Louisiana

 A highlight of our Louisiana experience was listening to the music of Louis Armstrong while we did our art projects. The kids also really enjoyed using Google Earth to explore the French Quarter in New Orleans.

Books:

• Dropping In On New Orleans

• Freedom in Congo Square by Carole Boston Weatherford

• Jenny Giraffe’s Mardi Gras Ride by Cecilia Casrill Dartez

• Mimi’s First Mardi Gras by Alice Couvillon

• Little Pierre: A Cajun Story from Louisiana by Robert D. San Souci

• The Louisiana Purchase by John Churchill Chase

• Meet Cecile (American Girls)

• Meet Marie-Grace (American Girls)

• On Mardi Gras Day by Fatima Shaik

• A Penguin Named Patience: A Hurricane Katrina Rescue Story by Suzanne Lewis

• A Place Where Hurricanes Happen by Renee Watson

• P is for Pelican: A Louisiana Alphabet by Anita C. Prieto

• Louisiana (A True Book: My United States) by Jennifer Zeiger

• Marvelous Cornelius: Hurricane Katrina and the Spirit of New Orleans by Phil Bildner

• The 5 O’Clock Band by Troy Andrews

• Mississippi River by Paul Manning

• Where is the Mississippi River? By Dina Anastasio

• Just a Lucky So and So: The Story of Louis Armstrong

• The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles

Art Project:

Mardi Gras Bead Trees

For Louisiana the kids decided to depict Mardi Gras Bead Trees in New Orleans. The trees were made with sharpie and oil pastel, then water color blue sky back ground, and lastly (once the water color is fully dry) dots of tempra paint (using q-tips) for the beads.

Kentucky

In learning about Kentucky, we especially enjoyed learning about how Louisville Sluggers are made, learning about Mammoth Cave National Park, and listening to blue grass music.

Books:

• B is for Bluegrass: A Kentucky Alphabet by Mary Ann McCabe Riehle

• Kentucky (My United States: True Book) by Jennifer Zeiger

• Last Black King of the Kentucky Derby by Crystal Hubbard

• That Book Woman by  Heather Henson

• The Rag Coat by Lauren Mills

• Who Was Seabiscuit? By James Buckley Jr.

• Blue Grass Boy: The Story of Bill Monroe, Father of Bluegrass Music by Barb Rosenstock

• Lift Your Light a Little Higher: The Story of Stephen Bishop: Slave-Explorer by Heather Henson

• Tucky Jo and Little Heart by Patricia Polacco

• Muhammad Ali by Josh Gregory

• Muhammad Ali by Ntozake Shange

• The Boy Who Drew Birds: A Story of John James Audubon by Jacqueline Davies

Art Project:

Bluegrass and horse pastures

The kids wanted to depict the Bluegrass State with its iconic country side of grasslands and horse pastures. Fences, hill outlines, and horses are sharpie and oil pastel, everything else (greens and blues) is water color.

Kansas

 We learned that Kansas is home to the Tall Grass Prairie National Preserve which is both lovely and tragic as it represents such a small piece of what once was a seemingly endless sea of prairie land. We did enjoy learning more about the prairie ecosystem and the efforts that people are going to to preserve and even rebuild some pieces of it. 

Books:

• No Small Potatoes: Junius G. Groves and his Kingdom in Kansas by Tonya Bolden

• S is for Sunflower: A Kansas Alphabet

• The Buffalo Are Back by Jean Craighead George

• Kansas (My United States: A True Book) by Josh Gergory

• From Seed to Sunflower by Gerald Legg

• Follow Me Down to Nicodemus Town: Based on the History of the African American Pioneer Settlement by A. LaFaye

• Sewing the Rainbow: The Story of Gilbert Baker and the Rainbow Flag by Gayle E. Pitman 

• I am Amelia Earhart (Ordinary People Change the World) by Brad Meltzer

• Who Was Amelia Earhart by Kate Boehm Jerome

• Poetry for Young People: Langston Hughes

• That Is My Dream!: A picture book of Langston Hughes's "Dream Variation"

• Coming Home: From the Life of Langston Hughes by Floyd Cooper

Art Project:

Sunflower fields

Kansas is the sunflower state, famous for its sunflower fields, so that is what we chose for our art project. Materials used: colored sharpie for the outlines, oil pastel to color in flowers and leaves, watercolor for the green background of the field and for the sky.