borealis
• Make a chalk rubbing aurora
• Watch this video about the aurora borealis 

 

https://pin.it/ceiixd7etlsnny

 

 

North Carolina

Hurricane Florence blew through our area and my older son’s school was canceled for a few days and my husband worked from home.  So we didn’t get much done even though this week we studied our home state!  However, at the end of the week we were able to go tour the Biltmore Estate, so I’d call this unit study a success!

Geography: North Carolina

 

Welcome to the U.S.A.: North Carolina  by: Ann Heinrichs

 

 

North Carolina  by: Ann Heinrichs

 

T is for Tar Heel  by: Carol Crane

 

Wright Numbers  by: Carol Crane

 

The Green Gourd: A North Carolina Folktale  by: C.W. Hunter

 

 

Exploring Biltmore Estate from A to Z  by: Chris Kinsley

 

 

Miss Dorothy and her Bookmobile  by: Gloria Houston

 

Halloween Scare in North Carolina  by: Eric James

 

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History: The Wright Brothers

The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the Airplane  by: Russell Freedman

 

Animated Hero Classics: The Wright Brothers DVD

 

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Activities

• Build paper airplanes
• Eat Krispy Kreme doughnuts
• Visit the Biltmore Estate!