Welcome to our Road Trip USA post! This week we traveled to Pennsylvania! We started off our time by reviewing all of the states we’ve learned so far, then locating our new state on the map.
Here are some of the things we covered this week:
- Located Harrisburg, PA on our Wall Map
- State Capital: Harrisburg
- State Bird: The Ruffed Grouse
- State Flower: The Mountain Laurel
- State Insect: The Firefly, we also learned about bioluminescence.
- Famous People: Betsy Ross
- US Presidents: James Buchanan, the 15th President of the United States.
- Landmarks: Hershey’s Chocolate Company
- Learned about the Declaration of Independence signed in PA on July 4, 1776
- Sang our 50 States Song
- Read Who was Thomas Jefferson?
- Food: We had some yummy Philadelphia Cheese Steak Sandwiches!
- Learned about The Liberty Bell and did a Liberty Bell kids craft.
- We finished up our time by reading “If You Were There When They Signed the Constitution”.
Of course we start each state off by adding the flag to our Travel Log:
The kids are really doing great with our 50 states song, we only have 2 more verses to learn and we’ll have the whole thing down pat. Since it’s such a long song, we took it one verse at a time to help make it easier for them. I’ll put up a video once we get the whole song down.
Worked on our Pennsylvania coloring page and learned all about the state symbols.
Of course since Pennsylvania is the Hershey capital of the world, we had to have some yummy Hershey’s kisses! Actually my curriculum said to make those awesome peanut butter kiss cookies, but sadly the kisses didn’t last that long!
Next added Pennsylvania to our mini-US poster.
We learned a little about Betsy Ross who was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Since she was known for making the first American Flag for George Washington during the American Revolution. We made our own version out of red, blue, and white construction paper.
We read all about Pennsylvania, then practiced our mapping skills by using the map key to locate various spots in PA, including the capital.
We also added our Pennsylvania state section to our bulletin board.
Liberty Bell Craft: Lastly, we did a cute little liberty bell kids craft. I kind of pulled this one together, but it got the point across! We used some brown construction paper for the top, then wrapped foil around a plastic cup. We added a jingle bell in the center with a pipe cleaner and ran a hole between the cup and brown construction tube to secure it. We wrote the name “LIBERTY” on the top and added in a crack with a sharpie!
And that wraps up our New York study! If you’d like to come along with us on our Road Trip USA journey, click the image below to learn more!
Very cool! Looks like they had a lot of fun. Think I may do this with my daughter next year. 🙂
I am so excited to enjoy this curriculum next year with my kiddos! Thanks so much for sharing
You make this look so easy! I wish I had half of your talent. Is it safe to assume that all of these great ideas and printables are in the Road Trip packet we can purchase?
Hi Julie, yes, everything you see plus more is in the curriculum! I don’t always get to everything in my own stuff LOL! :o)
These activities look like so much fun! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
I’m going to check out the road trip usa. It looks like fun. I’ll have to incorporate this into my homeschool when my kiddo is old enough.
Was all of that completed in one day? How much time do you set aside for one lesson? How many lessons per week?
Oh my goodness no! I usually do 2-3 days per state, depending on how much we get done. The first day we read the info and color the page, the next day we do the crafts and review the info etc. Sometimes it gets pushed to 3 days.
I usually do Road Trip 4 days per week.
It’s all laid out what to do on which day in the lesson plans.
Hi!
I started Kindergarten with my 5 year old this year (I also have a 3yr old who does some “school time” with us too) and was wondering how much your same aged child seems to understand of this. I just don’t see my daughter understanding things like the Constitution and the Declaration of Independance. I know it’s good to expose them to things early (right now we are just learning the States and reading about some of the Presidents) but would it be a waste to start this much so young since I would be doing it primarily with her and not an older child (and just letting her pick up what she can)? It looks like so much fun and I am eager to start, I’m just wondering if there is much in the curriculum that a 5 yr old can grasp or If it would be wiser to start this next year, or even later? I would be so grateful for your opinion! Thanks! -Bobbie
I think I’d wait for Road Trip until she was in first or second grade. I started with the Expedition Earth, and my daughter (4 at the time) did really well with it. She loved all the crafts, and learned how to say hello in each language. She remembered where all the countries were as well, I was impressed with how much she got out of it.
I recommend starting with the Expedition Earth world geo, then moving to Road Trip USA since that one has more facts and history involved.
Thank you!