Ireland is a gorgeous and fun country to visit. I’ve been lucky enough to visit twice and would love to go back with my kids. In the states, around St. Patrick’s Day, it is normal to see lots of green and pots of gold and shamrocks. It’s also a great time to dive into this fascinating island and it’s rich history and culture. Here is everything you need to do a unit on Ireland with upper elementary schoolers.

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Visit Ireland

So, obviously going to Ireland is the best way to really experience Ireland. However, this isn’t possible in a lot of situations so here are some alternatives.

Attend an Irish Cultural Event

A lot of cities and towns have Irish Cultural Events around the time of St. Patrick’s Day. Parades, Festivals, etc. These will allow you to at least hear Irish music, maybe see some Irish dancing. You might even be able to try out or watch an Irish sport like curling.

Virtual Visit to Ireland

Another option is a virtual visit. My fourth graders loved this 17 minute YouTube visit to Ireland.
Ireland: Travel the World with Your Kids

Read about Ireland

Follow Me Around Ireland
by Wiley Blevins

I have been pleasantly surprised by this series several times. They serve as a good introduction or overview of a country, in this case Ireland. I love that they are from a child’s perspective so they include things like how kids play and what school looks like. FOLLOW ME AROUND IRELAND is a wonderful book for giving some context for all of the playful picture books on this list for St. Patrick’s Day.

Find Online

Celtic Tales: Fairy Tales and Stories of Enchantment from Ireland, Scotland, Brittany and Wales
illustrations by Kate Forrester

This is a beautiful book of fairy tales from Celtic heritages. Obviously they aren’t all from Ireland, but when we did our Fourth Grade Unit on Ireland, or when you’re getting ready for St. Patrick’s Day you could just read the tales from Ireland. They are brief, just a few pages, which works well for a daily read aloud or before bed.

Find Online

For More Book Recommendations, check out this booklist on My Storytime Corner

Explore Irish Music

• Irish Music lesson from Music in Our Homeschool
• St. Patty’s Music Theory from My Fun Piano Studio

Art Activities inspired by Ireland

• Make St. Brigid’s Crosses using pipe cleaners from Everything Irish by AnnMarie O’Grady
• Learn to draw a Pot Gold with Art Hub for Kids
• Draw Celtic Knots with Kitchen Table Classroom.

Science & Math Activities

• Pot of Gold Multiplication Game from Hanging with Mrs. Hulsey on Teachers Pay Teachers.
• St. Patrick’s Logic Puzzles freebie from Mrs. Thompsons Treasures
• Bake Irish Soda Bread. Everyone swears by their family recipe for this, but regardless of the recipe you choose – this bread is a staple.
• Play Rainbow Game from Waldock Way
• Make Rainbow Slime from Little Bins for Little Hands

Irish Reading & Writing Activities

• St Patrick’s Day Fact vs. Opinions
• Write Irish Limericks – this was a favorite with my kids.
• Ireland Cursive Pages
• Write Your Name the Celtic Way also from Everything Irish by AnnMarie O’Grady

Learn about Irish Dance

Irish Dance is a unique form of dancing that’s a traditional part of Irish culture still thriving today. If you can’t watch Irish dancers live, here are some YouTube videos of Irish dance:

• RiverDance – you might be able to find a full show at your library as well. This was a world famous touring group of Irish Dancers.
• Trinity Irish Dance Company – this group is currently touring and is a more modern take on Irish dance.
• Leahy Call To Dance – this is a family of musicians that play in a band together. They are not professional dancers, but they dance and I love this song. It’s great fun.
• Cairde – also more modern, but still traditional. This is a group in Ireland.

If you have more time, Netflix has an animated movie full of Irish dance, RIVERDANCE: THE ANIMATED ADVENTURE which is really cute.

End of Unit Irish Program

At the end of our unit, we had an Irish themed program for friends and family. We included:

• Irish Dance
• Irish Songs on Recorder and Piano
• Irish Limericks Read Aloud
• Art Show

More Ideas for Third, Fourth and Fifth Graders

Ancient Egypt was one of the first major civilizations. In our Middle School Ancient History learning we briefly talked about other early civilizations, like Mesopotamia and how they impacted history. After that, we moved on to mummies and pyramids and pharaohs.

affiliate links are included below

Our second big unit for Middle School World History is Early Civilizations. We learned about several other civilizations before Ancient Egypt, but this is one that really grabbed the attention of my kids and so we dove in deeper. We learned about the Stone Age and Neolithic Era first (CLICK HERE FOR THIS UNIT). Below are the resources we used and some unit ideas.

Ancient Egypt Unit

Base Text: Everything You Need to Ace WORLD HISTORY in one Big Fat Notebook. This is by no means an all inclusive, perfect “textbook” but it does give you a solid outline. Throughout our World History Unit we are using this as a spine to build off. We read the chapters and do the review questions together with some notebooking. Then we get into the other books related to the topic on our shelves, watch documentaries, do hands on activities, etc. Buy Here

Notebooking: we are using notebooking to keep track of what we’ve learned in World History. My kids are highly visual learners who also really enjoy art, so this is a great fit for us. We read the study guide above and read more in the resources below and then they take time to record what they find the most interesting and important. This is usually a combination of drawings and writing. By the end of the year they will have a record of early World History they can review and share as a work sample of all they have learned. Our notebooks are spiral bound, unlined journals, similar to these.

More Resources about Ancient Egypt

Many of the books listed below will be used throughout our Middle School World History course throughout the school year. They cover the range of early history. For this Ancient Egypt Unit we simply read and focused on those pages.

Tales of Ancient Worlds: Adventures in Archaeology by Stefan Milosavljevich and Sam Caldwell – short stories that walk you through discoveries and build a story around each one. It helps tie science to history and also personalizes history through stories. Find Online

A Child Through Time: The Book of Children’s History illustrated by Steve Noon – offers the story of a child for many of the main periods in history. It begins with Taya, an Ice Age Girl, and ends with Ruby Bridges during the Civil Rights movement. Find Online

How the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World Were Built by Albatros – The pyramids of Giza are the first section in this nonfiction book. It shares a little background about Egypt and the pyramids. Then it goes into the extraordinary feat of science, manpower, and materials that went into the building of the pyramids. Find Online

Math & Ancient Egypt

For Math during our Early Civilizations Unit we focused on Geometry. We covered a lot of 3D shape concepts, but we started with Pyramids. We researched the size of the pyramids and then calculated the area and volume of each.

Reading, Writing & Ancient Egypt

Our big writing project during out Ancient Egypt unit was writing a mini-research paper on a pharaoh. Each kid chose one pharaoh from Ancient Egypt. They found books at the library, watched videos, and did more research online. We worked on note taking and resource page writing. They pulled it all together in a short paper to share about their chosen pharaoh.

We also learned all about hieroglyphs. This was easy to find information about in various books, but our favorite was the Fun with Hieroglyphs Kit. The kit has a fabulous book inside that goes in depth on all things to do with hieroglyphs along with some activities to do with the stamps. The hieroglyph stamps are fun. My kids wrote letters incorporating hieroglyphs to their homeschool pen pals. (Order Here)

Geography & Ancient Egypt

The Nile River was a vital part of Ancient Egypt thriving. We read GREAT RIVERS OF THE WORLD by Volker Mehnert and Martin Haake. There is a fold out spread on the Nile and how this geography impacted history.

Science & Ancient Egypt

Mummies were a huge interest going into our Egypt unit. My kids spent this unit watching National Geographic’s Lost Treasures of Egypt on Disney+. They were fascinated by not only the mystery, but also the way science is used to uncover lost history.

Tied to mummification, we also dove a little into some anatomy. We learned about basics using:

• Waldock Way’s Human Body Unit
• Videos on YouTube especially this one by Crash Course
• and this Mammal Organs dissection kit that we are working through with our weekly science co-op.
• Read Mummies Made in Egypt by Aliki. This isn’t new by any means but it’s still well done and easy to find in most libraries.

Ancient Science also has tons of history themed science activities that we’ve started working through. These are simple experiments that usually use materials we have on hand and the book ties them to history and explains the science behind them. Find Online

Timelines of Everything from Smithsonian – this is one of my favorite books on our shelves. It puts history and science and art into timelines. The timelines are different and creative and it is such a wonderful visual on so many topics. Find Online

Art & Early Civilizations

Vincent’s Starry Night and Other Stories: A Children’s History of Art by Michael Bird – is a gorgeous, thick book that tells stories of history through art. It walks through history chronologically, telling stories inspired by different iconic artworks of the period. Find Online

Art That Changed the World from DK Books – offers more details and facts about art through history. It is also laid out chronologically starting with Prehistoric Art. This book has a huge collection of artwork from each period, details about each, timelines and more. Find Online

Ancient Egypt & Games

We love games in our family so finding fun ones to play together that relate to whatever we are learning is a must! Here are some fabulous games to play during this unit.

• Imhotep: Builder of Egypt. This is a strategy game in which you’re trying to transport blocks to build pyramids. It’s steeped in the history about trade and travel on the Nile and building of the pyramids that we talked a lot of about during this unit.
• Mr. Noggins Ancient Civilizations trivia game. My kids love this series of games. They’re essentially flashcards but for some reason they are engaging and fun. We have a bunch of them, but this one relates specifically to Ancient History. This is a go-to carschooling activity for us. Find Online
• Seven Wonders Duel is another fun game that relates to Ancient History. It is a two person game, although some of the expansions allow more players to join. My kids like to play against me. Find Online

Middle School World History. Wow. That’s crazy to say. I never in a million years when I was getting my teaching license, when I was homeschooling preschool for my twins, when I sent them off to Kindergarten, never did I think I would be teaching middle school. And yet, here we are and crazy as it sounds I am excited.

Our first unit for Middle School World History is First Humans. This covered the Stone Age or the Paleolithic Era, Ice Age and the Neolithic Era. Below are the resources I used and some unit ideas.

affiliate links are included below.

First Humans Unit

Base Text: Everything You Need to Ace WORLD HISTORY in one Big Fat Notebook. This is by no means an all inclusive, perfect “textbook” but it does give you a solid outline. Throughout our World History Unit we are using this as a spine to build off. We read the chapters and do the review questions together with some notebooking. Then we get into the other books related to the topic on our shelves, watch documentaries, do hands on activities, etc. Buy Here

Notebooking: we are using notebooking to keep track of what we’ve learned in World History. My kids are highly visual learners who also really enjoy art, so this is a great fit for us. We read the study guide above and read more in the resources below and then they take time to record what they find the most interesting and important. This is usually a combination of drawings and writing. By the end of the year they will have a record of early World History they can review and share as a work sample of all they have learned. Our notebooks are spiral bound, unlined journals, similar to these.

More Resources about First Humans

Many of the books listed below will be used throughout our Middle School World History course throughout the school year. They cover the range of early history. For this First Humans Unit we simply read and focused on the early humans pages.

Tales of Ancient Worlds: Adventures in Archaeology by Stefan Milosavljevich and Sam Caldwell – short stories that walk you through discoveries and build a story around each one. For example, one of the first stories is about Lucy. She was an Australopithecus discovered by archeologists and the book shares what has been known and hypothesized about her. It helps tie science to history and also personalizes history through stories. Find Online

A Child Through Time: The Book of Children’s History illustrated by Steve Noon – offers the story of a child for many of the main periods in history. It begins with Taya, an Ice Age Girl, and ends with Ruby Bridges during the Civil Rights movement. Find Online

A Street Through Time also illustrated by Steve Noon – this is my daughter’s favorite in the World History stack. It shows a 12,000 year journey along the same street. Obviously some creative license is taken here, but the concept is fun. The illustrations are detailed and it brings to life the different periods. We focused on the Stone Age and First Farmers pages for this unit. Find Online

History of the World in Comics by Jean-Baptiste de Panafieu – is just that, history told in comics. It starts at the very beginning of time and provides an overview of evolution and how our world has changed. We read this over the summer before starting our year and with this First Humans unit. After that it speeds up as it attempts to accurately depict how little humans have occupied the earth’s history. Find Online

Math & First Humans

For Math during our First Humans Unit we focused on timelines. This allowed us a starting place to work with positive and negative numbers. We also reviewed fractions by placing fractions on number lines as well.

History Year by Year from Smithsonian – is a fantastic resources that ties together timelines, photographs and artwork. Find Online

Timelines of Everything from Smithsonian – this is one of my favorite books on our shelves. It puts history and science and art into timelines. The timelines are different and creative and it is such a wonderful visual on so many topics. Find Online

All civilizations had to eat and therefore they had to cook. I love integrating cooking into our math, which we’ve done in various ways over the years. This year we are using this Ancient History Cookbook to do some thematic cooking together (which works on fractions and measurement) each unit.

You May Also Like: Ancient Egypt Unit for Middle School

Science & First Humans

Glaciers were the most interesting topic to my kids when we started exploring the First Humans resources. We watched the Magic School Bus Rides Again episode about glaciers and watched this YouTube video on Glaciers.

Ancient Science also has tons of history themed science activities that we’ve started working through. These are simple experiments that usually use materials we have on hand and the book ties them to history and explains the science behind them. Find Online

Learn about Ice Age animals by doing a little guided research with this packet from Peanut Butter Fish Lessons.

Art & First Humans

Early Humans created cave paintings that have been discovered by archeologists all over the world. We read about them in the books below.

Vincent’s Starry Night and Other Stories: A Children’s History of Art by Michael Bird – is a gorgeous, thick book that tells stories of history through art. It walks through history chronologically, telling stories inspired by different iconic artworks of the period. Find Online

Art That Changed the World from DK Books – offers more details and facts about art through history. It is also laid out chronologically starting with Prehistoric Art. This book has a huge collection of artwork from each period, details about each, timelines and more. Find Online

Find More Curriculum Units Here

Swimming back and forth in the tank in our schoolroom is Mr. Weasley. He’s a beta fish we recently adopted from some friends who are moving. He’s bright orange which is probably the most exciting thing about him, because honestly he spends most of his day hiding under the bridge in his tank. I’m not a fish person. I’m not really a pet person. None of that matters though, because my kids are animal obsessed and they are now fish obsessed.

affiliate links are included below.

There have been hints at an interest in fish in the past.

There was the season where my son was in a “fishing club” at school that basically consisted a few friends who talked about fish and fished together when they could convince their moms and sisters that this was how we wanted to spend our afternoon. This past year he also earned a fishing merit badge at scouts which included learning about fishing in depth, going deep sea fishing, and learning to cook and clean fish.

Also Read: 10 Tips for Fishing with Kids

There was the snorkeling. Our first time was to see leopard sharks and the following summer we went to La Jolla Cove, a known local snorkeling spot, to see fish swimming in the reef. I’ll admit that it was pretty awesome seeing the bright pops of color under the water.

Also Read: Snorkeling in Oahu with Kids

Now there was Mr. Weasley.

Interests have a way of popping up like this in our lives. There are hints. Here and there an interest. And then they swoop in and pull all of a kid’s (or both’s) focus. They talk, read, watch, and learn obsessively about something. I have to admit it’s actually one of my favorite parts of parenting. The interests are rarely something I expect and they always pull us in interesting directions.

In this case, we swam towards fish and dove hard.

Ideas for Learning about Fish

Our interests have a general pattern to them. My kids (each different in their learning styles) like to explore interests in a few pretty predictable ways. After ten years, we’ve hit a groove (for the most part). I think we got here mostly by me accepting whatever random thing they were interested and then throwing any ideas I could find that felt meaningful around the house and seeing what sparked further exploration. Here are some ways we learned more about fish:

Caring for Our Actual, Live Fish

This was obviously where it started and caring for their little orange fish was a big part of this learning unit. They fed him, learned how to clean his tank, watched his movements obsessively.

Books about Fish

A Place for Fish
by Melissa Stewart
Find Online

How do Fish Breathe Underwater
also by Melissa Stewart
Find Online

Hello Fish: Visiting the Coral Reef
by Sylvia A. Earle
Find Online

Papa’s Mechanical Fish
by Candace Fleming
Find Online

Fishy Watercolors

I have pretty art enthusiastic kids and so art is often part of our learning. In this case, watercolors felt like an appropriate medium for representing fish. We did this a few times.

Materials:

• Mat for under paper or other table covering
• Paper towels
• Watercolors
• Watercolor Paper
• Paint Brushes
• Cups for Water
• Pencils or Black tipped pens
• Pictures of fish or close proximity to a tank of fish (optional)

Invitation:

When we do art it is rarely the “everyone come to the table so we can paint” variety. I like to set up an invitation – a spot for each kid to work and some sort of visual prompt – and let that spark their interest. If they’re interested, then it often stays out for a few days or is set out again multiple days (depending on our currently home size / table situation). In this case I set out our Outdoor School: Animal Watching book and some other fish book near the fish tank with the supplies listed above.

Nighttime Fish Habitat Check

We have been using the Outdoor School series to inspire some of our learning about outside, including animals. (You can read more about how we used Outdoor School books last year in Fourth Grade in this post).

When we started reading about fish in Outdoor School: Animal Watching my kids were super excited to do this Nighttime Fish Habitat Check.

Directions:

• Prep your flashlight in a bag, with rocks if needed.
• Plan where to go. We went to the bay because we snorkeled there recently and saw a couple fish and a stingray. We also found it helpful that where we could go on a bridge to get above the water a little, but we did see some fish wading into the water as well.
• Put on weather appropriate clothes and bring towels (these dock & bay quick dry towels are my favorites)
• Further directions for the habitat check are in the OUTDOOR SCHOOL guide, but it’s pretty straightforward.

More Fish Field Trips

Most of these field trips were repeated multiple times during our unit or period of learning about fish. Come back to the things they enjoy. Repeat things that are interesting. Talk about them and see what new questions they have and then head back.

• Snorkeling in the ocean
• Aquarium Field Trip
• Pet Store
• Coi Fish Pond at the Japanese Friendship Garden

You May Also Like: How to Use an Adventure Journal on Field Trips

More Unit Ideas for Upper Elementary School

Learning about Native Americans felt like an important piece of California history that I didn’t want to jump past learn about missions and the Gold Rush when I was planning out our Fourth Grade Social Studies curriculum.

I’m sure I did an imperfect job of talking about this with my children, but I did my best to offer them resources that helped explore the different tribes native to California to get a overview of the vast differences between tribes and their history both before and after Europeans arrived.

affiliate links are included in this post.

Books to Read

Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids
edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Modern day powwow experiences are shared in this anthology of short stories. I love how this focuses on modern experiences when so many Native American stories for kids depict teepees and bows and arrows. The history is important, of course, but so is remembering that Indigenous people still live in our country. This is a well written collection of stories by various authors.
Find Online

Children of the Longhouse
by Joseph Bruchac
This is an exciting chapter book that looks at native american life but also their interactions with outsiders. It would make for a good read aloud, independent read or bookclub book.
Find Online

The People with Five Fingers: A Native Californian Creation Tale
by John Bierhorst
A picture book version of a Native American creation story. My kids loved this one and how different it was from the story they’re familiar with.
Find Online

How Chipmunk Got Tiny Feet: Native American Animal Origin Stories
by Gerald Hausman
This is a collection of short stories along the same vein as the picture book above.
Find Online

The Girl Who Rode a Shark & Other Stories of Daring Women
by Ailsa Ross
We’ve used this collection of stories for several units. For this one we read Sacagawea’s story. I like the brief but interesting stories for introducing my kids to interesting and daring women.
Find Online

Unit Activity Ideas

Native Californians were one of our loops for November. About once a week we worked on the list of activities below. Learning a little about, really just scratching the surface, the tribes that lived in California.

Activities we did to explore Native Californian tribes:

• Research about Tribes: we pulled out a stack of books I borrowed from our public library on a variety of California Native Tribes and my kids completed this independent research project on one of the tribes shown above.
• Work on Map Skills with this California regions/geography and tribes worksheet.
• Learn about how the Sierra Miwoks made food with this STEAM activity.
• Read FRY BREAD by Kevin Noble Maillard and made our own Fry Bread (there is a recipe in the back of the book).

Learning about Native Californian Art:

• Browsed the stunning collection of artwork in Art of Native America from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
• Learned the basics of weaving with these simple loop weaving sets.
• We also made these collaborative wall hangings that involved weaving from Meri Cherry.
• Then we did Lab 6 from the Minecraft Lab for Kids that involves weaving and talks about Native American patterns.

We could definitely do more. This is such a huge part of American history and it is often glossed over. This certainly won’t be the last time we talk about this aspect of American History in our house, but it felt like a good look at some of the beauty of the different tribes especially the ones that lived on the same land that we occupy today.

You May Also Like:
Ideas for Third, Fourth, and Fifth Grade

Mythology hooked my kids in fourth grade. They dove into gods and goddesses, primarily in Greek culture, but learned about mythology from around the world. Here are some of our adventures and resources as they explored the magical world of mythology.

affiliate links are included below.

Field Trip to the Getty Villa

Getty Villa

While in Los Angeles for a weekend we visited the Getty Villa. This is one of the two Getty Museums in LA. It has Greek and Roman antiquities housed in a re-created Roman country home.

The Getty Villa makes a huge effort to be family friendly. There are a lot of activities for families at the museum. The super cool thing for kids who love mythology is that you can take an immersive audio tour of the museum.

My kids absolutely loved having the characters in their ears as they explored the museum on their own personal quest. Access the audio tour here or ask for more info at the information desk.

Getty Villa
17985 Pacific Coast Highway, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272, USA
Open 10a – 5p, Closed Tuesdays
FREE to visit, $20 to park.
Must reserve a time slot online beforehand.
Website

Percy Jackson

Percy Jackson was our way into Mythology and I expect we’re not alone. Once my kids had read THE LIGHTENING THIEF, especially my daughter, they were hooked. Suddenly they wanted to know all about all kinds of mythology.

Percy Jackson Inspired Activities

• Make sure you visit the Rick Riordan website. There is a wealth of information including these Teacher Guides.
• There is a Lightening Thief Unit Study on Proverbial Homemaker.
• Fabulous Classroom has a huge list of resources about Percy Jackson learning inspired by the release of Sea of Monsters on DVD but they would work for a general unit as well in most cases.
• Here are some fun ideas if you want to have a Percy Jackson bookclub meeting from Adventures in Mommydom.

Book Recommendations:

There are SO many Percy Jackson books and related books, but in case your voracious mythology fan needs some more ideas here are some more series we’ve enjoyed.

• Hopeless Heroes series by Stella Tarakson
• Zeus the Mighty series by Crispin Boyer
• Thunder Cluck! Chicken of Thor by Paul Tillery and Meg Wittwer
• Goddess Girls series by Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams
• Heroes in Training series by Tracey West
• Nico Bravo graphic novel series by Mike Cavallaro
• Wings of Fire series by Tui T. Sutherland

Mythology

Once my kids were exposed to mythology via Percy Jackson, they seemed to thirst to learn all they could.

Books to Read

• Usborne Illustrated Stories from the Greek Myths
• Myth Atlas: Maps and Monsters, Heroes and Gods from Twelve Mythological Worlds by Thiago de Moraes
• National Geographic Kids: Everything Mythology by Blake Hoena
• Gods and Heroes: Mythology Around the World by Korwin Briggs

Activities

• Impressive and diverse twelve week mythology study that covers all the curriculum areas on Redhead Mom.

Mythical Creatures

Mythical Creatures are some of the most fascinating parts of mythology, especially for kids who are huge animal fans like mine. If you want to go down this rabbit hole, here are some books and activities to explore.

Books to Read

• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by J. K. Rowling
• Mythopedia: What A Beast by Sophia Kelly
• Miss Turie’s Magic Creatures by Joy Keller – This is a cute picture book. If you’re diving into Mythology and Mythical Creatures with an early elementary schooler I definitely recommend this one.
• Wings of Fire series by Tui T. Sutherland is all about dragons that have to save their magical world. These are also good on audio.

Games to Play

• Createures Drawing Deck: This is game / art activity that is loads of fun if your kids enjoy drawing.
• Runes & Regulations: This is a strategy game that’s funny and also plays with mythical creatures.

Read About More Fourth Grade Units

Elections are always a nature learning opportunity. My twins were in fourth grade during the 2020 presidential election and we really leaned into the excitement and interest in the election as part of our social studies learning.

We voted via drop-off ballot in California. Our ballots arrived in early October so I showed them to my fourth graders and we talked a little about the different parts before I filled it out. Then they walked with me to our local drop off spot to turn it in. In previous years they have always gone with me to vote before school on Election Days.

No matter what year it is and how tense or invested the country feels in the current election cycle, using it as an opportunity to teach kids about government and democracy feels useful.

affiliate links are included below.

Two Weeks Before the Election

• Read DUCK FOR PRESIDENT and do this writing activity from TpT
• Watch the Debates together
• Share any of the flyers you get in the mail with them. Compare and contrast ones you get from different parties. What do they like? What makes sense to them? How do they relate to advertising in other areas of their life?
• My daughter started reading HEIDI HECKELBECK FOR CLASS PRESIDENT by Wanda Coven

One Week Before the Election

• This is a fairly comprehension Elections Unit by Sonlight that covers a lot of information about the election process. The week before the election we did about half of this unit.

Election Week, Day and Night

• Decorated with Red, White, and Blue
• We watched 2 videos on TedEd about Why We Vote on Tuesdays and on the Electoral College.
• My kids really wanted to pretend to vote so we used these Election Day Worksheets from Confessions of a Homeschooler.
• Played this Printable Election Math Game from Royal Baloo
• Did this Free Patriotic Music Lesson from Music in our Homeschool.
• Used this Electoral College Map with a math activity you can do beforehand to see how different states can be combined to get the total number of votes needed. This also includes some geography as you find states on the USA map.
• Electoral College Map to track the race as votes come in. If you’re teaching in a classroom you could send this home with the kids or fill it out together the next day when they return to class.

Also Check Out:
Unit Ideas for
Third, Fourth & Fifth Grade

Marine Animals are kind of an obsession in my house. My son has basically minored in sharks the last 3 years and my daughter vacillates between adoring anything from octopus to whale sharks to seashells and more.

affiliate links are included below.

Declaring Marine Biology as one of our homeschool science subjects was an easy decision. We started the year exploring tide pools and learning about whales, then switched gear to study some other areas of science, before circling back again to sharks and Marine Biologists again in the spring.

Below are our favorite field trips and resources for learning all things Marine Biology with upper elementary school kids (so far – I’m sure there will be more).

5 Marine Biology Field Trips

Learning through adventure is a huge way that we explore topics around here. The hands on, real life experiences truly cannot be beat for getting kids exciting, curious, and engaged in learning.

Snorkeling with Leopard Sharks

La Jolla Shores is just a few miles from our house and happens to be the annual mating ground for leopard sharks. Wade into the water just off the beach and there they are. A few tips though because it took us a while to snorkel here successfully:

• Check the surf report before you go. You want the waves to be low and the winds to be light. This will also tell you what is appropriate to wear. The ocean is often cold even in the summer months and a wet suit is helpful if you plan to swim around out there for a while.
• Check the weather as well. You want a nice sunny day to really be able to see clearly in the water.
• Shuffle those feet. Sting rays abound in the same spot so make sure you go slow, shuffle your feet and keep an eye out for sting rays as well. If you do get stung, head to the first lifeguard you can find for treatment.

Read more about snorkeling with kids in this post.

Visit California Sea Lions

We are fortunate to live a quick drive from La Jolla where you can see California Sea Lions and Seals up close in their natural habitat.

Tide Pooling

We love visiting the tide pools at the beach when there is a negative tide. My biggest suggestion is to check the tide pools. You are looking for low tide and preferably a tide lower than -1. The lower the better. Around here in Southern California the winter months are usually the most ideal for tide pooling.

Read More: Top Tips for Tidepooling with Kids

Whale Migration

We are fortunate to live right on the Pacific Coast where seeing the annual gray whale migration is possible. Some years we have gone Whale Watching on a boat but because of Covid we didn’t feel comfortable doing that this year.

However, if you’re lucky it is possible to view the whales from the coast. Cabrillo National Monument offers a great point to view the ocean.

Aquarium or SeaWorld

Obviously, if you want to see marine animals up close, it is hard to beat an aquarium. In San Diego we have both Sea World San Diego and the Birch Aquarium. We have made many, many trips to both.

Children’s Books about Marine Biology

We have read so many books about Marine Biology. Truly almost all of what the San Diego Public Libraries have to offer on the subject and more we’ve ordered or been gifted. SO many books. These are our favorite though – especially for this age group.

Marine Science in the Real World by Carol Hand
About: Marine Biologists
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Ocean Anatomy: The Curious Parts and Pieces of the World Under the Sea by Julia Rothman
About: All of the Ocean
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Who Would Win? Hammerhead vs. Bull Shark by Jerry Pallotta and Rob Bolster
About: Sharks
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Life in a Frozen World: Wildlife of Antarctica
by Mary Batten and Thomas Gonzalez
About: Antarctica, the ocean and animals
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About Marine Mammals: A Guide for Children
by Cathryn Sill and John Sill
About: Marine Mammals
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Blue Floats Away
by Travis Jonker
About: Ice burgs, water process, climate change
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I Am the Shark
by Joan Holub
illustrated by Laurie Keller
About: Sharks
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Marine Biology Activities

Back at home, in between adventures outdoors, we explored Marine Biology in a huge range of ways. We used a variety of sources, books, music, hands on activities, experiments and more. Here are some great Marine Biology Resources for kids.

General

These are the two curriculum resources I used as the base for our Marine Biology learning. I took pieces from both, moved stuff around, and added more things – but these two are both a great place to start. They both have lessons on all of the main themes listed below.

Marine Biology Unit from The Good & The Beautiful – free download

Marine Biology for Kids

Learning about Oceans and Tides

• Ocean Song on Ted Ed
• Making Waves Activity from The Ocean Book: Aquarium and Seaside Activities and Ideas for All Ages
• Watch: The Magic School Bus Goes to Mussel Beach (on Netflix) and printable activities from Scholastic.

Learning about Tidepools

• You can’t replace actually visiting a tidepool. If this is a possibility in your area then I highly recommend it. Remember to check the tide tables (available online) for a negative tide so you’re actually able to see things!
• Read Ocean Soup: Tide-Pool Poems by Stephen R. Swinburne. It has facts about each animal alongside each poem. Afterwards, pick the animal you have the most questions about and research more information.

Learning about Rivers, Streams and Lakes

• Learn about frogs with Melissa Stewarts A PLACE FOR FROGS and her awesome learning ideas on her blog. I used the Teacher’s Guide that is on the right hand side bar.

Learning about Marine Life

General:

• Watch: The Magic School Bus Gets Eaten (on Netflix) and printable activity from Scholastic.

Sharks:

• Shark Week Unit Ideas has a full list of all of the fun shark activities we have done in the past few years.
• Watch: Shark Documentaries on Disney+ (SharkFest is one of our favorites)

Seals & Sea Lions

• Research. Gather a stack of books specifically about seals/sea lions and some that are just generally about marine animals and include pinnipeds. Take turns sharing information about both seals and sea lions. Create a Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting them.
• Blubber Experiment. This experiment works with many ocean animals (whales, polar bears, etc) but we did it with our mini-seals and sea lions unit. As part of fourth grade science we are focusing on animal adaptations. After the experiment, have your kids write or discuss how the adaptation of blubber is important for seals and sea lions.
• Watch: TedEd Video about Sea Lions

Whales, Dolphins, and Porpoises

• Measure out the lengths of different whales outside and mark them on the ground with chalk.
• Read The Secret Life of Whales by Rena Ortega. An absolutely stunning book about all things whale.
• Read LITTLE WHALE and talked about migration. Map your favorite or local whale’s migration path on a map or the globe.
• We also enjoyed the Play the Lunch with Whales Game in the Marine Science for Kids book.
• Watch: Secrets of the Whales series on Disney+

Final Animal Projects

At the end of our Marine Biology Unit, my kids each did a presentation on one animal of their choice. This allowed me to assess a lot of common core standards (speaking, coherent presentation and writing, research skills, organization, use of technology, etc.) and was a fun way for them to dive in deep on an animal they love.

• Pick an animal.
• Do research. My kids used this Graphic Organizer to take notes while they researched and prepared their presentations. You can DOWNLOAD IT FOR FREE HERE.
• Pick a way to present and prepare a presentation.
• Present animal projects to family (or classroom).

Still More Ocean Ideas:

• 20+ Ocean Unit Activity Ideas for Kindergarten and First Grade
• Sea Turtle Unit for Preschoolers

California History is the social studies focus for fourth graders in California. Growing up in Wisconsin, I learned about Wisconsin history so this unit was almost entirely new information to me as well. We had so much fun exploring the diverse geography, history and people of California.

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California Basic Facts

I used CALIFORNIA HISTORY FOR KIDS as the foundation for our study of California history this year. It covers California history from Natives and Early Explorers through modern issues like forest fires and pollution. It felt a lot less textbook like to read together than other options that I looked at and had some fun activities to do along the way.

My fourth graders also did a page in a California Dailies Workbook each week that helped to cover some of the basic facts, dates, and such we might have missed otherwise.

California Geography

California is one of the most diverse states in the United States. It has coastal areas, farmlands, mountains, and deserts. Helping my kids appreciate that diversity was a big goal this year and we visited each of these areas this year.

• Did Minecraft STEM Labs activities about maps, ecosystems, and city planning.
• Used California Region and State Pages from This Reading Mama state pack.

Coastal Region of California

• Visited Torrey Pines
• Took a field trip to see the La Jolla Sea Lions and learned more about sea lions with Good and Beautiful Marine Biology unit.
• Read: THE TREE LADY: THE TRUE STORY OF HOW ONE TREE-LOVING WOMAN CHANGED A CITY FOREVER by Joseph H. Hopkins

Desert Region of California

• visit Joshua Tree National Park. Visiting Death Valley National Park or Anza Borrego State Park would also be great choices.
• Visited the Balboa Cactus Garden and California Plant Garden at Balboa Park.
• Watch: Magic School Bus Dries Up and do activities on Scholastic

Forest/Mountain Region of California

• Visited Sequoia & King Canyon National Parks.
• Took weekly hikes at Mount Laguna in the Cleveland National Forest an hour from San Diego.
• Learned about Forest Fires

Farm Region of California

• I wish we could have visited Napa or a larger farming area, but we did visit an orange farm.
• We learned about what is grown in California and cooked with avocadoes and lemons.

California National Parks

California has some incredible National Parks and Fourth Grade is also the year that you can get a free National Park Pass for the whole family. Visiting the different California National Parks is an excellent way to support learning about California Geography and deepen your nature studies for the year.

Read: The Camping Trip That Changed America about Teddy Roosevelt and John Muir by Barb Rosenstock

Redwoods National Park

Sequoia and Kings Canyon

Joshua Tree National Park

Cabrillo National Monument

California History

We started the year by creating a huge timeline that we added to throughout the year as we traveled through time. Then we went chronologically through California history starting with Native Californians.

1500s – Early California History

Native Californians – We learned about tribes native to Southern California. This was a fun unit with lots of history and geography, but also art activities, awesome read alouds and more. READ FULL UNIT POST

Juan Cabrillo – read about him in our CA History book and then visited Cabrillo National park.

1700s – Spanish Missions

Father Junipero Serra founds the first California mission in San Diego. We visited the local Mission Basilica SD De Alcala. Then later in the year we went to Mission San Juan Capistrano in Oceanside. It is a bigger, beautiful mission with a free audio tour with admission. You could visit any of the other 21 California Missions up and down the coast of California.

1800s – Wars and Explorers

In 1821 Mexico gained independence from Spain and the Missions ended. This is a brief period before explorers start heading westward from the United States on the East coast. This led to the 1846-1948 Mexican-American War and then soon after the Gold Rush and statehood. This portion of history comes to life at Old Town San Diego.

Old Town San Diego represents life in the Mexican and early American periods of 1821 to 1872. It is a wonderful spot for a field trip with plenty of hands on activities and experiences. You can learn more about Old Town San Diego State Park on the CA State Park site. Girl Scouts San Diego also has a fun scavenger hunt (that can earn you a patch if you are in fact a Girl Scout) for Old Town San Diego.

Gold Rush, Telegraph, Pony Express, Transcontinental Railroad & Statehood

In 1848, James Marshall discovered gold at Sutter’s Mill and California’s path changed forever. As the Gold Rush began and people flocked to the west coast in search of fortune, statehood wasn’t far behind. California became the 31st state in 1850.

• Pan for gold, if you’re in the San Diego area you can do this at Old Town State Park and in Julian CA
• Read What Was the Goldrush
• Play Oregon Trail Card Game
• Built model covered wagons

What followed was a burst of development. The development of new forms of communication and transportation played a large part of these transformations.

• Read: Ride On, Will Cody!: A Legend of the Pony Express by Caroline Starr Rose to learn about the Pony Express.
• In 1861, telegraph messages began to reach California. Write notes to each other using Morse Code. Here are some more related activities from Education.com

Then in 1869 the Transcontinental Railroad was completed.

• Read Locomotive
• Cook food from The US History Cookbook. We made a Coast to Coast Apple Pie.

1900s: San Francisco

If you can visit San Francisco, it is such a fun city for families. Here’s a peek at our 48 hours in San Francisco during our California Road Trip.

Learn about the Golden Gate bridge and the 1906 Earthquake in San Francisco. We read What Was the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 to dive in more deeply about the Earthquake and how it shaped the state.

• Earthquake math place value activity from Orison Orchards
• Earthquake videos ( 1906 Earthquake – Why Do Buildings Fall in Earthquakes – Why Are Earthquakes so Hard to Predict )
• I used this free Earthquake worksheet to assess what my kids learned and document for their portfolios.

Movies & Film in California

1927 First movie with sound created. Film Capitol established.

• Visit Hollywood, Disneyland or Universal Studios if you are able.
• Read Who Was Walt Disney?
• Watched Imagineers docuseries on Disney+
• Read about Disney and history of movies in CA in California History for Kids

1941 World War II

• Visit Unconditional Surrender Statue and USS Midway
• Read On The Horizon by Lois Lowry
• Japanese Internment Camps which was included in our Japan Unit

Immigration

1965 Immigration increases with new laws

• Read: Between Us and Abuela
• Read: Santiago’s Way Home

Final Project

At the end of the Spring, each of my kids picked one topic from California History they were most interested in and created a presentation on it. They needed to explain the topic (how it was invented, the general history of it) and then explain how it impacted California History. My son did his on the Transcontinental Railroad and my daughter did hers on Disney and Film.

Japan is a beautiful, unique country with a vibrant culture. This is one of those places I most want to visit, but since we weren’t able to travel this year a unit study about Japan was the best we could do. Japan is also particularly relevant in fourth grade here in California because the internment camps here on the west coast during World War II are an important piece of California history.

There is obviously zero chance that you will capture an entire country or culture in a unit. We have been doing monthly studies of different countries around the world diving into different aspects. The goal is solely to learn a little about a country or culture different than our own and often to see how they have impacted the world.

affiliate links are included below.

Japanese Food

Read: Magic Ramen: The Story of Momofuku Ando by Andrea Wang

Make: Instant Ramen

Bake: these Green Tea Cookies. We made them for our weekly Poetry Tea Time and we all loved them.

Play: Sushi Go or Sushi Roll

Japanese Poetry

We explored Haiku, a traditional form of Japanese poetry. There are also some wonderful haiku children’s book collections to share with kids. Here are some we have enjoyed:

• Origami & Haiku from the British Museum
• Guyku: a Year of Haiku for Boys by Bob Raczka
• Lion of the Sky: Haiku for all Seasons by Laura Prudie Salas
• Earth Verse by Sally M. Walker

Japanese Art & Music

Fold Origami – there are a lot of guides out there to folding origami. You can find some good ones for kids on YouTube or check out a book. We used this one and a pack of origami paper.

Explore Science and Art with these Giant Wave Paintings inspired by Hokusai’s giant wave painting of a tsunami. This project from Deep Space Sparkle also works on creating depth perception within art.

Learn about Taiko Drumming. We watched YouTube videos about how Taiko drums are created. My kids love taiko drumming and had an opportunity to learn to play them in second grade. We actually did a whole unit on Taiko Drumming – see post.

Japanese Geography

The island of Japan is largely shaped by it’s mountains and volcanoes. Again, the volcanoes are only one aspect of Japan, but learning about volcanoes tied in well with our science unit: Geology.

National Geographic Earth Science Kit. Made and then exploded a volcano. Read about Mount Fuji from our The Good & The Beautiful curriculum.

Watched Brain Pop videos about Volcanoes and another on Tsunamis.

Visited a Japanese Garden. A lot of cities around the US have beautiful Japanese Gardens. We loved this one in San Francisco a couple years ago and our own Balboa Park in San Diego has a lovely Japanese Friendship Garden.

Japanese Internment

This isn’t the happiest bit of California History, or American History, but it is an important part of both and shouldn’t be ignored. We covered Japanese Internment as part of our California History curriculum. It was briefly mentioned in our text, California History for Kids, but I also supplemented it with other resources that I thought brought the experience to life better.

Watch a Brain Pop Video on Pearl Harbor.

Read:

• On the Horizon by Jane Yolen
• Fish for Jimmy by Katie Yamasaki
• Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki
• Write to Me by Cynthia Grady
• They Called Us Enemy by George Takei

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