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Explore early America, settle the west, reach the stars!

Crafting a Country

2021-2022 Weekly Topics

And Proposed Activities

Download a Printable Schedule

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September 9

Opening Celebration: Explorers and Mayflower Crossing

 

Component I – Colonial America

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September 13-17

Building a Colony

Log houses, 13 original colonies, Mayflower Compact, surviving, Roanoke​

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September 20-24

Native Americans

Natural dyes, Colonial timeline, petroglyphs, Native American games, trading, Native American food

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September 27 - October 1

Colonial Villages

Colonial craft, smallpox inoculation, Colonial schools, Colonial games, Colonial food storage, hopscotch

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October 4-8

Colonial Farms

Spin wool, Colonial chores, square foot gardening, Colonial poetry, wells, pumpkins, Farm Families game

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October 11-15

Colonial Trades

Silversmithing, pieces of eight, shop signs, Colonial money, Poor Richard's Almanac, wheat grinding, supply and demand, wheelbarrow races

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October 18-22

Colonial Inventors

Printmaking, armonica, simple machines, logic problems, patents, fire brigade game​

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Component II – Revolutionary Era

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October 27

Celebration: Revolutionary War Reenactment

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November 1-5

Protests

Boston Tea Party, paying taxes, Sons of Liberty, Sugar Act, Colonial treats, tax game

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November 8-12

Revolutionary War

Secret messages, Betsy Ross Flag, women in the Revolutionary War, Revolutionary music, Revolutionary War vocabulary, Revolutionary War food, Revolutionary games

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November 15-19

Declaration of Independence

Fireworks craft, liberty, grievances, estimating, Preamble, pen and ink, Colonial bells, Duck, duck, goose

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November 22-26 (off)

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November 29 - December 3

The Constitution

Gilded walnuts, kinds of government, presidential responsibilities, checks and balances, Preamble, ex post facto, debate, quoits game

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December 6-10

The Bill of Rights

Star garland, amendments, freedom of religion, math game, right to petition, eminent domain, mock trial, search and seizure

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December 13-17

America Today

Pommander craft, symbols of America, how a bill becomes a law, eagle populations, poetry, string popcorn and cranberries​

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December 20

Holiday Celebration: Colonial Christmas

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Component III – US Timeline

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January 10-14

Founding Fathers

Campaign buttons, architectural styles, coin flipping, Book of Etiquette, parliamentary procedure

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January 17-21

Westward Expansion

Paint with soil, vote for sheriff, budgeting for trekking, Lewis and Clarke, Oregon Trail, Pony Express

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January 24-28

Civil War

Checkerboards, soldiers' items, fourscore, Gettysburg Address, Capture the Flag

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January 31 - February 4

Industrial Revolution

Upcycling, industrialized food, recipes, 1000 words, assembly line, Model T Ford race

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February 7-11

WWII

Trench art, WWII newspaper, Axis vs. Allies, wartime food, V-mail, moon phases, radio show, Civil War tag

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February 14-18

Art and Science in America

Mount Rushmore, presidential timeline, Mars Rover, ages of presidents, art critic, art museum scavenger hunt, rockets, relay race​

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February 23

Celebration: All President's Day

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Component IV - 50 States

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February 28 - March 4

Northeast

State trees, elements, liberty, apples, minerals, Northeast food, Little League

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March 7-11

The South

Paddle boats, coal garden, crossing the Missippi, poetry, Music City, cake run

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March 14-18

The Midwest

cork husk dolls, caves, 3D math, Windy City, rock types, corn products,

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March 21-25

Plains States

buzzer craft, tornadoes, Mount Rushmore, body language, aquifers, homesteading, Keepers of the Fire game

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March 28 - April 1

Mountain States

Potato craft, rail workers, measuring horses, stories, genetics, rodeo, 

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April 4-8

Pacific States

Totem poles, flower dissection, apple fractions, movies, temperate rainforests, tropical fruits​

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April 13

Celebration: American Road Trip

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Component V - California Dreamin'

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April 18-22

Natural California

Poppies, leaf transpiration, blue whale, superlatives, tree height, nature scavenger hunt

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April 25-29

Native Californians

Pinch pots, hunter/gatherers, Native American games, legends, comparisons, rhythm game

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May 2-6

Californios

Cowboys, ranching

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May 9-13

California Missions

Adobe bricks, mission model, a day in the life of mission living

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May 16-20

Gold Rush

Prospector craft, gold rush game, flow chart, pan for gold, gold rush race

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May 23-27

Golden Age of California

photo props, DNA model, minorities in California, movie vocabulary, red carpet, spacesuit​

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June 1

Closing Celebration: America the Beautiful

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