Madison and the War of 1812 & More (Kevin, 3rd Grade, Week 6)

This Week's Book List:

The New Nation by Joy Hakim

Our Country's Presidents by Ann Bausum

The War of 1812 by Alden R. Carter

Once on This Island by Gloria Whelan

A Visit to William Blake's Inn by Nancy Willard

Take Command, Captain Farragut! by Peter and Connie Roop

This week Kevin learned about our 4th President, James Madison. We also learned about the War of 1812, and the impact it had on our United States government. Kevin also learned about the President's House, now called the White House, since it was repainted after having been set fire by the British during this war. Kevin learned about the U.S.S. Constitution. And we learned about Francis Scott Key and the story behind The Star Spangled Banner. Kevin also learned about Chief Tecumseh and the role he played in attempting to unite the Indians to defend their land. Kevin also finished up his study on William Wilberforce this week and his impact on ending the slave trade in England.

Kevin made this American flag to celebrate The Star Spangled Banner and the War of 1812.

We also continued our work on the sun this week. Kevin used a magnifying glass to melt chocolate. He also learned about light, color, and, using his own words, "a fun little word I like to call 'thermonuclear fusion!'"

For Grammar this week we learned more about prepositions, and also conjunctions and interjections. Kevin also has started writing his first assignment for the year, this one on the three branches of the U.S. government. He worked on the rough draft this week.

We were blessed with some beautiful weather this week, so we enjoyed a few nature walks and loved seeing the leaves changing and beginning to fall. They even brought their bags along for collecting things =)

He was also very thankful that his sister learned about the letter "C" this week and that "C" is for "Cupcake" =)

Afterward, we celebrated fall by doing this cute little craft for the changing colors of the leaves.

Kevin enjoyed lots of time to be creative this week. Just for fun, he drew some pictures of dinosaurs, then cut them out, and glued them onto popsicle sticks. He said instead of asking for or buying new toys, he wanted to make his own =) What a cutie!

For more of Kevin's 3rd Grade Moments, click {here}.

We are taking our first week of school next week =) We have something VERY EXCITING AND IMPORTANT happening =) =) =) Something we have waited ALL YEAR for!