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Moffat's Travels

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Happy 100th Birthday National Park Service!

8/25/2016

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As the National Park Service is celebrating their 100th birthday, we are just getting back to school.  I can't think of a better way to kick off the new year with a grand celebration to open the door to new learning for my young students.  We enjoyed S'More style birthday cupcakes to compliment the Junior Rangers we made in class.  

Youtube is such a wonderful addition to the classroom as we were able to enjoy the very creative birthday song as well as an overview by Finley Holiday.  Many of the students were familiar with some of the more prominent National Parks, which led to a very engaging conversation about the parks.  One of my students even brought in her collection of Junior Ranger badges (I had mine to show off as well).

Over the years, I have grown to LOVE the National Parks (my husband thinks I am crazy for the Park Rangers).  I was not exposed to the NPS as a child and feel like I am making up for it now.  The diversity of the system leads to learning about science and social studies and can be differentiated for any grade level.  Many of the parks have well developed lesson plans online that can be used for extended learning.  My biggest challenge is going to be to limit the number of parks that I share with my students.  I want to create a balance between the beauty and conservation efforts of the National Parks with the historic value of the memorials, battlefields and monuments.  It is impossible to go wrong with any of my choices.

I am looking forward to the new year for many reasons.  It excites me to bring the NPS into my classroom as an educational tool and I am looking forward to more travels to National Parks that I have yet to enjoy.  Our studies will be a fun-filled adventure that I am excited to embark upon!  More updates down the road!
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Mofat enjoyed a visit with Chief Ranger Paul at the Yorktown Visitors Center
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It's National Haiku Poetry Day!

4/17/2016

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This is one of my favorite times of the year (ok, I have many)!  My first graders are now independent enough that we have projects going on all over the classroom.  In honor of Poetry Month and National Haiku Poetry Day, we will begin our class book of Moffat USA haikus.  Above is a sampling of some of the pages in years past created by the students.

I will be formatting the planning pages and accompanying Moffat images soon for my TeachersPayTeachers store so that others may join in in creating one in their classroom.  For a very professional look, I then upload my images to Shutterfly and make the book available to my students' parents to purchase.  It's a great end of year project!  Enjoy!
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Visiting Our Founding Father's Home: Looking at George Washington's Mount Vernon Through Shapes

6/21/2015

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In honor of Father's Day, I thought I would share with you some of the research and work of my students while we studied George Washington and Mount Vernon.  

I either tie my studies to our geographic studies of the states or to our timeline studies when I am planning.  This extended study on George took place while we were studying VA (the week was                                              packed as there is SO much to look                                            at).

Moffat's friend, Zerah, gave him some royal treatment earlier in the winter and my kids truly enjoyed the photographs.  Mount Vernon continues to expand the visual choices for the virtual tour.  As it is impossible to actually take my students there, this offered a rather amazing substitute. They enjoyed having the ability to investigate rooms, rotate to see various angles and have more information available about the artifacts in the room.

Since I use an interdisciplinary approach in my classroom, drawing Mount Vernon using shapes seemed like such a natural crossover into math (we had been studying decomposing shapes in our math unit).  I am always amazed at what students can do if you have them follow you step by step.  All of the Mount Vernons had their own distinct look, but one could definitely tell which historic landmark had been drawn.  

I really enjoyed combining our books and research with Mount Vernon's online resources with our classroom art.  The students were completely engaged and my only regret was that I wanted more time!

If you have not seen the amazing Mount Vernon virtual tour, click the link below to see more!

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Mount Vernon Virtual Tour
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History Matters...

5/29/2015

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As many of us have been packing up our classrooms this last week, I have come across some old notes and received new ones and thought I would share that history really does make am impact.  These are a few of my favorites and they bring great joy to my heart!  The bottom image is the self-designed card cover with a quote from Theodore Roosevelt.  Love teaching!!!
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Golden Gate Bridge Anniversary

5/27/2015

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Mashable: building the golden gate bridge
MASHABLE, one of my favorite websites, has AMAZING primary source images for the building of the Golden Gate Bridge.  These images really encourage discussion and awe with the students and are an integral part of my lesson!  YOU HAVE TO CHECK IT OUT!
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Walking a bridge is one of my favorite things to do on any trip.  Two years ago, our family was able to put the check mark on the bucket list for the Golden Gate Bridge.  We had seen it several years earlier on a previous trip, but this was the year for the walk.  Public transportation makes getting to the visitors center and entrance to the bridge very accessible.  We visited in July, and the iconic International Orange columns were shrouded in the regular fog of the bay area.  The details of the bridge were the most captivating to me followed by the view (although limited) of the city behind us.  Fort Point lies directly below at the SF entrance.  When the bridge opened in May of 1937, its 4,200 foot suspension span was the longest in the world.  Today, it is the ninth longest suspension bridge.  The bridge is an American icon and year after year my students love learning about it.
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Year after year, my teammate and I look forward to reading Pop's Bridge by Eve Bunting to our classes.  You can't go wrong with an Eve Bunting story.  She tells of the excitement (and sometimes fear) of two boys living in San Francisco watching their fathers work on the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge.  One father is a "skywalker" and the other is a painter.  Both fathers are equally important to the success of the bridge's construction.  Upon completion of the story, the kids can't wait to paint their own Golden Gate Bridges!
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golden gate bridge research library
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Happy 80th Birthday to Elvis!!!

1/8/2015

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This is one of my favorite Moffat pictures!  This very kid-friendly Elvis impersonator was of course seen in Las Vegas.  I love studying Elvis Presley through geography.  We talk about him while studying Nevada in the fall and then again in January while we study Mississippi and Tennessee.  He is one of those American icons that you learn about sooner than later and why not learn geography at the same time!

The kids have a great time. We read Ten Little Elvi, eat peanut butter banana sandwiches, wear Elvis glasses and sideburns and paint "The Gates of Graceland."
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On this day...the Statue of Liberty opened

10/28/2014

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My visits to Lady Liberty get better with every trip to NYC.  On my first trip to the Big Apple, I was able to view her from a great distance in the early morning fog from Battery Park.  Several years later, when we took our children there for the first time, we circled the island on a Circle Line Cruise.  On our most recent trip, we were able to tour the island, but not go in.  It is my goal the next time I visit to actually have the experience of climbing up to the crown.  

Like many Americans who have seen the iconic patina image on the news and in advertising, I truly believed that she was enormous in size.  I think that enough evening news reports with the helicopter hovering above her had distorted the truth.  Don't get me wrong, she is big and NOTHING can take away from the overwhelming feeling I had when I walked around her, but in comparison the neighboring skyscrapers across the water, she is on the smaller side.   As an educator who LOVES teaching her kids about NYC, the experience of actually being on the island brought tears to my eyes. It is hard to imagine the overwhelming feelings that early immigrants had to feel as they entered our country in hopes of a better life.

Over the years, I have felt much joy watching my students fascination with this American icon. Her story is unique and inspiring for young learners.  There are countless books to be found on Amazon. Additionally, the NPS has great resources for both educators and students to download.  Please use the link below to find out more.
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If you have never felt the joy of seeing this unique patina sculpture in person, PUT HER ON YOUR BUCKET LIST!  Better yet, take your kids with you!  I have the goal of making it into the crown and one day watching the Fourth of July fireworks above her.  I can dream!

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Kindergarten students' work with the Big Apple and Lady Liberty.
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I Have A Dream...

8/28/2014

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Today marks the 51st anniversary of the March on Washington. Last year, one of my students greeted me with this wonderful illustration after we we read about it in class. This piece of work is one more reason that I love what I do, because young kids do understand this and are truly interested.  

The book to the right is by one of my all time FAVORITE authors, Kadir  Nelson.  Taking a picture walk through his books is an inspirational journey!  His ability to capture pieces of history is a gift and one that I love sharing with my students.
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Meet Elliette...

8/14/2014

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Since tomorrow night is our Open House/Ice Cream Social, I thought today was a good day to share this note that our former PTA president delivered to me from her daughter.  

Elliette was my student WAY back in Kindergarten and this year she will be entering fifth grade.  She was ever so complimentary, but I couldn't help but to chuckle about her comment about Moffat. After reading the note, I had to go back through all my student pictures to find Elliette in Kindergarten.  The picture is from Western Day while we were studying Texas (hence the longhorn steer).

What makes me smile is the importance that Moffat and his travels brought to the kids and that it is still a fond memory years later!

Thank you Elliette for the very kind note!  I hope you enjoy your last year in elementary schoool!


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History And Science All In One!

8/11/2014

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As I mentioned in my first post, I recently graduated with my masters degree. Interestingly, my degree was not in social studies, but rather integrated math and science.  Last night, this wonderful group of people got together after a very relaxing summer without our professors (sorry Paul) checking up on the progress of our papers. It was great to catch up before the new school year begins.  The image above was taken a year ago while we were out one day learning to take data and measurements out in the field.

Now, being the social studies person on our team, it was interesting finding a topic to do my research paper on since I don't teach the science.  Then, I discovered Teddy Roosevelt's observational science journal that he created at age nine and they are DIGITIZED and my problem was solved!!  WOO-HOO! Inspiration!  This gave me the opportunity to have the students analyze the primary source documents and see the journal as an inspiration for their own writing.  Over the course of three months, the kids learned not only about Teddy and his love of nature, but they also developed their own observational science skills and regularly responded in their journal.  
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Above: single page from TR's journal at nine years old.  The entire journal can be downloaded from the Theodore Roosevelt Center at Dickinson State University at http://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/Research/Digital-Library/Record.aspx?libID=o280234

Below: slideshow of student work in their "Teddy Roosevelt" observational science journals. Image for the front cover can be found at  http://tr.amnh.org/printout courtesy of the American Museum of Natural History.
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    Christy Howard
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    Passionate about photography, travel and teaching social studies to young learners.

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  • Moffat's Blog
  • About
  • My Support People
  • Geography in the Classroom
  • History In The Classroom
  • Diverse Kids
  • Honors and Continued Work
  • #Blog365
  • #historymakers