Mommio: Civil War Unit Study

The Civil War is underway in the Jones house!  We are a couple of weeks in to our unit using the Interactive Simulations lesson plans and things are going great.

Our Confederate regiment, the Swartsburgers, has enlisted six soldiers (each kid plays the role of two soldiers in the field and their loved ones at home).  They have created headbands, a flag and a motto- Just Keep Fighting!

The Union regiment, the Freedomators, has enlisted five soldiers and one army field nurse.  They created their own name badges, a flag and a motto- Fight 4 Freedom!

The kids and I are all really enjoying this unit.  Our regular meeting goes a little like this:

*Ken Burns movie The Civil War- watch 20 minutes and discuss

 *Roll call- I call the soldiers by name and if they respond they get points for their team

*Vocabulary- five new Civil War words each day and a chance to earn points by giving definitions

*Readings- we read passages from the student guide for the unit study and a chapter each day from Soldier's Heart by Gary Paulsen.

*Dispatches- each day the soldiers receive a news dispatch, one team member takes notes and reports back to their team, then another team member reports back to me- each item they get correct earns them points

*Mapping- we are working on mapping out the Civil War, states first then battles later

*Destiny Dice- each team rolls a dice and the number corresponds to a list of points earned or lost, then we tally the points, each time a team earns 100 points they get Civil War era money to post on their board

There are lots of fun extras too like reader's theater of soldier interviews, learning how to drill and march, playing Combat Cards (which is like the card game War but teaches the kids the ranks of the army, the unit sizes and the weapons used) and each soldier has been assigned a special project to present to the family on New Year's Day that will include models, food and Civil War photographs.  Exciting!