North Dakota

 For North Dakota we especially enjoyed learning about Native stories and traditions from the area. On another front, the book Dinomummy, about a remarkable dinosaur discovery in the area, was also very fun and informative! We also highly recommend this article about the calculation of the geographical center of North America which lies somewhere in North Dakota.

Books:

• North Dakota (A True Book: My United States) by Ann O. Squire

• P is for Peace Garden: A North Dakota Alphabet by Roxane B. Salonen

• Buffalo Bird Girl: A Hidatsa Story by S. D. Nelson

• The Star People: A Lakota Story by S.D. Nelson

• The Range Eternal by Louise Erdrich

• Josie Dances by Denise Lajimodiere

• Bad River Boys by Virigina Driving Hawk Sneve

• River Friendly, River Wild by Jane Kurtz

• Dinomummy - The Life, Death and Discovery of Dakota, A Dinosaur From Hell Creek by Dr Phillip Lars Manning 

• Fly Away by Patricia MacLachlan

• King of the Mound: My Summer with Satchel Paige by Wes Tooke

• The Great Race of Birds and Animals by Paul Goble

• The Standing Rock Sioux Challenge and the Dakota Access Pipeline by Clara MacClarald

Art Project:

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

For North Dakota, the kids chose to depict a scene at Theodore Roosevelt National Park, with bison roaming the landscape. Colored sharpies were used for the outlines, with oil pastels for the bison and landscape, and watercolors for the water and sky.

North Carolina

For North Carolina we appreciated learning about native history in the area, and more recent civil rights history. The kids enjoyed reading some Carl Sandberg poetry, and connecting more to complex moments in NC history through historical novels (Soft Rain, and Stella by Starlight). 

Books:

• North Carolina (A True Book: My United States) by Ann O. Squire

• T is for TarHeel: A North Carolina Alphabet by Carol Crane

• Lift as You Climb: The Story of Ella Baker by Patricia Hruby Powell

• Salt in His Shoes: Michael Jordan in Pursuit of a Dream by Deloris Jordan and Roslyn M. Jordan

• Dream Big: Michael Jordan and the Pursuit of Excellence by Deloris Jordan

• To Fly: The Story of the Wright Brothers by Wendie C. Old

• Who Were the Wright Brothers? By James Buckley Jr.

• Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down by Andrea Davis Pinkney

• Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins by Carole Boston Weatherford

• The Ride: The Legend of Betsy Dowdy by Kitty Griffin

• An Island Scrapbook: Dawn to Dusk on a Barrier Island by Virginia Wright-Frierson

• Roanoke: The Lost Colony--An Unsolved Mystery from History by Jane Yolen

• Carl Sandburg: Poetry for Young People

• Carl Sandburg : adventures of a poet by Penelope Niven

• Nina: A Story of Nina Simone by Traci N. Todd

• The Indian Removal Act and the Trail of Tears by Susan E. Hamen (Epic)

• Soft Rain: A Story of the Cherokee Trail of Tears by Cornelia Cornelissen

• Article about Myrtle Driver Johnson: https://smokymountainnews.com/archives/item/25547-cherokee-from-the-heart-beloved-woman-reflects-on-a-wandering-life-rooted-in-cherokee-language 

• Stella by Starlight by Sharon M. Draper

• Ernestine’s Milky Way by Kerry Madden

• My Hands Sing the Blues: Romare Bearden’s Childhood Journey (Except we read this in NY)

• Poet: The Remarkable Story of George Moses Horton

Art Project:

The Wright Brothers Flight at Kitty Hawk, NC

Although the Wright Brothers were from Ohio, they tested their planes in North Carolina, and it is there that they first succeeded at flight! The kids wanted to depict this for their art project using sharpie and oil pastel, with water color for the sky.

New York

New York took us a bit longer than usual, because we had an extra long reading list, but we really enjoyed reading about so many interesting people and about the creation of a number of NY landmarks from Central Park to the Statue of Liberty to the balloons for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!

Books:

• New York (A True Book: My United States) by Cody Crane

• E is for Empire: A New York State Alphabet by Ann E. Burg

• Dropping In On New York City

• The Big Rock by Bruce Hiscock

• The Big Tree by Bruce Hiscock

• Ocean Speaks: How Marie Tharp Revealed the Ocean's Biggest Secret by Jess Keating

• Lizzie Demands A Seat! Elizabeth Jennings Fights for Streetcar Rights By Beth Anderson

• She Was the First!: The Trailblazing Life of Shirley Chisholm by Katheryn Russell-Brown

• Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers’ Strike of 1909 by Michelle Markel

• Patricia’s vision: The Doctor Who Saved Sight by Michelle Lord

• Look Up With Me: Neil deGrasse Tyson: A Life Among the Stars by Jennifer Berne

• Emma's Poem: The Voice of the Statue of Liberty by Linda Glaser

• A Green Place to Be: The Creation of Central Park by Ashley Benham Yazdani

• How Emily Saved the Bridge by Frieda Wishinsky

• Benny Goodman & Teddy Wilson: Taking the Stage as the First Black-and-White Jazz Band in History By: Lesa Cline-Ransome

• Who Is Sonia Sotomayor? By Megan Stine

• Molly, by golly! : the legend of Molly Williams, America's first female firefighter by Dianne Ochiltree 

• Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold

• Jacob Riis’s Camera by Alexis O’Neill

• The Empire State Building by Lisa Bullard

• The Erie Canal by Lisa Bullard

• Mr. Lincoln's Whiskers by Karen B. Winnick

• Watch the Stars Come Out by Riki Levinson

• The Story of the Statue of Liberty by Betsy Maestro

• Her Right Foot by Dave Eggers

• You Can't Take a Balloon into the Metropolitan Museum by Jacqueline Preiss Weitzman

• The Erie Canal by Peter Spier

• The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge by Hildegarde H. Swift

• Balloons over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy’s Parade by Melissa Sweet

• The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden

• From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg

• Areli is a Dreamer by Areli Morales

• The Cot in the Living Room by Hilda Burgos

• Goodbye Havana! Hola New York! By Edie Colon

• The Hindenburg Disaster by Peter Benoit

• Flat Stanley: Lost in New York by Kate Egan

• Lucky Broken Girl by Ruth Behar (maybe for me to read…)

• The New York Mets by Mark Stewart :)

• Saffron Ice Cream by Rashin Kheiriyeh

• This Very Tree by Sean Rubin

• Tigers and Tea with Toppy by Barbara Kerley (because Eva like tigers)

• Under New York by Linda High

• Action Jackson by Jan Greenberg

• Jake Makes a World by Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts

• My Hands Sing the Blues by Jeanne Harvey

• Harlem Renaissance Party by Faith Ringgold

• Rebecca American Girl books

• Samantha American Girl books

• All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor

Art Project:

Statue of Liberty and NY Skyline

For New York the kids wanted to depict the Statue of Liberty. The buildings and statue are colored sharpie, with oil pastel for the color on the pedestal and for the waves, and watercolors for water and sky.

New Mexico

The kids loved learning about New Mexico - from the various Pueblos to National Parks (White Sands and Carlsbad Caverns) to the Balloon Fiesta, there is so much to learn and do and see!

Books:

• Children of Clay: A Family of Pueblo Potters (We Are Still Here: Native Americans Today) by Rina Swentzell

• Shaped By Her Hands: Potter Maria Martinez by Anna Harber Freeman

• New Mexico (My United States: A True Book) by Michael Burgan

• E is for Enchantment: A New Mexico Alphabet by Helen Foster James

• Tía's Tamales by Ana Baca

• A Spoon for Every Bite by Joe Hayes

• Elan, Son of Two Peoples by Heidi Smith Hyde

• Kiki’s Journey by Kristy Orona-Ramirez

• I’m in Charge of Celebrations by Byrd Baylor

• Chester Nez and the unbreakable code : a Navajo code talker's story by Joseph Bruchac

• Through Georgia’s Eyes by Rachel Victoria Rodriguez

• Tortilla Sun by Jennifer Cervantes

• Josephina American Girl Books

• The Farolitos of Christmas by Rudolfo Anaya 

• Southwest Sunrise by Nikki Grimes

• The Water Lady by Alice B. McGinty

• Saige by Jessie Haas (independent read)

• The Day It Snowed Tortillas

• Carlos and the Squash Plant by Jan Romero Stevens

• The Making of the Atom Bomb by Victoria Sherrow

• The Santa Fe Trail by Linda Thompson

• Georgia rises : a day in the life of Georgia O'Keeffe by Lasky, Kathryn

Art Project:

Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta

For New Mexico there was no question that the kids wanted to portray the famous Balloon Fiesta. Balloons are done with colored sharpies, with water color sky and field. 

New Jersey

 For New Jersey, we especially enjoyed reading about baseball, listening to some Frank Sinatra tunes, and reading poems by William Carlos Williams.

Books:

• G is for Garden State by Eileen Cameron

• She Loved Baseball: The Effa Manley Story by Audrey Vernick

• Meadowlands: A Wetlands Survival Story by Thomas Yezerski

• The Crossing: How George Washington Saved the American Revolution by Jim Murphy

• The Legend of the Cape May Diamond

• New Jersey (My United States: A True Book) by Nel Yomtov

• Sand in My Shoes by Wendy Ann Kesselman

• Brothers at Bat: The True Story of an Amazing All-Brother Baseball Team by Audrey Vernick

• The Ballot Box Battle by Emily Arnold McCully

• Heroes of the Surf by Elisa Carbone

• Night of the Moonjellies by Mark Shasha

• Penny from Heaven by Jennifer L. Holm

• Who Is Judy Blume? By Kirsten Anderson

• 16 Words: William Carlos Williams and "The Red Wheelbarrow" by Lisa Jean Rogers

• A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams by Jen Bryant

• Paul Robeson by Eloise Greenfield

• Grandpa Stops a War: A Paul Robeson story by Susan Robeson

• Frankie Liked to Sing by John Seven

• Article: https://www.hobokenmuseum.org/hhmblog/baseball-hoboken-brief-history/ 

• Thomas Edison by Mike Venezia (or any Edison book)

Art Project:

Knobbed Whelks on the Jersey Shore

For New Jersey the kids decided to depict knobbed whelks (the official state shell!) on the Jersey Shore. Primarily made using colored sharpie and oil pastel, with water color for the water. 

New Hampshire

During our New Hampshire study we especially enjoyed reading the poetry of Robert Frost and looking at photos of the landscape.

Books:

• New Hampshire by Nelson Yomtov

• Miss Hickory by Carolyn Bailey

• The New Hampshire Colony by Kevin Cunningham

• Sarah Gives Thanks by Mike Allegra

• New England Icons by Bruce Irving (for potential images of Canterbury Shaker Village and other historic sites)

• The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

• Robert Frost by Robert Frost (2017 book)

• Alan Shepard: The First American in Space by Tamara Orr

• Papa Is a Poet: A Story About Robert Frost by Natalie S. Bober

• Marvelous Mattie: How Margaret E. Knight Became an Inventor by Emily Arnold McCully

• G is for Granite: A New Hampshire Alphabet by Marie Harris (Epic)

• Pianna by Mary Lyn Ray

• Native Nations of the Northeast by Barbara Krasner

Art project: 

Fall foliage reflections

For New Hampshire, we decided we wanted to depict fall foliage, and followed the instructions from an art projects blog we found online. Check out Elements of the Art Room to see the instructions.

Nevada

During our Nevada study the kids especially enjoyed a Google Earth visit to the Hoover Dam and to the Las Vegas Strip, and enjoyed learning about the history of wild horses in the American west. 

Books:

• S is for Silver: A Nevada Alphabet by Eleanor Coerr

• Nevada (My United States: A True Book) by Josh Gregory

• The Hoover Dam by Jeffrey Zuehlke

• Wild Horse Annie: Friend of the Mustangs by Tracey Fern

• You Wouldn't Want to Work on the Hoover Dam! By Ian Graham

• Paiute by Barbara Gray-Kanatiiosh

• The Fire Bringer by Margaret Hodges

• Hoover Dam by Lori Dittemer

• Rhyolite: The True Story of a Ghost Town by Diane Siebert

• Desert Town  by Bonnie Geisert

• Paiute Princess: The Story of Sarah Winnemucca by Deborah Kogan Ray

• Snowshoe Thompson by Nancy Smiler Levinson

• Ivy Takes Care by Rosemary Wells

• Lake Tahoe by Pam Zollman

Art Project:

Hoover Dam

The Nevada art project depicts the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead. Materials used are sharpie, oil pastel, and water colors.