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Teach children about the African continent and its people with this simple Introduction to Africa lesson plan!

Introduction to Africa Lesson Plan for Kids

February 8, 2018 by Selena Robinson 6 Comments

10 Days of African History for Kids: Look! We're Learning!

We’ve been studying African kingdoms of the past with the kids and we’re thrilled to share what we learned with you! It’s fascinating (and tragic) to me that Africa is the largest of all the inhabited continents and yet it is largely overlooked in history programs for kids.

In fact, I use the “What Your ____th Grader Needs to Know” series with our children and there is no mention of African history outside of Egypt until fourth grade. This means that kids are first introduced to Sub-Saharan African history with a discussion of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.

I feel that initially presenting Africa in the light of slavery tends to bias children to the beauty and historical significance of African rulers and people. We’ve decided not to cover the subject in that way with our children and we’ve found out some incredible things so far.

For starters, Africa is so much more than poverty, oppression, and slavery. In fact, these things were fairly uncommon until colonialism started. So before we got into our lesson about African Kingdoms with the kids, we decided to learn more about the African continent – as it is today.

Take a look at this Introduction to Africa lesson plan you can share with your kids too! And if you want to learn even more about Africa with your children, don’t miss our African Kingdoms printable unit study!

Teach children about the African continent and its people with this simple Introduction to Africa lesson plan!

Introduction to Africa Lesson Plan for Kids

Let’s begin by tackling some common misconceptions about Africa.

The original name of Africa is not “Africa”!

First, did you know that Africa was not originally called Africa? That name was based on the name “Afri“, which was a Latin name given to the inhabitants of Carthage by the Romans in the second century B.C.E.

In fact, the Roman general Publius Cornelius Scipio was renamed Scipio Africanus after his victory against Hannibal at Carthage at the end of the century, because the name “Africa” was only used to denote the area surrounding the indigenous people who lived in and around Carthage at the time.

Somehow over the centuries, the name Africa was expanded to refer to the entire continent, but that was not the name that the inhabitants of Africa used. There is some disagreement about what the original name for Africa was, but some say that the original name was “Al-kebulan“, which is an Arabic name meaning “Land of the Blacks”.

African Kingdoms Unit Study

How big is Africa?

After finding out that the name of Africa wasn’t even originally Africa, we had to re-examine our entire view of the area. We decided to sift through popular images of Africa and compare them to the reality of life on the largest continent on Earth.

The free resource “Exploring Africa” by Michigan State University is an excellent introduction to African culture, history, and geography. We started with the beginning exercises about the size of Africa and the common portrayals of Africa in popular culture.

We also found an incredible graphic showing the enormous size of the African continent:

Image credit: Boston University

Africa is a Culturally Rich, Civilized Continent

What kind of landscape comes to mind when you hear the name “Africa”? Do you think of people who live in huts? Do you picture extreme poverty and dirty surroundings? Those are the images commonly used in the media. And Africa does have poor people and slums. (Like literally every other continent, except Antarctica.)

I live in the U.S. and if I wanted to show the U.S. as a country of poor, impoverished people, I’d have no trouble finding photographs to support that story. We see homeless people in our area on a regular basis. So it’s unfair to paint this as a situation that’s unique to the African continent.

African countries have huge cities, beautiful buildings, and incredibly rich historical sites.

Antananarivo

Antananarivo, Madagascar

Cape Town

Cape Town, South Africa

Kampala

Kampala, Uganda

Marrakesh

Marrakesh, Morocco

Nairobi

Nairobi, Kenya

Windhoek

Windhoek, Namibia

The People of Africa

The Exploring Africa lesson plan makes an excellent point that I had not previously realized. Most of the images of Africa in modern culture are either of animals, nature, or buildings. The people of Africa are not widely highlighted, unless they are shown looking malnourished or unhappy.

When I thought back to my childhood, I realized that this was definitely true when I was growing up. Of course, it’s important to publicize the extreme poverty that ravages much of Africa, but those images are not representative of life for all Africans. Seeing those pictures over and over can make us feel that life in Africa is miserable for everyone, which is not true.

Here are some of the images of Africans we shared with our kids:

Young Men in Ethiopia

Image c/o: Katie Hunt

Mother and Children in Angola

Young Maasai Women

Image c/o: DFID – UK Department for International Development

Ugandan couple

Ugandan Couple

Best Friends

African Friends

 The Natural Wonders of Africa

We also discussed the incredible diversity of geography on the African continent. Utah State University hosts a very thorough resource list of Africa lesson plans and we explored one to learn about the Seven Natural Wonders of Africa.

Here are a few of these natural wonders:

Victoria Falls

Table Mountain

Image c/o: Julien Carnot

The Serengeti Plains

Image c/o: Harvey Barrison

Books and Resources about Africa

Here are some of the resources we used for this lesson. They’re definitely worth a look. (Affiliate links are listed below. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

  • University of North Carolina: How Do We Represent Africa? – A free PDF file with color pictures of life and nature scenes from Africa. Great for broadening common views of Africa to include people of all kinds.
  • Afrobets: First Book About Africa by Veronica Freeman Ellis
  • Ashanti to Zulu: African Traditions by Margaret Musgrove

Learn even more about Africa with these learning activities!

Get started learning African history for kids with this unit about ancient Egypt history for kids!

Creatures of the African Savannah Lapbook Review

Learn about the ancient African kingdom of Nubia with this fun unit!

Ready to dive into the royal history of Africa? Don’t miss our African Kingdoms unit study! It’s packed with unit activities to help elementary kids learn about the rich and regal history of African kingdoms!

African Kingdoms Printable Unit Study

>>> African Kingdoms Elementary Unit Study <<<

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This post is part of the Autumn 2013 Hopscotch from the women of iHomeschool Network! Click below to see the Hopscotch posts from all of our fellow bloggers!

iHN October 2013 Hopscotch

We Got Jazz Printable Unit

Review: Hands-On Language with Lego Writing Prompts!

July 8, 2014 by Selena Robinson 3 Comments

Note: I received a free copy of this product in exchange for this review. See our Disclosure Policy for details.

Our kids, like just about all kids, love LEGO blocks. Love them. But I never had the idea to combine LEGO building with writing. Renee Brown from Great Peace Academy did, though, and she’s put together some adorable LEGO writing prompts printable packs for just $1 each! We got the chance to try them out with the kids and they had so much fun building and writing their own stories!

Keep Reading…

10 American Sign Language for Homeschoolers Resources

10+ American Sign Language for Homeschoolers Resources

July 7, 2014 by Selena Robinson 11 Comments

A big part of our curriculum involves American Sign Language for homeschoolers. We’re in an ASL congregation, but we still try to make use of structured ASL lessons and resources whenever we can.

If you’re searching for ways to teach American Sign Language for homeschoolers, check out some of these great ASL resources!

10 American Sign Language for Homeschoolers Resources

10+ American Sign Language for Homeschoolers Resources

10 ASL for Homeschoolers Resources - Look! We're Learning!

ASL2U is our virtual ASL tutoring service. We’ve completed our very first downloadable lesson and you can grab it now for just $1.99! The lesson includes more than 20 color signs and a complete practice conversation to help you learn to introduce yourself and meet someone in sign language!

To get your copy of ASL2U Lesson 1, visit our Store!

Here are even MORE great American Sign Language for Homeschoolers resources!

A Basic Course in American Sign Language

Sign Language: My First 100 Words

My First Book Of Sign Language

Sign Language for Kids: A Fun & Easy Guide to American Sign Language

Learn to Sign the Fun Way!: Let Your Fingers Do the Talking with Games, Puzzles, and Activities in American Sign Language

The American Sign Language Puzzle Book

American Sign Language for Beginners – Flashcards: Animal & Colors Pack (Incl. ASL + English + Spanish)

American Sign Language for Beginners – Flashcards: Action & Opposites Pack (Incl. ASL + English + Spanish)

American Sign Language Bingo Game – Super Duper Educational Learning Toy for Kids

400 American Sign Language Cards Fun Deck

Learn more about teaching sign language to kids!

Free Printable Flashcards: Sign Language Alphabet - Look! We're Learning!

American Sign Language Alphabet Flashcards

Weather ASL Coloring Pages @ Look! We're Learning!

Sign Language Weather Fingerspelling Pack

Free ASL Number Flashcards - Look! We're Learning!

Sign Language Number Flashcards

And don’t forget to follow my American Sign Language lessons board on Pinterest!

This post is part of the “Foreign Languages for Your Homeschool” linkup from iHomeschoolNetwork! Click on over to read how our fellow bloggers teach foreign languages to their families!

American Sign Language for Homeschoolers - Look! We're Learning!


Learn the Swahili Alphabet with Jambo Means Hello

June 30, 2014 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

This post contains affiliate links. See our Disclosure Policy for details.

Happy Monday! We’re participating in the Multicultural Kid Blogs “Read Around the World” summer series for a chance to share a multicultural book that Jay and the kids first learned about on Reading Rainbow – Jambo Means Hello!

Keep Reading…

ASL Lesson 7: ASL Opposite Words - Look! We're Learning!

ASL Lesson 6: ASL Signs for Food #2

May 9, 2014 by Selena Robinson 2 Comments

Hi everyone! We’re back with another installment in our ASL video lesson series!

This week, we’re learning more ASL signs for food to add to the food signs we covered last time. In this lesson, you’ll find the signs for:

Keep Reading…

Learning about Poetry with Shel Silverstein

April 30, 2014 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

Learning about Poetry with Shel Silverstein - Look! We're Learning!

This post contains affiliate links. See our Disclosure Policy for details.

Hi all! We’re co-hosting the Poetry Celebration and Contest over at Preschool Powol Packets today! All month long, the co-hosts have been sharing great tips for introducing poetry to kids and we’re wrapping up the series today with a look at the work of Shel Silverstein. We decided to examine poetry with the Shel Silverstein book A Light in the Attic.

Learning about Poetry with Shel Silverstein - Look! We're Learning!

As we read the book, we noticed that some of the poems followed a certain rhythm pattern and some did not. For example, in the poem “How Many, How Much?” every other line rhymed. In the poem “Fancy Dive”, though, every line rhymed. We spent a little time writing two-line poems as a family using the section on poetry in Brain Quest Workbook: Grade 3.

We ended up with these:

“There once was a flea

Who wanted to ski” (Pooh)

“There once was a crow

Who played with Play-Doh” (Roo)

We also discovered that poems can change patterns. The Shel Silverstein poem “Tired” changes patterns from every other line rhyming to every line rhyming. Tigger used one of the poetry planning pages from the School Zone Second Grade Big Workbook to design a poem of her own that changed patterns. Here’s her poem called “My Family”.

“Friends don’t know about my family

And they don’t know about me.

My family is so cool!

It is probably better than being in a pool.

Love and hugs and kisses galore!

You know, they’re so kind. They even help me when I fall on the floor!” (Tigger)

We also learned about how poetry can make use of onomatopoeia. On page 58 of A Light in the Attic, we read the poem “Eight Balloons” and noticed the use of the sound effect “POP!” as a sound effect and a rhyming word. We talked about how onomatopoeia allows us to use sounds as words, and then we made our own poem using onomatopoeia.

Learning about Poetry with Shel Silverstein - Look! We're Learning!

We jotted down the sound effects first and then put them into a poem called “The Wind”.

“With a roar,

The wind went WHISH!

The kites went WHOOSH!

And the leaves went SHISH!”

The kids spent most of the rest of the day inventing their own rhymes, so I’m counting this as a successful creative writing lesson. 🙂

During the Poetry Celebration and Contest, you and your kids can submit original works for a chance to win some great prizes! If you’d like to enter to win some of the great prizes in the Poetry Celebration and Contest, you can enter via the Rafflecopter widget below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The following companies are sponsoring the Poetry Celebration and Contest!

Discover With Dr. Cool:

 
 
Little BLAST:
 
 
Corey Rosen Schwarz:
 
Brave Writer:
 
Homeschool Encouragement:
 
 
 
Word Traveling:
Preschool Powol Packets:
 

Be sure to stop by and visit all of the co-hosts of the Poetry Celebration and Contest!

Preschool Powol Packets ~ Homeschool Encouragement ~ Brave Writer’s Life in Brief ~ Word Traveling ~ The Measured Mom ~ Wildflower Ramblings ~ Line Upon Line Learning ~ Teach Beside Me ~ Living to Learn ~ Vicky Arnold Blog ~ School Time Snippets ~ Creekside Learning ~ Are We There Yet ~ Look at What You Are Seeing ~ Look! We’re Learning! ~ Our Homeschool Studio

ASL Lesson 7: ASL Opposite Words - Look! We're Learning!

ASL Lesson 5: ASL Food Signs

March 26, 2014 by Selena Robinson 2 Comments

We’re back today with another edition of our ASL Lesson series! Today, we review 15 ASL signs for food. In this clip, we go over the signs for:
Keep Reading…

The Living History Series: Duke Ellington

March 7, 2014 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

This post contains affiliate links. See our Disclosure Policy for details.

If you’ve been following along with our blog for a while, you’ve probably caught on to a recurring theme in our Living History series for the past few months. We’ve learned about Nat King Cole, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, and Miles Davis so far. Naturally, we’re focusing on giants of jazz! Of course, we can’t do a jazz series without talking about Duke Ellington, so he’s our focus for March. 🙂

I’m a little more familiar with Duke’s work than I have been with the previous artists in the series. I’ve heard his music pretty often. In fact, “In a Sentimental Mood”, which is one of my favorite jazz songs ever, was on an episode of The Cosby Show. I’ve loved that song ever since.

 We’ll be learning more about Duke Ellington’s life, career, and legacy this month, and we’ll be using some of the books below to help the kids get to know his music.

Books about Duke Ellington

Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra

Duke Ellington: His Life in Jazz with 21 Activities (For Kids series)

Duke Ellington (Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Composers)

Stay tuned to find out how you can grab our Duke Ellington Biography Unit!

ASL Lesson 7: ASL Opposite Words - Look! We're Learning!

ASL Lesson 4: ASL Family Signs

March 5, 2014 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

We’re back this week with another installment of our American Sign Language lessons on YouTube! We’ve already covered letters and numbers in ASL, basic ASL greetings, and days of the week in ASL, so it’s time to learn family signs in ASL!

In this video, we cover the signs for:

Keep Reading…

Simple Science Experiments: Coffee Can Condensation Science Experiment

March 3, 2014 by Selena Robinson 8 Comments

Winter is coming to an end, but we wanted to sneak in one last winter-themed activity this school year. Tigger is a science fanatic, and she’s always up for an experiment, so it was a great time to learn about condensation and frost. 🙂

I was reading through one of our science workbooks and found this super easy Coffee Can Condensation Science Experiment, so we got to work!

Coffee Can Condensation Experiment

Coffee Can Condensation Science Experiment

We picked up the workbook Science Projects & Experiments: Grade 2-3 at Target a while back, but I’d totally forgotten about it. (It was recently unearthed during a School Supply Scavenger Hunt.) One of the experiments in the book uses a coffee can, salt, and ice to create frost.

Coffee Can Condensation Experiment

What often puts me off from science experiments is that they often seem to consist of things I don’t have on hand. I just happened to have an empty coffee can, though, so this was perfect!

Coffee Can Condensation Experiment

We put several ice cubes in the can, then added 1/2 cup of salt.

Coffee Can Condensation Experiment

Tigger stirred the ice and salt together, then closed the lid.

Coffee Can Condensation Experiment

The experiment instructions said to observe the can at 10 minutes, 20 minutes, and 30 minutes to observe what would happen. After 10 minutes, I looked at the can and wondered why nothing was happening.

Coffee Can Condensation Experiment

Then I realized that we’d never see anything with the wrapper still on it. Duh, Selena.

Coffee Can Condensation Experiment

This was 20 minutes in. Frost was clearly developing on the outside of the can.

Coffee Can Condensation Experiment

Not only was frost developing, but there were a few drops of water at the base.

Coffee Can Condensation Experiment

After 30 minutes, the entire bottom of the can was frosted over. As the book explained, the ice inside the can made the outside of the can extremely cold. As water vapor in the air touched the can, it immediately condensed and froze, becoming frost. Pretty neat!

Coffee Can Condensation Experiment

Tigger wanted to see what happened to the ice inside the can. We observed that the ice was melting, because of being mixed with the salt – which explains why road crews are always using salt to de-ice roadways!

This was a super quick and simple experiment, but Tigger loved it. So I’ll count that as a homeschooling win. 🙂

Tinker Crate &amp;gt;&amp;gt;

Printable Miles Davis Mini-Unit @ Look! We're Learning!

Miles Davis Biography Mini-Unit

February 28, 2014 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

Good morning y’all! We made it through yet another week! 🙂 It’s the end of the month, so it’s time for another entry in the Living History series! This month we’ve been learning about Miles Davis.

Miles Davis had a comfortable upbringing, but a very troubled life. Ironically, his experiences seemed to help him grow and change as a musician, which is what led to his extremely long jazz career. He also made some terrible choices, eventually managing to rebuild his life with the help of his family and his love for music. He is most certainly not a role model, but his perseverance in the face of serious problems offers a great lesson for kids.

We’ve put together a free Miles Davis Biography Mini-Unit that you’re welcome to use with your family! In this pack, you’ll find:

  • A kid-friendly biography of Miles Davis
  • Review questions to help kids remember what they learned
  • A Miles Davis crossword puzzle
  • And copywork based on an interview with the jazz great!

To download your copy of the Miles Davis Biography Mini-Unit, click the image or link below!

Miles Davis Biography Mini-Unit: Look! We're Learning!Miles Davis Biography Mini Unit

Free Spanish Opposite Word Flashcards - Look! We're Learning!

Free Printable Flashcards: Spanish Opposites Flashcards

February 19, 2014 by Selena Robinson 2 Comments

¡Buenos días! I hope you’re all enjoying your week so far! As I’ve mentioned before, I’m back in school myself and one of my majors is Foreign Language, so I’ve been learning Spanish for the past few months.

The whole family has been interested in learning Spanish as well, so I thought I’d whip up a batch of free printable flashcards featuring Spanish opposite words! That way, the kids can build on their budding Spanish vocabulary.

Free Spanish Opposite Word Flashcards - Look! We're Learning!

What’s In the Free Printable Flashcards: Spanish Opposites Flashcards Set?

In this pack, you’ll find vocabulario de español for several opposite words, including:

  • big and small
  • old and young
  • happy and sad
  • day and night
  • plus a pronunciation key to help kids say the words correctly!

You can even use the English opposite cards to help toddlers and preschoolers learn basic opposite words. 🙂

To grab your free copy of Los Opuestos (The Opposites) flash cards, visit our Store!

Spanish Opposite Word Flashcards: Look! We're Learning!

More Resources for Learning Spanish

Songs and Books to Teach Kids Spanish:

Encourage your kids to learn even more Spanish with these great Spanish kids’ books and songs!

  1. My Big Book of Spanish Words by Rebecca Emberley
  2. Songs in Spanish for Children by Elena Paz Travesi
  3. The Complete Book of Spanish: Grades 1-3 by American Education Publishing
  4. The Everything Kids’ Learning Spanish Book by Cecilia I. Sojo

More Printable Spanish Flashcards:

Learn even more español with even more of our free flashcards!

  1. Free Spanish Days of the Week Flashcards
  2. Free Spanish Family Flashcards
  3. Free Spanish Food Word Flashcards
  4. Free Spanish Number Flashcards 1-10

12 Months of Sensory Dough: Cloud Dough

February 12, 2014 by Selena Robinson 6 Comments

Cloud Dough Fail: Look! We're Learning!

Cloud Dough Fail: Look! We're Learning!

Hey everyone! It’s time for our 12 Months of Sensory Dough linkup! Every month, I’m honored to co-host this linky with 11 other bloggers, including Dayna at Lemon Lime Adventures, Val & Alex at Glittering Muffins, Devany at Still Playing School, Sarah at Little Bins for Little Hands, Kimberly at Natural Beach Living, Melissa Ann at The Eyes of a Boy, Nicolette at Powerful Mothering, Amy at Wildflower Ramblings, Rachel at I Heart Crafty Things, Michelle at Delightful Learning, and Jennifer at The Life of Jennifer Dawn!

This month, we tried our hand at making cloud dough. It was a complete and utter fail…lol. So as you read our experience below, remember DO NOT DO THIS.

I got the original idea from PBS.org, where they feature a very simple recipe for cloud dough using flour and oil. I had my first college biology exam last week and I spent most of my time studying. So – I looked at the cloud dough recipe and saw two ingredients: flour and oil. I did not realize that the original recipe called for baby oil. Mistake #1.

Cloud Dough Fail: Look! We're Learning!

Here’s what I used: flour, vegetable oil, and red food coloring.

Cloud Dough Fail: Look! We're Learning!

I started with 4 cups of flour, which is actually what the recipe called for. But instead of reading the recipe to find out the proper flour to oil ratio, I figured I could just mix it until it “looked” right. Mistake #2.

Cloud Dough Fail: Look! We're Learning!

I put 1 1/3 cup of vegetable oil in it, then mixed it up. (The recipe says 1/2 cup, by the way.)

Cloud Dough Fail: Look! We're Learning!

Right about here is when I started to think “This doesn’t look right”. But I was not about to use another four cups of flour.

Cloud Dough Fail: Look! We're Learning!

I added 20 drops of red food coloring, and the dough looked so pretty that I had a tiny bit of hope.

Cloud Dough Fail: Look! We're Learning!

That was shattered when we actually touched it. It was slick and oily to the touch. For a while, the kids just poked it.

Cloud Dough Fail: Look! We're Learning!

Like this.

Cloud Dough Fail: Look! We're Learning!

Tigger, bless her heart, tried to make the best of it by forming a “smile”.

Cloud Dough Fail: Look! We're Learning!

Jay’s been studying the brain with the kids, so I thought I’d make a brain. By the time I got the picture, my brain had settled into more of a tongue.

Cloud Dough Fail: Look! We're Learning!

Roo kept saying “Can I wash my hands please?” I mean, I know it’s a sensory experiment and all, but they’re not supposed to dislike how it feels on their hands.

Cloud Dough Fail: Look! We're Learning!

Pooh made two lungs, and that’s about all we could make out of this stuff.

Cloud Dough Fail: Look! We're Learning!

But it was neat to look at!

So if you decide to make cloud dough, don’t be like me! Read the instructions and pick a time when you’re not studying biology…lol.

Next month, we’ll be making edible play dough!

Cloud Dough Fail: Look! We're Learning!

We’d love to see your sensory dough experiments! Feel to link up your sensory dough fun below!

Please read the following guidelines before linking up.

Share family-friendly posts related to the month’s theme. Feel free to link old or new posts that highlight your favorite recipes for sensory dough. Failures and unsuccessful attempts are welcome.
We ask that no posts are linked with copy/paste recipes from other sources. If you use a recipe from another source, please link back to the original recipe.

By linking up, you give permission to share your post and one photograph in future posts and through social media channels.

Visit 2-3 other posts that others have shared. Discover new ideas and meet new friends!

The linky will remain open for two weeks. On the 12th of each month, all co-hosts will post a new dough with their spin, highlighting at least one post from the month before and pin each post to the 12 Months of Sensory Dough Board.

If you would like to, please grab the 12 Months of Sensory Dough button for your blog. And be sure to stop by and visit our co-hosts to get their take on the featured dough for the month!

Lemon Lime Adventures

 

 

The Living History Series: Miles Davis

February 10, 2014 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

This post contains affiliate links. See our Disclosure Policy here.
Image courtesy: Tom Palumbo via Wikimedia Commons

We’re feeling “kind of blue” this month, so it’s time to learn about famous jazz trumpeter Miles Davis for the Living History series! Besides knowing that his name is almost synonymous with jazz, I don’t know much about Davis at all. I can only remember hearing one or two songs of his, so he’s next on our list!

Speaking of “Kind of Blue”, here’s one of the songs from Davis’ landmark 1959 album called “So What”. This one features John Coltrane on the tenor sax. (In fact, Coltrane will be one of our future history series figures.)

As part of our unit, we’ll be reading a few books about Miles Davis this month, including:

Lookin’ for Bird in the Big City

Milestones: The Music And Times Of Miles Davis

Miles: An Autobiography by Miles Davis

The Miles Davis Reader

Come back on February 28th to see what we learned about jazz legend Miles Davis!

Ella Fitzgerald Biography Mini-Unit

January 31, 2014 by Selena Robinson 2 Comments

Ella Fitzgerald Biography Mini-Unit: Look! We're Learning!

Happy Friday! We’re wrapping up this week with another entry in our Living History series. You might remember that we were supposed to talk about Ella Fitzgerald in our Living History unit last month. Well, Finals Week happened and work happened and, well….better late than never, right?

Ella Fitzgerald Biography Mini-Unit: Look! We're Learning!

We started by covering our mini-unit study about Ella Fitzgerald’s life and career. She had a very difficult childhood, but she still managed to make great music. What was especially interesting to me was the fact that Ella didn’t even realize that she was such a great singer. Her real love was dancing. But when she went to audition at the Apollo Theatre, she got intimidated by her dancing competition, so she sang instead. That makes me wonder how many people have hidden talents they don’t even realize.

Ella Fitzgerald Biography Mini-Unit: Look! We're Learning!

In the mini-unit, there is a short Ella Fitzgerald biography, along with a crossword puzzle, review questions, and copywork from the song “Take the A Train” – a song that Ella recorded.

We also spent some time watching some of Ella’s classic performances, including this incredible video of her singing and scatting “It Don’t Mean a Thing”.

After we watched the clip, we talked about scatting and how it’s really like making music with your voice instead of an instrument. Jay made the point that beat boxing is essentially a form of scat. Sounds like a new series to do later! 🙂

To grab this Ella Fitzgerald Biography Mini-Unit for yourself, just click the image or link below!

Ella Fitzgerald Biography Mini-Unit: Look! We're Learning!

Ella Fitzgerald Biography Mini Unit

Collage Making with Kids

January 22, 2014 by Selena Robinson 2 Comments

Have you entered our Lego Game Giveaway yet?

Collage Making with Kids: Look! We're Learning!

Hey everyone! Today, we’re linking up with the Kids Get Arty linky at Red Ted Art! Each month, families focus on an artist and then do a project inspired by that person’s work. We decided to focus on the art of Romare Bearden. In fact, some good homeschooling friends of ours went to see an exhibit of his, but since we couldn’t make it, we got to work on a project of our own at home.

Image c/o: Carl van Vechten

Romare Bearden was an African-American artist, who became famous for his mixed media collages. He did a lot of paintings, but his collages were most notable, because he often used pictures, paint, and fabric together. On a visit to the High Museum of Art, Jay and I got to look at some of his works in person and they were very fascinating. It seemed like the longer we stared at the work, the more we saw in it.

We decided to help the kids make a collage of their own. We based it on God’s promise of a paradise and we chose pictures that reflected that hope – beautiful scenery, happy families, and animals.

Collage Making with Kids: Look! We're Learning!

Along the way, we gave Tigger some help in gluing things without making a mess. She got the hang of it, which means (hopefully) less messy projects. 🙂

Collage Making with Kids: Look! We're Learning!

On one side of the collage, we focused on land. We used the other side for the beach and sea life.

Collage Making with Kids: Look! We're Learning!

I wouldn’t mind sitting in one of the rocking chairs on that deck right now.

Collage Making with Kids: Look! We're Learning!

And we’re finished! That looks like the kind of world I want to live in! 🙂

Today, we’re linking up with Red Ted Art’s Kids Get Arty linky! Be sure to stop by and get a look at the kids’ art projects shared by other bloggers!

ASL Lesson 7: ASL Opposite Words - Look! We're Learning!

ASL Lesson 3: Days of the Week and Telling Time

January 8, 2014 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

ASL Lesson 3: Telling Time and Days of the Week

Hey all! We’re back with another lesson in American Sign Language today! We’ve already covered letters and numbers and basic greetings. This time we’re covering how to tell time in ASL and how to sign the days of the week, along with basic calendar terms.

Keep Reading…

ASL Lesson 7: ASL Opposite Words - Look! We're Learning!

ASL Lesson 2: Basic Greetings in ASL

December 9, 2013 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

ASL Lesson 2: Look! We're Learning!

Hey everyone! It’s time for American Sign Language Lesson 2 here at Look! We’re Learning! Last time, we learned letters in ASL and numbers in ASL. Today we’re sharing some basic greetings in ASL, including:

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The Living History Series: Ella Fitzgerald

December 5, 2013 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

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Image: Wikimedia Commons

Hey everyone! Finals are nearly over and I can finally breathe again, so I’m back! 🙂 It’s a new month and that means it’s time for a new Living History figure! This month, we’ll be learning about jazz great Ella Fitzgerald.

When I was young, I remember hearing my mom speak about Ella a few times and I remember seeing her on television during the 80s. I’d never seen her name written out, so I always thought her name was “Elephants Gerald”…lol.

A few years back, Jay and I were watching PBS and we came across a live performance of Ella singing with Frank Sinatra. I was stunned at how powerful her voice was and how she could just sit down and sing without looking like she was even trying.

Here she is with Sinatra performing “Goin’ Out of My Head”:

See what I mean? She’s just sitting there and yet her voice is wayyyy up in that high octave! Not many singers today could hit those notes even if they strained.

Unfortunately, I don’t know much about Ella other than what I saw on TV, so it’s time to get to know her better. Here are a few of the books about Ella Fitzgerald we’ll be using this month:

Ella Fitzgerald: The Tale of a Vocal Virtuosa

Skit-Scat Raggedy Cat: Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Fitzgerald by Bud Klimet

Ella Fitzgerald: A Biography Of The First Lady Of Jazz

Ella Fitzgerald: The Complete Biography of First Lady of Jazz, Updated Edition

Be sure to stop back by on December 30 to see what we learned about Ella Fitzgerald’s life and career this month!

Nat King Cole Biography Mini-Unit

November 28, 2013 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

Nat King Cole Biography Mini-Unit: Look! We're Learning!

Hey everyone! It’s November and we’re sharing our latest Living History series mini-unit! This month we learned about the life and legacy of Nat King Cole. We put together a biography mini-unit about Nat King Cole’s career, along with a few exercises, and shared it with the kids.

We learned quite a bit about Nat’s life this month. For example, we learned that he learned to play the piano by ear and that he didn’t begin professional piano lessons until his pre-teen years. We were also interested to learn about Nat’s experiences with racism and how he refused to let those events make him angry or bitter.

Nat King Cole Biography Mini-Unit: Look! We're Learning!

After we completed the unit, we watched “An Evening with Nat King Cole”. All of us ended up singing his songs the rest of the day.

To use this unit with your family, feel free to download it by clicking the link below! And be sure to stop by next week to see who we’re learning about during the month of December!

Nat King Cole Biography Mini-Unit: Look! We're Learning!

Nat King Cole Biography Mini-Unit

Visiting the APEX Museum

November 7, 2013 by Selena Robinson 4 Comments

Visiting the APEX Museum: Look! We're Learning!

Good morning everyone! A couple of weeks ago, we shared our 10-day series on African history and featured a few pictures from our trip to the APEX Museum in our post about colonization. So…we’re sharing the rest of our pics from that field trip today!

The APEX (African Panoramic Experience) Museum is located on Auburn Avenue in Atlanta, GA. The museum is dedicated to preserving African-American history, especially in the South. Naturally, you can’t begin a look at the history of African-Americans without beginning with African slavery and colonization.

Visiting the APEX Museum: Look! We're Learning!

We got a look at the tribal settlements of Africa prior to colonization. As we shared in our African history series, the major kingdoms of Africa were scattered across the continent.

Visiting the APEX Museum: Look! We're Learning!

As you can see, all of that changed dramatically after the Scramble for Africa.

Visiting the APEX Museum: Look! We're Learning!

A primary part of colonization was the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. We got to see a mock-up of how slaves were transported along the Middle Passage. They were carried just like cargo and often shared space with other trade exports such as molasses and gold.

Visiting the APEX Museum: Look! We're Learning!

After a new shipment of slaves arrived in America, there would be an announcement posted in the community so that traders and buyers could come and bid on them. Some of these slave auctions actually took place on board the ships.

Visiting the APEX Museum: Look! We're Learning!

Slaves were often bound at the neck and the feet to prevent escape during the auctions. Single young males, in particular, were bound because they were more likely to run away than families.

Visiting the APEX Museum: Look! We're Learning!

One of the fascinating things we learned during our trip was that many slaves devised ingenious ways of escaping from bondage. This is a replica of the wooden crate that Henry “Box” Brown used to mail himself to freedom. After he made it from the South to the free North, he actually wrote a book about his adventure.

Visiting the APEX Museum: Look! We're Learning!

Along with featuring the history of African slavery, the APEX Museum also highlights many of the accomplishments of African-Americans in the South during the early 20th century. Auburn Avenue during the 1920s and 30s was a center of black high society in Atlanta. One of the prominent black-owned businesses at the time was Yates and Milton drugstore. Inside the museum, we got to see a mock-up of the drugstore parlor, where customers could sit and read a copy of “Hue”, which later became “Jet” magazine.

Visiting the APEX Museum: Look! We're Learning!

Along one of the museum hallways, there are several posters depicting notable African-Americans who played roles in the overturning of Jim Crow legislation and the accomplishments of the Civil Rights Movement. A lot of important civil rights marches and events took place in Atlanta, which is why so many of the city streets carry the names of people like John Wesley Dobbs, Andrew Young, and Ralph David Abernathy.

We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to the APEX Museum! Instead of leaving with a sense of discouragement, we left thinking about the incredible resilience of people who are able to take a horrible situation and turn it into the foundation of a better life.

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