A large part of our social studies curriculum is focused on
learning about our state. We study the geography, history, government, and
economy of Maine. Friday, March 15 was Maine Statehood Day, because on that date in 1820, Maine became the 23rd state to join the Union. In honor of the
occasion, we had a Maine Birthday party. It was a great way to review some
of what we've learned about our state as well as just have some fun!
This was my morning message on the SMARTBoard. Students took turns
dragging each number to the correct spot.
Students colored Maine symbols to glue onto a party hat.
The hats came out awesome!
We had a special
snack of Maine foods, (or in some cases, foods meant to represent Maine
products.)
Our menu consisted
of blueberries, (our state
berry), Goldfish crackers,
pretzel logs, apples, B&M Baked Beans, potato chips, Moxie, (which was invented in Maine),
apple juice, and Poland Spring water. We used to have baked goods like blueberry muffins, but due to food allergies, we can no longer have them. The kids did not seem to mind at all and some even came back for
thirds! There were a lot of purple teeth in the room!
We did the birthday
chant that we usually do when it's someone's birthday.
We played "Pin the
Tail on the Moose"!
You can't see everyone's tail in this picture because some of them were really far away. After being spun around 3 times while blindfolded, you can get pretty dizzy! Connor got so turned around, he almost walked out of the room! Abby had the tail closest to the correct spot.
We also played
Maine Jeopardy, boys against the girls. It got pretty intense! I adapted the rules a bit. First, I did
not require students to answer in the form of a question. Second, while each team
took turns choosing a category and point value, both teams had the opportunity
to answer every question.
We used iPads to write the answers using the free Show Me App. Each team discussed possible answers and had to come up with one answer for the team. The kids had a ball! It was quite competitive right up until the end, when the boys pulled out the win. Mrs. Clark found the cool free Jeopardy template on the Smart Exchange and we just added our own questions. We will play again with questions from other subject areas.
All in all, I would say that our celebration was a success! Happy Birthday Maine!
