Optional add-on · Social Studies · 35 min · Fits Week 20
My State, Part 2: Our State's History and a Person from My State
Objective: Your child will research, with a grown-up, three events from their state's history and put them on a timeline, and describe one person from their state and why that person is remembered (D2.His.1.K-2, D2.His.3.K-2).
Materials: the My State page from Part 1, a library book about your state, or your state's official website, a long strip of paper, pencil, crayons
Helps with topics listed by: Pennsylvania, New York, California
Warm-Up: People Who Changed Things (5 min)
Ask your child who they learned about this week and how that person helped others (George Washington Carver helped farmers; Ruby Bridges changed her community). Say: 'Every state has people and events that changed it. Today we are historians of our own state.'
Research Together: Three Events (15 min)
Read a short part of a library book about your state, or its official website, together. Choose three events to put on a timeline. Good choices: the Native nations who lived on this land long ago and still live in the state today; the year your state joined the United States; and one important event, such as a big discovery, a new invention, a famous building or the founding of your town. Write each event and its year on a sticky note or card. Your child puts them in order from long ago to now, then copies them onto the timeline on the practice page. Check each fact in a second source if you are not sure.
Research Together: A Person from My State (10 min)
Choose one person from your state's past to learn about: someone who was born there, lived there, or did their important work there. It could be an inventor, a leader, an artist, a scientist or an athlete. Read a short biography together (a library picture-book biography works well). Your child answers three questions on the practice page: Who was this person? What did they do? Why do people remember them? Then they draw the person doing their important work.
Wrap-Up (5 min)
Your child reads the timeline aloud from long ago to now, using the words 'long ago,' 'past' and 'present.' Add the My State pages to the social studies portfolio.