oh yvonne
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Jun 26, 2014 0:45:23 GMT
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Post by oh yvonne on Jul 5, 2016 15:24:15 GMT
Lauren's thread got me wondering..does your school teach your state's history in the 4th grade? Is that a common thing across all the states?
If so, what is the big 'project' you all have to do/make?
Here in California, the big project is making a model of a Mission. It's a big thing, and I'm always amazed at the beautiful work the kids come up with. They are all encouraged to visit an actual Mission, and then make a model of one.
I had to do it when I was in the 4th grade back in the 70's, and they still do it now. It's such a fun tradition. Everyone I know nods their head 'oh 4th grade Mission..I remember when we had to do that..". It is something we Californians all have in common.
What do you all do? I'll upload a pic in a bit. I'd love to see yours!
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Post by freecharlie on Jul 5, 2016 15:24:57 GMT
Colorado, yes, projects very by school.
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Post by freecharlie on Jul 5, 2016 15:25:32 GMT
Ds had time make a kiva
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mimima
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Post by mimima on Jul 5, 2016 15:26:06 GMT
Nodding on the 4th Grade Mission
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Post by 950nancy on Jul 5, 2016 15:32:02 GMT
I taught fourth grade Colorado history. The books were so old. It was a bad curriculum. The kids did not have to do project. Thankfully the unit was only 6 weeks.
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Post by freecharlie on Jul 5, 2016 15:33:20 GMT
I taught fourth grade Colorado history. The books were so old. It was a bad curriculum. The kids did not have to do project. Thankfully the unit was only 6 weeks. I love Colorado history. Our books were super old too, but we supplemented. We have such great history here.
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Post by Merge on Jul 5, 2016 15:33:59 GMT
Texas, yes, in 4th and again in 7th. No big project in our schools but both kids visited the San Jacinto monument in 4th grade. I understand the 7th graders used to go to the Alamo but it got too expensive.
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oh yvonne
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Post by oh yvonne on Jul 5, 2016 15:37:09 GMT
What is a kiva and what state are you in? Sounds interesting
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Post by 950nancy on Jul 5, 2016 15:37:58 GMT
I taught fourth grade Colorado history. The books were so old. It was a bad curriculum. The kids did not have to do project. Thankfully the unit was only 6 weeks. I love Colorado history. Our books were super old too, but we supplemented. We have such great history here. I had just moved into a new team that year and they were old as dirt. They just lectured and made the kids answer questions. They even made the field trip awful and it was the Cliff Dwellings. The team that teaches it now got a new book just last year and they do it for nine weeks.
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oh yvonne
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Post by oh yvonne on Jul 5, 2016 15:38:58 GMT
I taught fourth grade Colorado history. The books were so old. It was a bad curriculum. The kids did not have to do project. Thankfully the unit was only 6 weeks. Oh wow, ours is really good, in my opinion. There is *so* much to learn, they pretty much cover it the entire year. The Gold Rush and the 49ers (lots of memorization of names), all the explorer names, the Padres, Father Serra. Gosh...it was a lot. Then there were field trips, Island of the Blue Dolphin, panning for gold.
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Post by freecharlie on Jul 5, 2016 15:39:16 GMT
What is a kiva and what state are you in? Sounds interesting Colorado, it is a ceremonial pit used in the Mesa Verde area (and others) by native Americans. Really it is a hole in the ground with a fire pit and a ladder, but they dug into the ground on a side of a cliff (and other areas).
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SabrinaP
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Post by SabrinaP on Jul 5, 2016 15:42:03 GMT
Yes, in Texas 4th grade is Texas history, 5th grade is American History, and 6th grade is World History.
When I taught 4th grade is started a Wax Musuem project. The kids all research a famous Texan and give a short oral report. They often dress up and bring props. They perform their Musuem for the little kids. I'm not teaching 4th any longer, but they are still doing the project.
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oh yvonne
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Post by oh yvonne on Jul 5, 2016 15:47:25 GMT
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Post by freecharlie on Jul 5, 2016 15:53:05 GMT
Hope this works..I don't know why sometimes my pics come out upside down. This is the big end of year open house, it coincides right after the projects were done. I wish I took pics of all the Missions, they were beautiful. wow.
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oh yvonne
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Post by oh yvonne on Jul 5, 2016 15:53:53 GMT
I loved that one..did you notice they used lasagne noodles for the roof? These projects are really something.
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katybee
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Post by katybee on Jul 5, 2016 16:05:46 GMT
Texas--yes-- no project, but 4th graders in my school visit the Alamo.
In Missouri, where I grew up, we did a "Missouri Notebook."
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Post by creativegirl on Jul 5, 2016 16:06:03 GMT
My mission was made out of milk cartons and my older brother helped me make it- I still remember!
We were just talking about this recently because we visited the jelly belly factory and they have a mission made of jelly beans on display. My husband was bummed he didn't think of that in grade school- huge missed opportunity to buy and eat lots of candy, ha!
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Post by cmpeter on Jul 5, 2016 16:07:51 GMT
My son went thru 4th grade in CA. He had to do a mission visit and project, but building a model of a mission was one option. He ended up doing a scrapbook project instead. I do remember the mission model instructions said you can't use one of the model kits from Michael's...it had to be handmade.
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oh yvonne
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Post by oh yvonne on Jul 5, 2016 16:08:56 GMT
My mission was made out of milk cartons and my older brother helped me make it- I still remember! We were just talking about this recently because we visited the jelly belly factory and they have a mission made of jelly beans on display. My husband was bummed he didn't think of that in grade school- huge missed opportunity to buy and eat lots of candy, ha! That would have been awesome, jelly beans! I love how everyone remembers making their Mission fondly. Gosh it can be a lot of work and stressful, but in the end its so worth it.
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oh yvonne
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Post by oh yvonne on Jul 5, 2016 16:10:29 GMT
My son went thru 4th grade in CA. He had to do a mission visit and project, but building a model of a mission was one option. He ended up doing a scrapbook project instead. I do remember the mission model instructions said you can't use one of the model kits from Michael's...it had to be handmade. Yeah, we had that same rule too. Although we bought the roof material at Michaels. I wish we hadn't because I felt like we cheated. There was no option given at our school, you had to make it. Plus they had to do a scrapbook too.
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Post by SwissArmyBeth on Jul 5, 2016 16:19:40 GMT
I made the Mission Santa Barbara out of sugar cubes. Here, my kids had to do the wax museum presentation of a famous Arizonan.
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oh yvonne
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Post by oh yvonne on Jul 5, 2016 16:24:06 GMT
I made the Mission Santa Barbara out of sugar cubes. Here, my kids had to do the wax museum presentation of a famous Arizonan. Very cool! Do you have a pic? I guess not many other states do states history in 4th grade? Looks like just CA, Texas and Colorado? I was hoping to hear from the original 13 colony states..you'd think they have so much rich history to work with? And what about the prairies, and Alaska and Hawaii?
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Post by jeremysgirl on Jul 5, 2016 16:24:40 GMT
In Michigan, all the 4th graders learn Michigan history. I went with my son to his Capitol trip and visit to the historical library. When my DD was in fourth, we were living in Indiana briefly and I don't remember her studying Indiana history.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 5, 2016 16:28:22 GMT
Fourth grade is Idaho history. The big field trip that the schools around here do is Wagons Ho. The kids spend the day learning about how people lived as they traveled in covered wagons. They build fires, cook pioneer food, and play games that children at that time did. It is a great day.
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Post by JustCallMeMommy on Jul 5, 2016 16:30:06 GMT
I think MS history was probably 4th grade here. DD had to pick out a famous person from the State and do a report.
When I was in 5th grade, we had to do a big project revolving around the Natchez Indians. On presentation day, we dressed (completely stereotypically which would be politically incorrect today) as Indians and ate foods they would have eaten. We also took a field trip to their Grand Village and we did something on the Natchez Trace - maybe a bike ride.
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Post by ntsf on Jul 5, 2016 16:31:32 GMT
my kids..in a ca school never studied the missions much..other than how horrible they were for the local native americans. no one did mission projects. they did visit the local mission in 3rd grade.. but no positive studies of the spanish or mexicans here. I don't even remember if they studied the gold rush... maybe the rise of our city and the pushing out of everyone else. not a white centered curriculum...
I taught my kids history.
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Post by anxiousmom on Jul 5, 2016 16:33:05 GMT
For us, Florida history was all year in 4th grade with a culmination a trip to St. Augustine and visiting the fort and a few other cool sites. I can't remember a big project, but pretty much all the stuff they did had some kind of, at least, tangential connection to the state. I don't know if all the schools make the trip, but enough do it is one of those 'you know you grew up in Florida when...you go on a field trip to St. Augustine in 4th grade' jokes.
This was both of my kids.
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Post by lumo on Jul 5, 2016 16:35:06 GMT
We did NC history here 4th, but I don't remember the big project. DD will be in 3rd this coming year, so I'll have to wait to find out
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Post by 950nancy on Jul 5, 2016 16:39:55 GMT
I taught fourth grade Colorado history. The books were so old. It was a bad curriculum. The kids did not have to do project. Thankfully the unit was only 6 weeks. Oh wow, ours is really good, in my opinion. There is *so* much to learn, they pretty much cover it the entire year. The Gold Rush and the 49ers (lots of memorization of names), all the explorer names, the Padres, Father Serra. Gosh...it was a lot. Then there were field trips, Island of the Blue Dolphin, panning for gold. I taught fourth grade in the 80's. Our book was from the 60's. With today's technology it would be way better. We live an hour from a gold mining town and working mine. The teachers I worked with didn't want to be on the bus with the kids that long. (It was a looong year.) My favorite thing to teach then was a science unit called The Mimi. It was a series of science lessons conducted on a boat with a very young Ben Affleck. The kids all built a boat after that unit.
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perumbula
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Post by perumbula on Jul 5, 2016 16:43:23 GMT
Fourth grade Idaho history is done here too. The big field trip is to the Oregon Trail Interpretive center. It's a huge museum about an hour away from us. The kids love it. They also get to go to the Salmon Days at the MK Nature Center in Boise. They learn about fish and rivers and actually get to do Japanese fish painting and go wading in the Boise River to look for bugs. They don't have a big project, but they do spend several weeks working together on a wagon train project. They have to choose what goes in their wagon and then pretend to go across the plains and see if they packed the right things. My middle girl still complains about how she had to be the "Ma" and the "Pa" ended up being a boy she disliked. Fifth grade is when they really start learning US history. At the end of the year is "State Fair" where each child is assigned a state and has to do a presentation on it with the State flag, a clay bas relief map, resource maps, etc. I think that's why the fourth grade doesn't do a big project. they save it for the fifth graders. It's their last year in elementary school so it makes sense for them to go out with a bang.
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