Ireland is a gorgeous and fun country to visit. I’ve been lucky enough to visit twice and would love to go back with my kids. In the states, around St. Patrick’s Day, it is normal to see lots of green and pots of gold and shamrocks. It’s also a great time to dive into this fascinating island and it’s rich history and culture. Here is everything you need to do a unit on Ireland with upper elementary schoolers.

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Visit Ireland

So, obviously going to Ireland is the best way to really experience Ireland. However, this isn’t possible in a lot of situations so here are some alternatives.

Attend an Irish Cultural Event

A lot of cities and towns have Irish Cultural Events around the time of St. Patrick’s Day. Parades, Festivals, etc. These will allow you to at least hear Irish music, maybe see some Irish dancing. You might even be able to try out or watch an Irish sport like curling.

Virtual Visit to Ireland

Another option is a virtual visit. My fourth graders loved this 17 minute YouTube visit to Ireland.
Ireland: Travel the World with Your Kids

Read about Ireland

Follow Me Around Ireland
by Wiley Blevins

I have been pleasantly surprised by this series several times. They serve as a good introduction or overview of a country, in this case Ireland. I love that they are from a child’s perspective so they include things like how kids play and what school looks like. FOLLOW ME AROUND IRELAND is a wonderful book for giving some context for all of the playful picture books on this list for St. Patrick’s Day.

Find Online

Celtic Tales: Fairy Tales and Stories of Enchantment from Ireland, Scotland, Brittany and Wales
illustrations by Kate Forrester

This is a beautiful book of fairy tales from Celtic heritages. Obviously they aren’t all from Ireland, but when we did our Fourth Grade Unit on Ireland, or when you’re getting ready for St. Patrick’s Day you could just read the tales from Ireland. They are brief, just a few pages, which works well for a daily read aloud or before bed.

Find Online

For More Book Recommendations, check out this booklist on My Storytime Corner

Explore Irish Music

• Irish Music lesson from Music in Our Homeschool
• St. Patty’s Music Theory from My Fun Piano Studio

Art Activities inspired by Ireland

• Make St. Brigid’s Crosses using pipe cleaners from Everything Irish by AnnMarie O’Grady
• Learn to draw a Pot Gold with Art Hub for Kids
• Draw Celtic Knots with Kitchen Table Classroom.

Science & Math Activities

• Pot of Gold Multiplication Game from Hanging with Mrs. Hulsey on Teachers Pay Teachers.
• St. Patrick’s Logic Puzzles freebie from Mrs. Thompsons Treasures
• Bake Irish Soda Bread. Everyone swears by their family recipe for this, but regardless of the recipe you choose – this bread is a staple.
• Play Rainbow Game from Waldock Way
• Make Rainbow Slime from Little Bins for Little Hands

Irish Reading & Writing Activities

• St Patrick’s Day Fact vs. Opinions
• Write Irish Limericks – this was a favorite with my kids.
• Ireland Cursive Pages
• Write Your Name the Celtic Way also from Everything Irish by AnnMarie O’Grady

Learn about Irish Dance

Irish Dance is a unique form of dancing that’s a traditional part of Irish culture still thriving today. If you can’t watch Irish dancers live, here are some YouTube videos of Irish dance:

• RiverDance – you might be able to find a full show at your library as well. This was a world famous touring group of Irish Dancers.
• Trinity Irish Dance Company – this group is currently touring and is a more modern take on Irish dance.
• Leahy Call To Dance – this is a family of musicians that play in a band together. They are not professional dancers, but they dance and I love this song. It’s great fun.
• Cairde – also more modern, but still traditional. This is a group in Ireland.

If you have more time, Netflix has an animated movie full of Irish dance, RIVERDANCE: THE ANIMATED ADVENTURE which is really cute.

End of Unit Irish Program

At the end of our unit, we had an Irish themed program for friends and family. We included:

• Irish Dance
• Irish Songs on Recorder and Piano
• Irish Limericks Read Aloud
• Art Show

More Ideas for Third, Fourth and Fifth Graders

Rocks are the things I find everywhere. My kids stash rocks in the pockets around their seats in the car. I find rocks in the pockets of all of my coats from my kids asking me to “please save this!” when they find a special one at the park. My kids love rocks. My daughter especially is constantly lugging around rocks or looking for the perfect smooth one or a round one.

When my twins were in fourth grade we took a deep dive into this rock obsession with a Geology Unit.

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Field Trips

For field trips, head to wherever rocks are plentiful near you! Beaches, rivers, hiking trails are some options. My kids seem to find rocks everywhere we go. Field Trips are an opportunity to see rocks, or geology in a natural environment. Observe the differences found in one area up close. Hike next to cliffs where you can see the layered rock.

Torrey Pines Beach
My daughter calls this rock beach because it’s one of the few near us that’s mostly rocks instead of sand. It was our first Geology field trip. We love Torrey Pines for a whole host of reasons, read more about this San Diego beach in this post.

Dave’s Rock Garden
We used THESE MARKERS to decorate rocks and then the following week we visited Dave’s Rock Garden in Encinitas. It’s a short walk from Moonlight Beach which also has tons of rocks all along the shore. We took pictures of different favorites, tried to identify the rocks we found from what we’ve learned in our labs and videos, and sketched a favorite in their nature journals.

Natural History Museum
Most cities have a natural history museum. Check if yours has an exhibit about geology. The San Diego Natural History Museum has a cool collection of gems. We took a field trip there to see some real life examples of the gems and minerals we have been learning about.

Annie’s Canyon and other San Diego Hikes
The ocean side cliffs along some of the beaches and hikes through canyons in San Diego offer a wonderful example of sedimentary rocks. We were able to see the layers of rock in the cliffs. It helped my kids visualize rock types on a larger scale. If you’re in San Diego, all of our favorite hikes are listed in this post.

Children’s Books to Read

Excellent books are always a part of our units. Here are some we especially loved during our Geology Unit.

Let’s Go Rock Collecting by Roma Gans
Order Here

A Rock is Lively by Dianna Hutts Aston
Order Here

I’m Trying to Love Rocks by Bethany Barton
Order Online

Magic School Bus Volcanoes and Earthquakes
Order Online

Rocks and Minerals by Dr. Sarah Stamps
Order Online

Geology Activities

Back at home we thoroughly explored our rock collection. We sorted, observed, identified and drew rocks. We also used a variety of activities, kits and books to help us learn more about geology.

General

• Outdoor School: Rock, Fossil and Shell Hunting guide was a huge resource for us. We went on rock hunts, learned about and identified the different types of gems and rocks, and more. We also read each chapter on the different kinds of rocks and then used their help to figure out which rocks we had in our collections. I wrote a whole post about this Outdoor School series – read here.
• Complete the Alchemy pages from our Harry Potter Curriculum from The Waldock Way
• Watched short videos on YouTube about the rock cycle, different kinds of rocks and weathering like this Crash Course video on Rocks.
• Crayon Rock Cycles (we followed the directions in this experiment on Little Bins for Little Hands) and documented the progress using the Alchemy Rock Cycle page from our Harry Potter Curriculum from Waldock Way

Minerals

Used National Geographic Mega Gemstone Dig Up kit. This was a HUGE hit with my kids. They patiently dug out each of the gems, exclaiming over each discovery and eagerly trying to identify it using our guide. We also used the National Geographic Kids Geode Kit which was also a ton of fun. Do both of these outside if you’re able to – they made a pretty big mess.

Learning about Volcanoes & Igneous Rocks

• Erupted a volcano using the National Geographic Volcano Kit.
• Baked Lava Cakes from GEOLOGY LAB
• Watched Volcano documentary videos on PBS

Learning about Sedimentary and Metamorphic Rocks

• We used our Rock Tumbler to clean and polish our rocks. Then we used our Rock books to identify the types of rocks we have in our collection.
• Got our hands a little messy with experiments about mud in our GEOLOGY LAB FOR KIDS book.
• Cooked layered sandwiches and conglomerates in the kitchen.
• Did a gravity art experiment where we filled a tray with paint and then dropped rocks to see what would make the biggest splatter. It was a ginormous mess but a ton of fun. Did bigger rocks splat more? Did it matter what angle we dropped them from? (see photo below)

Final Geology Celebration

We ended our Geology unit with a Rock Party with some homeschooling friends. During our party we:

• Played The Floor is Lava
• Cracked open more geodes. This was one of my kids’ favorite parts of the Geology Unit so we repeated the activity with our friends. These are the Geode Kits we used.
• Decorate smooth rocks with these markers.
• Made rock necklaces and bracelets with this kit.
• Ate rock candy.

CLICK HERE for More Upper Elementary School Unit

Middle School World History. Wow. That’s crazy to say. I never in a million years when I was getting my teaching license, when I was homeschooling preschool for my twins, when I sent them off to Kindergarten, never did I think I would be teaching middle school. And yet, here we are and crazy as it sounds I am excited.

Our first unit for Middle School World History is First Humans. This covered the Stone Age or the Paleolithic Era, Ice Age and the Neolithic Era. Below are the resources I used and some unit ideas.

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First Humans Unit

Base Text: Everything You Need to Ace WORLD HISTORY in one Big Fat Notebook. This is by no means an all inclusive, perfect “textbook” but it does give you a solid outline. Throughout our World History Unit we are using this as a spine to build off. We read the chapters and do the review questions together with some notebooking. Then we get into the other books related to the topic on our shelves, watch documentaries, do hands on activities, etc. Buy Here

Notebooking: we are using notebooking to keep track of what we’ve learned in World History. My kids are highly visual learners who also really enjoy art, so this is a great fit for us. We read the study guide above and read more in the resources below and then they take time to record what they find the most interesting and important. This is usually a combination of drawings and writing. By the end of the year they will have a record of early World History they can review and share as a work sample of all they have learned. Our notebooks are spiral bound, unlined journals, similar to these.

More Resources about First Humans

Many of the books listed below will be used throughout our Middle School World History course throughout the school year. They cover the range of early history. For this First Humans Unit we simply read and focused on the early humans pages.

Tales of Ancient Worlds: Adventures in Archaeology by Stefan Milosavljevich and Sam Caldwell – short stories that walk you through discoveries and build a story around each one. For example, one of the first stories is about Lucy. She was an Australopithecus discovered by archeologists and the book shares what has been known and hypothesized about her. It helps tie science to history and also personalizes history through stories. Find Online

A Child Through Time: The Book of Children’s History illustrated by Steve Noon – offers the story of a child for many of the main periods in history. It begins with Taya, an Ice Age Girl, and ends with Ruby Bridges during the Civil Rights movement. Find Online

A Street Through Time also illustrated by Steve Noon – this is my daughter’s favorite in the World History stack. It shows a 12,000 year journey along the same street. Obviously some creative license is taken here, but the concept is fun. The illustrations are detailed and it brings to life the different periods. We focused on the Stone Age and First Farmers pages for this unit. Find Online

History of the World in Comics by Jean-Baptiste de Panafieu – is just that, history told in comics. It starts at the very beginning of time and provides an overview of evolution and how our world has changed. We read this over the summer before starting our year and with this First Humans unit. After that it speeds up as it attempts to accurately depict how little humans have occupied the earth’s history. Find Online

Math & First Humans

For Math during our First Humans Unit we focused on timelines. This allowed us a starting place to work with positive and negative numbers. We also reviewed fractions by placing fractions on number lines as well.

History Year by Year from Smithsonian – is a fantastic resources that ties together timelines, photographs and artwork. Find Online

Timelines of Everything from Smithsonian – this is one of my favorite books on our shelves. It puts history and science and art into timelines. The timelines are different and creative and it is such a wonderful visual on so many topics. Find Online

All civilizations had to eat and therefore they had to cook. I love integrating cooking into our math, which we’ve done in various ways over the years. This year we are using this Ancient History Cookbook to do some thematic cooking together (which works on fractions and measurement) each unit.

You May Also Like: Ancient Egypt Unit for Middle School

Science & First Humans

Glaciers were the most interesting topic to my kids when we started exploring the First Humans resources. We watched the Magic School Bus Rides Again episode about glaciers and watched this YouTube video on Glaciers.

Ancient Science also has tons of history themed science activities that we’ve started working through. These are simple experiments that usually use materials we have on hand and the book ties them to history and explains the science behind them. Find Online

Learn about Ice Age animals by doing a little guided research with this packet from Peanut Butter Fish Lessons.

Art & First Humans

Early Humans created cave paintings that have been discovered by archeologists all over the world. We read about them in the books below.

Vincent’s Starry Night and Other Stories: A Children’s History of Art by Michael Bird – is a gorgeous, thick book that tells stories of history through art. It walks through history chronologically, telling stories inspired by different iconic artworks of the period. Find Online

Art That Changed the World from DK Books – offers more details and facts about art through history. It is also laid out chronologically starting with Prehistoric Art. This book has a huge collection of artwork from each period, details about each, timelines and more. Find Online

Find More Curriculum Units Here

Swimming back and forth in the tank in our schoolroom is Mr. Weasley. He’s a beta fish we recently adopted from some friends who are moving. He’s bright orange which is probably the most exciting thing about him, because honestly he spends most of his day hiding under the bridge in his tank. I’m not a fish person. I’m not really a pet person. None of that matters though, because my kids are animal obsessed and they are now fish obsessed.

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There have been hints at an interest in fish in the past.

There was the season where my son was in a “fishing club” at school that basically consisted a few friends who talked about fish and fished together when they could convince their moms and sisters that this was how we wanted to spend our afternoon. This past year he also earned a fishing merit badge at scouts which included learning about fishing in depth, going deep sea fishing, and learning to cook and clean fish.

Also Read: 10 Tips for Fishing with Kids

There was the snorkeling. Our first time was to see leopard sharks and the following summer we went to La Jolla Cove, a known local snorkeling spot, to see fish swimming in the reef. I’ll admit that it was pretty awesome seeing the bright pops of color under the water.

Also Read: Snorkeling in Oahu with Kids

Now there was Mr. Weasley.

Interests have a way of popping up like this in our lives. There are hints. Here and there an interest. And then they swoop in and pull all of a kid’s (or both’s) focus. They talk, read, watch, and learn obsessively about something. I have to admit it’s actually one of my favorite parts of parenting. The interests are rarely something I expect and they always pull us in interesting directions.

In this case, we swam towards fish and dove hard.

Ideas for Learning about Fish

Our interests have a general pattern to them. My kids (each different in their learning styles) like to explore interests in a few pretty predictable ways. After ten years, we’ve hit a groove (for the most part). I think we got here mostly by me accepting whatever random thing they were interested and then throwing any ideas I could find that felt meaningful around the house and seeing what sparked further exploration. Here are some ways we learned more about fish:

Caring for Our Actual, Live Fish

This was obviously where it started and caring for their little orange fish was a big part of this learning unit. They fed him, learned how to clean his tank, watched his movements obsessively.

Books about Fish

A Place for Fish
by Melissa Stewart
Find Online

How do Fish Breathe Underwater
also by Melissa Stewart
Find Online

Hello Fish: Visiting the Coral Reef
by Sylvia A. Earle
Find Online

Papa’s Mechanical Fish
by Candace Fleming
Find Online

Fishy Watercolors

I have pretty art enthusiastic kids and so art is often part of our learning. In this case, watercolors felt like an appropriate medium for representing fish. We did this a few times.

Materials:

• Mat for under paper or other table covering
• Paper towels
• Watercolors
• Watercolor Paper
• Paint Brushes
• Cups for Water
• Pencils or Black tipped pens
• Pictures of fish or close proximity to a tank of fish (optional)

Invitation:

When we do art it is rarely the “everyone come to the table so we can paint” variety. I like to set up an invitation – a spot for each kid to work and some sort of visual prompt – and let that spark their interest. If they’re interested, then it often stays out for a few days or is set out again multiple days (depending on our currently home size / table situation). In this case I set out our Outdoor School: Animal Watching book and some other fish book near the fish tank with the supplies listed above.

Nighttime Fish Habitat Check

We have been using the Outdoor School series to inspire some of our learning about outside, including animals. (You can read more about how we used Outdoor School books last year in Fourth Grade in this post).

When we started reading about fish in Outdoor School: Animal Watching my kids were super excited to do this Nighttime Fish Habitat Check.

Directions:

• Prep your flashlight in a bag, with rocks if needed.
• Plan where to go. We went to the bay because we snorkeled there recently and saw a couple fish and a stingray. We also found it helpful that where we could go on a bridge to get above the water a little, but we did see some fish wading into the water as well.
• Put on weather appropriate clothes and bring towels (these dock & bay quick dry towels are my favorites)
• Further directions for the habitat check are in the OUTDOOR SCHOOL guide, but it’s pretty straightforward.

More Fish Field Trips

Most of these field trips were repeated multiple times during our unit or period of learning about fish. Come back to the things they enjoy. Repeat things that are interesting. Talk about them and see what new questions they have and then head back.

• Snorkeling in the ocean
• Aquarium Field Trip
• Pet Store
• Coi Fish Pond at the Japanese Friendship Garden

You May Also Like: How to Use an Adventure Journal on Field Trips

More Unit Ideas for Upper Elementary School

In fourth grade every kid in the United States can get a FREE family pass to the National Park system. This seems to be a incredibly well kept secret. I am in no way affiliated with the National Park system, but I adore the incredible diversity and beauty of the parks. We often plan family vacations around parks we want to visit and the idea that you can do this for free for a whole year (or more if you have several children) feels like an incredible gift.

affiliate links may be included in this post.

Our Fourth Grade Park Adventures

Our twins were in Fourth Grade in 2020-2021 school year. This felt like a huge disappointment to me because all of my plans for big National Park road trip adventures were suddenly more complicated. Everything was more complicated in 2020.

I know a lot of people actually did more local travel and more road tripping to National Parks in 2020 because it was an outdoor, reasonably safe alternative to traveling abroad. In our case, my husband works on a US Navy base and was under orders to stay within 300 miles of the base unless he was deployed. Sure, we could have gone off just me and the kids on a longer road trip but I always hesitate to do that since we are already away from him a lot. However, we did have some National Park adventures in Fourth Grade. So, here are the Parks we explored.

Get your FREE Fourth Grade Pass Here

Joshua Tree

Located just a few hours from San Diego, Joshua Tree National Park is a great option for southern California families. If you’re okay with a long day, this can even be done as a day trip. We have day tripped, camped in the park, and stopped as part of longer road trips. We love this unique park.

More about Joshua Tree

Sequoia & Kings Canyon

During fourth grade we took a road trip up to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. We loved both parks. They are absolutely stunning. Kings Canyon was our favorite, so make sure you don’t skip it despite Sequoia being the more well known.

More about Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks

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All About California Unit for Fourth Grade

Cabrillo National Monument

Cabrillo is located in San Diego and one we visited frequently in fourth grade. The lighthouse and display about Spanish explorers is fun to learn about, the park offers incredible views of San Diego and the ocean, and if you’re able to come when the tide is low, the tide pools are some of the best in this part of the country.

Learn More about Cabrillo

How to Make the Most of the National Park with Kids

The National Parks are great for all ages. There are things to marvel at and enjoy no matter what your interests or ages. For the purposes of this post I am going to focus on the things we did to make the most of the National Parks for our fourth graders (9-10 year olds).

Get your FREE Fourth Grade Pass Here

1. Dress for the weather – When you’re packing, make sure to pay attention to what the weather is like in the park. For example, where we stayed near Sequoia was always a good 10+ degrees warmer than up in the park where there was still snow on the ground in some parts in the Spring. The Redwoods National Park had rain off and on while we were there so raincoats were essential. Being warm, cool or dry enough while you’re exploring is essential to happiness.
2. Bring Adventure Supplies – exploring a National Park can feel like the ultimate adventure for kids. There are mountains to climb, streams to cross, great dunes of sand to slide down, unfathomable trees to view. I always bring some variation of these Adventure Supplies when we go on an adventure. Having at least one tool (binoculars, camera, journals) to deepen your explorations and being stocked and prepared for any needs helps to keep everyone happy and engaged.
3. Junior Ranger Program – my kids love the Junior Ranger program at the National Parks. Some parks have better guides for the kids than others, but all of them have taught us something about the wildlife or geography. Often they give us a great guide to what to do in the park, if not the park rangers are a great resource. Before you hit the trails, pick up a Junior Ranger packet for each kid. Some parks, like Joshua Tree, have these at the front gate when you drive in. Other times you have to stop at the Ranger Station.
4. National Parks Activity Books – we keep busy in the car with a variety of audiobooks, games and activity books. On our National Park road trips in fourth grade my kids loved reading this Lonely Planet guide about the different National Parks and doing the activities in this National Geographic Kids Junior Ranger activity book. Depending on the park you’re visiting, there are also some wonderful children’s books about the parks. For example, we read REDWOODS by Jason Chin before our trip to the Redwoods and he also wrote this award winning, absolutely stunning picture book about the GRAND CANYON.
5. Stamp Your National Park Passport – lastly, don’t forget to stamp your passport! My kids both have National Park Passports like these. You can buy them beforehand on Amazon or the Ranger Stations always have some in stock as well.

More National Park Guides

Although we didn’t explore as many parks during fourth grade as I’d hoped, we have visited a lot of national parks with our kids. Here are some more guides to our favorites:

Redwoods National Park (CA)

Death Valley National Park (CA)

Cabrillo National Monument (CA)

Carlsbad Caverns National Park (NM)

Chaco Culture Heritage Park (NM)

Golden Gate National Recreation Area (CA)

Guadalupe Mountains National Park (TX)

Fire Island and the Sunken Forest (NY)

Petrified Forest National Park (AZ)

Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes National Seashore (MI)

Washington DC Mall Monuments (DC)

White Sands National Park (NM)

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30+ Unforgettable Trips with Kids

UCSD in La Jolla, just north of San Diego has a fun sculpture collection all around their campus. Part of our fifth grade homeschool was learning about sculpture. We did a lot of looking at sculpture books and hands on sculpting ourselves, but seeing large, diverse sculptures in person is the best kind of inspiration.

affiliate links are included below.

Sculpture Hunt

This scavenger hunt will take you around some of the pieces in the Stuart Collection on the UCSD Campus. Download your free printable hunt below to get started.

Also Read: Photography 101 – Teaching Kids to Take Pictures

Once you find parking (I’ll admit this can be tricky! My advice is to come on the weekend or during a campus break so you can get street parking just off campus). Then START at the La Jolla Playhouse and head north to Scholars Drive to find the answer to the first clue on the printable hunt.

Get Your Sculpture Hunt Printable Here

The printable will direct you around campus to four of the many pieces of art. There are a lot more, but this hunt will cover a range of types and take you to different parts of the campus.

More Ideas for Exploring Sculptures with Kids

Seeing sculptures is fantastic, but don’t stop there. Afterwards, create a variety of sculptures yourself! One of our favorites is working with clay. Here are some options:

• Go to a clay studio. Check your local area for clay studio for kids. If you’re in San Diego, we like Cool Creations on Garnet in Pacific Beach. This type of experience allows you access to a kiln.
• At home, or in a classroom, there are a lot of options as well. For smaller projects my kids love colorful air dry clay like this
• For larger or more authentic clay experiences, we love this big block of air dry clay.

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GETTY VILLA, PERCY JACKSON & MYTHOLOGY FOR FOURTH & FIFTH GRADE

Get Your Sculpture Hunt Printable Here

Did you know that A. A. Milne’s infamously inspiring wood is actually 500 acres? The 100 acre wood is based on the 500 acre Ashdown Forest in East Sussex.

affiliate links are included below.

Beforehand

The Ashdown Forest is a pretty place for a ramble, but knowing the stories of Winnie the Pooh definitely makes it more magical. Before you hike, really familiarize yourself with the Adventures of Pooh. If you’re doing it with this hike in mind, you might want to really talk about the different spots in the woods or with older kids, make a map together of how you envision the woods.

Read about Pooh’s Adventures
The Complete Tales and Poems of Winnie the Pooh
Buy Online

or Listen to the Audiobook
The Collected Stories of Winnie the Pooh
Buy Online

Watch Winnie the Pooh.
Available on Amazon

Hike in Ashdown Forest

Ashdown Forest
Wych Cross
Forest Row RH18 5JP
United Kingdom

• Brochure with More Info about the spots that inspired Pooh stories.
• Mapped Walks with more info.

You have to use your imagine to see the woods through his eyes, but what a gorgeous spot to hike and pretend.

The brochure included about has spots or places around the loop trail that inspired some of the stories in the Winnie the Pooh adventures. You can see: the river where Pooh saved Piglet, Eeyore’s gloomy spot, the Hefflelump forest and tree trap and more.

None of these are labeled in the forest, you need to either print the map or have it pulled up on your phone. I always think it is best to warn your kids that this isn’t like a Disneyland view of Pooh. This is the real place that Milne hiked and they have to be prepared to use their imagination like he did.

Afterwards

Pooh Corner. Sussex.

After your hike, if you have time you can also visit Pooh Corner. This is a small spot at the edge of Ashdown where there is a little museum and you can pop in for tea.

More about Pooh Corner

Home Activity Ideas

Back at home, if your kids are excited about the hike and all things Pooh they might enjoy:

• Re-read some favorite stories or watch Winnie the Pooh again. You can take it one step further by encouraging your kids to act out their favorite story with Pooh Character Puppets like these ones.
• Write your own Pooh story. Older kids who love to write (or homeschoolers who want to add a little writing to your adventure) could write their own story about a spot in the forest.
• Matching Game. Kids under 5 would love this adorable matching game inspired by the characters and stories of Winnie the Pooh. Find Online
• Make Winnie Pooh Honey Snacks together. You can use this easy recipe.

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Great Britain Literature Inspired Unit
(has lots of bookish adventure ideas!)

Learning about Native Americans felt like an important piece of California history that I didn’t want to jump past learn about missions and the Gold Rush when I was planning out our Fourth Grade Social Studies curriculum.

I’m sure I did an imperfect job of talking about this with my children, but I did my best to offer them resources that helped explore the different tribes native to California to get a overview of the vast differences between tribes and their history both before and after Europeans arrived.

affiliate links are included in this post.

Books to Read

Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids
edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Modern day powwow experiences are shared in this anthology of short stories. I love how this focuses on modern experiences when so many Native American stories for kids depict teepees and bows and arrows. The history is important, of course, but so is remembering that Indigenous people still live in our country. This is a well written collection of stories by various authors.
Find Online

Children of the Longhouse
by Joseph Bruchac
This is an exciting chapter book that looks at native american life but also their interactions with outsiders. It would make for a good read aloud, independent read or bookclub book.
Find Online

The People with Five Fingers: A Native Californian Creation Tale
by John Bierhorst
A picture book version of a Native American creation story. My kids loved this one and how different it was from the story they’re familiar with.
Find Online

How Chipmunk Got Tiny Feet: Native American Animal Origin Stories
by Gerald Hausman
This is a collection of short stories along the same vein as the picture book above.
Find Online

The Girl Who Rode a Shark & Other Stories of Daring Women
by Ailsa Ross
We’ve used this collection of stories for several units. For this one we read Sacagawea’s story. I like the brief but interesting stories for introducing my kids to interesting and daring women.
Find Online

Unit Activity Ideas

Native Californians were one of our loops for November. About once a week we worked on the list of activities below. Learning a little about, really just scratching the surface, the tribes that lived in California.

Activities we did to explore Native Californian tribes:

• Research about Tribes: we pulled out a stack of books I borrowed from our public library on a variety of California Native Tribes and my kids completed this independent research project on one of the tribes shown above.
• Work on Map Skills with this California regions/geography and tribes worksheet.
• Learn about how the Sierra Miwoks made food with this STEAM activity.
• Read FRY BREAD by Kevin Noble Maillard and made our own Fry Bread (there is a recipe in the back of the book).

Learning about Native Californian Art:

• Browsed the stunning collection of artwork in Art of Native America from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
• Learned the basics of weaving with these simple loop weaving sets.
• We also made these collaborative wall hangings that involved weaving from Meri Cherry.
• Then we did Lab 6 from the Minecraft Lab for Kids that involves weaving and talks about Native American patterns.

We could definitely do more. This is such a huge part of American history and it is often glossed over. This certainly won’t be the last time we talk about this aspect of American History in our house, but it felt like a good look at some of the beauty of the different tribes especially the ones that lived on the same land that we occupy today.

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Ideas for Third, Fourth, and Fifth Grade

Mythology hooked my kids in fourth grade. They dove into gods and goddesses, primarily in Greek culture, but learned about mythology from around the world. Here are some of our adventures and resources as they explored the magical world of mythology.

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Field Trip to the Getty Villa

Getty Villa

While in Los Angeles for a weekend we visited the Getty Villa. This is one of the two Getty Museums in LA. It has Greek and Roman antiquities housed in a re-created Roman country home.

The Getty Villa makes a huge effort to be family friendly. There are a lot of activities for families at the museum. The super cool thing for kids who love mythology is that you can take an immersive audio tour of the museum.

My kids absolutely loved having the characters in their ears as they explored the museum on their own personal quest. Access the audio tour here or ask for more info at the information desk.

Getty Villa
17985 Pacific Coast Highway, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272, USA
Open 10a – 5p, Closed Tuesdays
FREE to visit, $20 to park.
Must reserve a time slot online beforehand.
Website

Percy Jackson

Percy Jackson was our way into Mythology and I expect we’re not alone. Once my kids had read THE LIGHTENING THIEF, especially my daughter, they were hooked. Suddenly they wanted to know all about all kinds of mythology.

Percy Jackson Inspired Activities

• Make sure you visit the Rick Riordan website. There is a wealth of information including these Teacher Guides.
• There is a Lightening Thief Unit Study on Proverbial Homemaker.
• Fabulous Classroom has a huge list of resources about Percy Jackson learning inspired by the release of Sea of Monsters on DVD but they would work for a general unit as well in most cases.
• Here are some fun ideas if you want to have a Percy Jackson bookclub meeting from Adventures in Mommydom.

Book Recommendations:

There are SO many Percy Jackson books and related books, but in case your voracious mythology fan needs some more ideas here are some more series we’ve enjoyed.

• Hopeless Heroes series by Stella Tarakson
• Zeus the Mighty series by Crispin Boyer
• Thunder Cluck! Chicken of Thor by Paul Tillery and Meg Wittwer
• Goddess Girls series by Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams
• Heroes in Training series by Tracey West
• Nico Bravo graphic novel series by Mike Cavallaro
• Wings of Fire series by Tui T. Sutherland

Mythology

Once my kids were exposed to mythology via Percy Jackson, they seemed to thirst to learn all they could.

Books to Read

• Usborne Illustrated Stories from the Greek Myths
• Myth Atlas: Maps and Monsters, Heroes and Gods from Twelve Mythological Worlds by Thiago de Moraes
• National Geographic Kids: Everything Mythology by Blake Hoena
• Gods and Heroes: Mythology Around the World by Korwin Briggs

Activities

• Impressive and diverse twelve week mythology study that covers all the curriculum areas on Redhead Mom.

Mythical Creatures

Mythical Creatures are some of the most fascinating parts of mythology, especially for kids who are huge animal fans like mine. If you want to go down this rabbit hole, here are some books and activities to explore.

Books to Read

• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by J. K. Rowling
• Mythopedia: What A Beast by Sophia Kelly
• Miss Turie’s Magic Creatures by Joy Keller – This is a cute picture book. If you’re diving into Mythology and Mythical Creatures with an early elementary schooler I definitely recommend this one.
• Wings of Fire series by Tui T. Sutherland is all about dragons that have to save their magical world. These are also good on audio.

Games to Play

• Createures Drawing Deck: This is game / art activity that is loads of fun if your kids enjoy drawing.
• Runes & Regulations: This is a strategy game that’s funny and also plays with mythical creatures.

Read About More Fourth Grade Units

Elections are always a nature learning opportunity. My twins were in fourth grade during the 2020 presidential election and we really leaned into the excitement and interest in the election as part of our social studies learning.

We voted via drop-off ballot in California. Our ballots arrived in early October so I showed them to my fourth graders and we talked a little about the different parts before I filled it out. Then they walked with me to our local drop off spot to turn it in. In previous years they have always gone with me to vote before school on Election Days.

No matter what year it is and how tense or invested the country feels in the current election cycle, using it as an opportunity to teach kids about government and democracy feels useful.

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Two Weeks Before the Election

• Read DUCK FOR PRESIDENT and do this writing activity from TpT
• Watch the Debates together
• Share any of the flyers you get in the mail with them. Compare and contrast ones you get from different parties. What do they like? What makes sense to them? How do they relate to advertising in other areas of their life?
• My daughter started reading HEIDI HECKELBECK FOR CLASS PRESIDENT by Wanda Coven

One Week Before the Election

• This is a fairly comprehension Elections Unit by Sonlight that covers a lot of information about the election process. The week before the election we did about half of this unit.

Election Week, Day and Night

• Decorated with Red, White, and Blue
• We watched 2 videos on TedEd about Why We Vote on Tuesdays and on the Electoral College.
• My kids really wanted to pretend to vote so we used these Election Day Worksheets from Confessions of a Homeschooler.
• Played this Printable Election Math Game from Royal Baloo
• Did this Free Patriotic Music Lesson from Music in our Homeschool.
• Used this Electoral College Map with a math activity you can do beforehand to see how different states can be combined to get the total number of votes needed. This also includes some geography as you find states on the USA map.
• Electoral College Map to track the race as votes come in. If you’re teaching in a classroom you could send this home with the kids or fill it out together the next day when they return to class.

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Unit Ideas for
Third, Fourth & Fifth Grade