Friday, December 5, 2008

Plymouth Colony Pocket Books

If I had been more on the ball I would have had this posted last week when we finished it and it would have been appropriate for Thanksgiving. But, I am thankful that we finished it in time for the holiday and we were able to appreciate some history from the beginning of our country and
how difficult times were back then.

This is similar to a lapbook just a little different style. This is a pocket book and they are loads of fun for the hands on kind of learning. This ones comes from Evan Moor (HERE) and it is the Plymouth Colony Pocket Book (HERE). The idea is to have different pockets for information that the kids work on. The book that you get from Evan Moor tells you how to step by step do all of this. All you really need is to copy the pages for each child and have the extra large kind of construction paper. You could put the info into file pockets instead (we might try something like that next time).Pocket 1 included the Voyage to the New World. The mini books included in this pocket were a Mayflower ship, a trunk of things to take to the new world, map with route and words to know flap book (vocab words from the info that you read to the students ~ each pocket has "words to know").
Pocket 2 was the New World and included the Mayflower Compact, word search and words to know. Each pocket also includes a few paragraphs that the kids can read and color (the information). For the teachers information, I read the page of info for the kids while they are coloring and cutting for the mini books.



Pocket 3 was Building a Village. On this one we made a "tithing man stick" (used to keep children and adults behaving properly in church), a town crier booklet and words to know. For the town crier, I had the girls write their own info and then ring a bell in the yard and act it out as if they were the town crier.

Pocket 4 was all about the Plymouth home. The girls made a portable diorama (on the left) along with the other basics for this pocket. They learned about the keeping room and we studied how simple the life was.


Pocket 5 was about the Plymouth Family. They made puppets (on the left) and we studied some typical pilgrim names. One of their favorites was making the "stew of good manors" as we learned about how strick the family was.


Pocket 6 was about Working in Plymouth Colony. We learned about the farming and the different trades and crafts that quickly became popular. The mini books included a quilt book, a sign for a shop, and a mini book that listed the crafts and trades.



Pocket 7 was about going to school in Plymouth Colony. The girls made a horn book and a reader that would have been used then. The horn book has a sheet of wax paper on top and they used a stick to copy the alphabet.

Pocket 8 included a conclusion of all that we learned about the Pilgrim life and what the Pilgrims gave us. The goose thing on the left is a copy of an old time toy (kind of wish we could make it out of wood, it is cute).


We were able to do 2 pockets a day for a few days to get our project done before Thanksgiving. Ideally, it would take longer. All in all, I do really like these, almost as much as lapbooks. And if you are looking for other pocket book ideas, Evan Moor has quiet a few. Most of them only have about 4 pockets each. Click HERE for some ideas.

16 comments:

DebiH. said...

We did these a lot two years ago. They are a lot of fun and require a little lesson planning than making your own lapbook.
Your girls did a a great job on that one!

Anonymous said...

Oh Crispy! This looks so cool! I'm going to look into this for my boys. They've enjoyed learning history (Story of the World) so much more than I'd expected, but we're still "stuck" way back in time (learned about the Vikings this week). I think this would be a great way to teach them some American history until our curriculum catches up to that era. I'll check out that Evan Moor website. We just learned about the Civil War after going to Cracker Days and watching a local re-enactment. I'll see if they have a pocket-book about that!
Thanks for the tip!

Anonymous said...

OK, I found a book on the Civil War. Do you order directly from the Evan-Moor website, or is there another company with better prices that you recommend? Thanks!

fitncrafty said...

Cris..
This is great.. I have two questions:
Can I come to your house for school?
and on a more serious note. Could you tell us how you store all these cool things you and your girls make? I have so many great projects tha the kids do and would really like to know if you have some sort of system.. thanks

crispy said...

You can get some of these at the teacher supply store next to Panera Bread in O town. I like to have a physical copy not just an e book.

They are for younger kids but you can expand on them for older kids and that is what we did. My girls really enjoyed it.

crispy said...

Fitncrafty...come on over for school. When I ring the old school bell the kids come running to start. =) (I do really use a bell for school and also for meals, they can hear it when they are running in the yard).

As for storing these things...that is a great question. For all of our art, I use big art pocket portfolios. I drop them in there and then at times we weed through and give some away as a gift to our elderly neighbors.

As for the pocket books or lapbooks, I like to use a milk crate to hold this kind of bulky item. Hope that helps.

GardenofGems said...

I just started that same book with "little one" not so long ago. We didn't get very far. I have a hard time fitting those things in to the daily work. I'm looking forward to tomorrow to maybe inspire me in that area.

steffany said...

Great ideas.
I hope the appraisal went well

Cindy said...

I love that these come in a kit! Also love that you actually ring a school bell!

Julie said...

Very nice work!

Lee and Bev said...

These were really a great way to learn! I trust your friends will all enjoy your lap book workshop tomorrow.

Anonymous said...

Wow... this looks like a lot of fun!

Thanks for another great idea!

Annie said...

I just sent a link to all of your lap book posts to one of our religious education families. The 8th grade girl is very shy and terrified of the usual final assignment - doing a short sermon. I don't want to terrorize anyone, so suddenly it came to me - have her do a lapbook instead! Thanks for mentioning this whole concept. Very cool!

Anonymous said...

We got the Civil War pocket book over the break, and I'm looking forward to doing it with the boys. It looks so awesome, with maps, pictures, Venn diagrams, popouts and things to build and color, recipes...on and on. Wish we had found these sooner. It will be an awesome way to learn! It'd also make a great co-op class, if I dare to volunteer again.

Anonymous said...

The boys and I got started on our Civil War pocket books today, and they're loving it! Wasn't sure if it'd be a "boy thing" or not. Jax is wanting to get through the whole thing today! But it was a nice way to reconnect with them after our break. Thanks for recommending!

crispy said...

I just found our copies of these kinds of books and I am ready to do another one. Can't wait...maybe next week.