We had a blast doing our History Fair projects this year.
Daddy and Grammy and Papa came to see our hard work as well as the projects of quite a few other students.
We got to visit Jamestown Settlement and Yorktown Victory Center, as well as Washington DC, which just cemented it all for us. Easier to imagine what it was like when you go back in time so to speak at living history sites.
Our History Fair project was titled Life in Early America.
Curly wrote two reports: “The Voyage Across the Atlantic” and “William Penn and the Pennsylvania Colony.” He also created an amazing paper piecing art project of the Susan Constance, on which the pilgrims came to Jamestown in 1606 and 1607. We saw a replica of her in Jamestown.
Larry wrote a report titled “Squanto: Friend of the Pilgrims” and he also created a clay marble game. He was able to demonstrate how this was played as well. It was a very popular game in the early days of America. He also read several books, including ones he read aloud to Jameson and Susannah.
Mo wrote two reports: “Jamestown” and “Roanoke.” He also created an example of early Native American writing. Interestingly, the Native Americans used a pictorial language, which we concluded is similar to Chinese Mandarin language because it is very artful as well. He also designed a replica sloop, which is a smaller exploration vessel that would have gone ahead of the larger ships to survey the water/land discovered. Finally, he completed a copywork page about Native American longhouses, which we were able to see replicas of at Jamestown Settlement.
The four boys also created a replica of an early colonist out of LEGO bricks. I don’t have a close-up but you can see it on the table in some of the photos. This collaborative effort proved to be a great team-building project. 😉
Li’l Bro helped to make his pilgrim hat and he also completed a copywork page from Draw Write Now. His artwork of the Mayflower is really amazing. He listened aloud to many books about this time period. I have listed these in another post, so I won’t repeat here. Finally, Li’l Bro worked very hard one afternoon on his diorama of the Pilgrims’s Thanksgiving Table. He ran with this after I put a bunch of objects in a pile on the floor. I hope you can see the detail.
Li’l Miss helped to make her Native American outfit. She worked very hard on her headdress, her dress, and her necklace. She also completed a copywork page from Draw Write Now about a typical Native American teepee. And she listened aloud to many books as well. I have listed these in another post, so I won’t repeat here. Finally, Li’l Miss worked a long time on her diorama of a Native American on the Hunt. She came up with the bow and arrow on her own! She has asked for a bow and arrow for Christmas, and she just might get her wish!
Li’l Bit listened in to many stories, had a great time on our field trip in Virginia and DC, and she loved wearing Mo’s old Native American shirt, which was the perfect fit for a “dress” for her. She also worked the history fair as the “cutest Native American I’ve seen in quite awhile” (we heard that several times). She also made a Native American necklace, which didn’t last past the History Fair. As for her headdress—well a certain little someone ripped her own headdress apart, but it was nothing a little sports headband borrowed from Mo wouldn’t fix. Stick a feather in the back and voila!
At the History Fair, all of the older five children took turns sharing with other students about their project.
One of the things the children enjoy is receiving a Passport book that they carry to each table. As they learn about other places or time periods or events in history, they are given a sticker to place in their Passport booklet. It gives the little ones especially a hands-on aspect to the Fair.
Demonstrating Clay Marbles!
We received many compliments on the board. I told one Mom that the children did all of the laminating, typing, taping to the board, and cutting. It is amazing how neat a laminator, typed page, tablecloth! (no one else ever uses one but it really enhances the look!) and paper cutter can make a project board. I am always slightly surprised to see some people don’t use a paper cutter. My kids love to use it, and it goes a long way in presentation which I think is important for a board display.
As part of our project this year, we took food samples of things eaten on voyages to America: aged cheese, dried cranberries, and “hard tacks”, which are biscuits made with very little if any liquid (because it was a premium on the boat especially toward the end of each voyage). It was quite funny watching people sample the hard tacks!
All of our hard tacks were eaten, but only a handful of people said they actually would have liked eating them on the voyage.
We also saw so many interesting projects created by other students, and everyone enjoyed the samples the most I think!
This young man had the most amazing costume of all, and he was very knowledgeable about his subject matter: the Bubonic Plague.
I gave all of our students an A++ on this project. I’m not going to say they were always happy to read that assignment or work on that report, but they did learn a lot and they did persist and finish strong!
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