I Declare

Our second Friday with Friends class correlated with Cycle 3 week 4, the Declaration of Independence.  The student's first task was to put a timeline of events in order.  Each group was given a large piece of paper, markers, and this resource from teachers pay teachers.

Since we were beginning with the timeline activity I wrote the answers on the board and they simply had to put their own timelines in order and write the dates on them.  I wanted this to be an activity the students could complete as everyone was arriving.  

After completing the timelines we took turns reading through the full Declaration of Independence.  We did not discuss what the whole document meant.  I gave brief explanations throughout the reading.  I felt like it was good for the kids to read and hear the full Declaration.

I was planning to have the kids work on this scavenger hunt, but after reading the entire Declaration I decided to send the scavenger hunt home with them instead.  I also had spy activities for us to do and I wanted to make sure we had enough time for those.  

The other part of this Friday with Friends was to study the Culper Spy Ring.  We began by reading a Culper Spy Ring theater script together.   You can find that here.

Following that I split the students into two groups.  One group was colonists in New Jersey.  I told them they were having to quarter a British soldier in their house.  They were able to overhear where the British were holding some of the "Rebel" soldiers captive.  Using the Culper spy code book they had to write a note and get it to the "Rebel" soldiers in Massachusetts.  The other group was the Colonial Army.  They had a spy undercover in New Jersey.  Using the Culper spy code book they had to write a note to the Colonists in New Jersey to tell them who their spy was.  

Before the class began one student from each group (New Jersey Colonists and the Colonial Army in Massachusetts) hid a doll.  These dolls where what they needed to get the other group to find.  

Here is a link to the Culper Code Book.

Other Teachers Pay Teachers resources I liked for this study included Revolutionary War Spy Code Activities, Comparing the Declaration of Independence and The Declaration of the Rights of Man, and America Booklet coloring for younger kids.  

The Great American Postcard Exchange

While enjoying a few school days at the beach late in the Summer I came across an opportunity for our family to join a postcard exchange with other Classical Conversations homeschool families in the United States.  Our home state was already spoken for, but we were aloud to adopt another state.  Out of the handful of adoptable states left my children chose Connecticut.  We decided that we should learn more about our adopted state before sending postcards, so this became our first Friday with Friends class for the school year.

Younger siblings are welcome to attend the class.  Another parents helps lead their activities and supervise playtime. 

I always write out the schedule for the afternoon on a large white board.  This helps keep me on schedule, allows the kids to begin working immediately when they arrive, and helps anyone who may get to the class late to jump in on the next activity.  We typically begin with an activity the kids can do in pairs or small groups together.  

For our study on Connecticut they the children began finding facts about the state posted around the house as soon as they arrived.  I found the facts pre-made on teachers pay teachers.  All I had to do was print and laminate them.  (I probably didn't have to laminate them, but I love my laminator!)

After finding facts we came together as a group to discuss our favorite facts about the state, what the postcard exchange was, and what we would write on our postcards.  We also completed a longitude and latitude activity together which created a dot to dot of Connecticut.

Finally, the time had come to write postcards.  Each child chose a favorite fact about Connecticut and copied it onto 3-5 postcards.  A lot of the kids were also very excited to choose where they wanted to send their postcard, and address it. 

While the older kids wrote and addressed the post cards their younger siblings put stamps on them.  The younger kids also helped organize the postcards we had received, and colored the states we had received postcards from on a map. 

We are enjoying receiving postcards from all across the United States.  While Connecticut is not our home state, we now have a greater understading and appreciation of our adopted state.