Iceberg Straight Ahead!!!!!!

Big things are on the horizon for our Third Graders.  We are beginning our Social Studies unit studying how people and places change over time.  Sounds super boring fun when you describe it like that, right?!?!?!  Well that is what I have thought for the past 4 years we have had our current book.

I LOVE history and learning about things from the past, but have never seemed to be able to get that across to my students in a way that excited them.  Thanks to the many, many bloggers out there and Pinterest, history is alive in my classroom and my students are learning about the way things used to be by living it, instead of simply reading it in a book.

During this unit, my team decided to focus on 3 time periods.  The first is the Pioneer Era, and Erica, my rockin' teaching partner who shares a brain with me, is planning this one.  (I told you, everyone needs one like her on their team!)  We are looking at the ways children did things during that time period.  We have our local museum  coming in to bringing butter churning, quill pen and ink writing, Civil War practice guns (wooden carved ones for kids), and a 19th Toy Trunk.  Our third graders will spend the entire morning on Monday exploring these different stations.  I can't wait to see their excitement as the learning becomes real to them!  For the next 2 weeks we will be learning about what children's lives were like during that time while comparing that to our lives now.  Boy are they miles apart  differerent!!

I am in charge of planning the Titanic portion of our unit.  I have always been obsessed  loved learning about the Titanic, so I couldn't wait to get busy planning.  I've decided to give each student a name of a passenger and at the end of our learning journey, they will see if their character lived or died.  I kinda stole the idea from the Holocaust Museum, but oh well!  

I got my inspiration from this bulletin board found on Pinterest.  I can't wait to see it up in our hallway.  Does anyone have any awesome Titanic lessons they use?  I would love to hear about them!

Our last focus is on the Biltmore Estate.  We are taking our third graders to visit the estate in March, so we are planning lessons to teach them about this time period and the estate before we go.  I think it is so neat that the largest home in North America is found right here in my state, North Carolina!  

Who wouldn't want to live there?????  I can't wait to see my kiddos face when they see the house.  Most of my kids don't live our town, so to see this will be a real treat!  

What kind of awesome events do you have planned for your class?