Also the d'Aulaire books on George Washington and Benjamin Franklin.
There's a magic tree house book on the subject.
Felicity, from the American Girl series grows up in Colonial Times. :-)
There's a Diane Stanley book (she's so awesome) called Joining the Boston Tea Party
"The Courage of Sarah Noble" is a good one for younger kids.
I have a bunch of ideas from the Sonlight Curriculum. I usually just use what I can pull from the library and I haven't checked on that yet. But here's what Sonlight uses for American History:
American Adventures 1 - Greenberg SL3 (many topics 1770-1870)
The Story of the USA: A Young Nation Solves Its Problems - Escher SL3
Pocahontas and the Strangers - Bulla SL3
Squanto, Friend of Pilgrims - Bulla SL3
What's the Big Idea, Ben Franklin? - Fritz SL3
Ben Franklin of Old Philadelphia - Cousins SL3
Mr. Revere and I - Lawson SL3
And then What Happened, Paul Revere? - Fritz SL3
Can't You Make Them Behave, King George - Fritz SL3
Johnny Tremain - Forbes SL3 (American Revolution)
Toliver's Secret - Brady SL3 (American Revolution)
Phoebe the Spy - Griffin SL3 (American Revolution)
Martha Washington (Childhood of Famous Americans) SL3
Meet George Washington - Heilbroner SL3
George Washington (Childhood of Famous Americans) SL3
Winter at Valley Forge - Knight SL3 (1777)
If You Were There When They Signed the Constitution - Levy SL3
Meet Thomas Jefferson - Barrett SL3
Diary of an Early American Boy - Sloane SL4 (1805 pioneer life)
Johnny Appleseed - Kellogg SLK
Ben and Me - Lawson SL2 (Ben Franklin)
I'm sorry if those aren't helpful for a five year old. These are mainly for my eight year old daughter. The SL3 means it's Sonlight's level 3.
A long time ago I read a fabulous book called "The Signers: the 56 Stories behind the Declaration of Independence". It's not a read aloud for young kids but it was FABULOUS and I told the kids the stories in my own words. Many of the stories moved me to tears as I told my children about the courage of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence.
5 comments:
How does the book level break down for kids' ages--in general?
You can find out about that at the Sonlight website. I believe they don't necessarily math-up with public grade levels. Sonlight levels are slightly more advanced.
Also, I found a book (while I was searching for another book by the same author) called "Science in Colonial Times" by Brendan January. That's all I know about it, but the title sounded interesting.
Oh, I went through my history curriculum and found the chapter on American History (I use "The Story of the World"). I also buy an Activity book that has extra reading ideas and stuff. Here's a list of some of the books they suggested for the American Revolution:
Authors to check out:
Lucille Recht Penner
Leslie Gourse
Nancy Polette
Fail Sakurai
Brooke Coleman
Jean Fritz “George Washington's Mother” and “Can't You Make them Behave, King George?” and others (RA1-3)
Allison Stark Draper “America's First Traitor”(RA1-2)
Stephanie Green – Betsy Ross (RA-1)
Kay Moore – “If you lived at the time of the American revolution” (RA1-2)
deborah kent – “Lexington and Concord” (RA1-3)
Frances E. Ruffin – “Molly Pitcher” (RA1-2)
L.J. Krizner and Lisa Sita – “Nathan Hale: Patriot and Martyr of the American Revolution” (IR 4-6)
Jay Schleifer – “Our Declaration of Independence” (RA1-3)
George Sullivan – “Paul Revere: In Their Own Words” (RA2)
Gail Sakura – “The Thirteen Colonies” (RA1-2)
Kristiana Gregory - “Five Smooth Stones: Hope's Revolutionary War Diary” (RA1)
Elvira Woodruff – “George Washington's Socks” (RA2-3)
Dina Appelbaum – “Giants in the Land” (RA2)
Holly Cefrey – “One life to lose for my country: The arrest and execution of Nathan Hale” (RA2)
Nathaniel Benchley – “Sam the Minuteman” (IR1-2)
Louise Borden – “Sleds on Boston Common” (
Janet Palazzo-Craig – “The Making of the American Flag” (RA2)
RA means Read-Aloud. Ages older than this should be able to read it themselves (IR)
Ah...typos. It's Gail Sakurai (not Fail)
And one last thing, if you want to see what my curriculum is like, I made a video for a friend of mine and posted it on my family blog (you'll have to scroll down a bit).
triple w - dot - coastcrew - dot- blogspot - dot - com
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