Guest Posted April 22, 2006 Posted April 22, 2006 As our whole school topic we are looking at USA using a geography/KUW focus for the first half term & then history/KUW focus next half term. I have a reception/year 1 class and I am really struggling for ideas. I can only so far link it with stepping stone "show an awareness of the wide world" for YR. If anyone has any ideas for activities/useful websites for this I would be really grateful.
Guest Posted April 23, 2006 Posted April 23, 2006 Food: bagels (not strictly American in origin but popular there), hot dogs, popcorn. Cheerleading dances. Crikey - hard isn't it? If you included Native Americans (sorry it that's not the PC term) that would open it out a fair bit. You could then do natural dyes, face painting, make head-dresses, necklaces, drums, dancing, make shelters, parchment painting, make up names for people based on their characteristics, traditional Native American stories, try and make a canoe (very simply) that floats, journey sticks (you go out for a walk and collect things that you find on the way and bind them to a stick. This then acts as a kind of 3D memory map of your journey).
Guest Posted April 23, 2006 Posted April 23, 2006 We once had an american independence day themed day - we wore red white and blue, made hamburgers and american flags - need to make sure you do risk assessment though for making burgers
AnonyMouse_2760 Posted April 23, 2006 Posted April 23, 2006 There is some stuff on www.enchantedlearning.com which might be useful as it is an american site. (flags to colour etc) What about setting a link up with a school? I did that after my study visit to Mississippi last year and it worked well. We sent a soft toy out with a lot of freebies to school in Aus. last year and a box of goodies etc and they recipicated with Sheila a kookaburra whom we kept a diary for then posted him back with postcards and stuff. I got the link by registering the school on epals. Good luck
AnonyMouse_2157 Posted April 23, 2006 Posted April 23, 2006 what about looking at spacecraft and the NASA website? I also have several powerpoints that relate to different countries, they all start off with a map of the world and an arrow indicating England and the country we are focusing on. I then add lots of photos (from google images) that show elements of the culture, environment and people of that particualr place. It's a good way of introducing the topic/country and gets children talking about familiar experiences. Things to include for and American one might be map food (typical): bagels/hot dogs(Macdonalds )/popcorn/corndogs/pancakes/turkey places: Grand canyon/New York/NASA/Disneyland/ (showing diversity across the country) people: range of people from different ethnic backgrounds sports: basketball/ice hockey/little league baseball/american football American firefighters/engines police officers and cars language: pavement/sidewalk diper/nappy cultural: thanksgiving/baby showers/halloween/4th July/American flag It's always good to ahve something ( a photo image) to compare aspects of American life with that of the children's own culture to help them to see the links Hope this helps
Guest Posted April 23, 2006 Posted April 23, 2006 Start by asing the children who have been to America to talk to the others, to bring in what they got, photos etc!!
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