Showing posts with label American Girls. Show all posts
Showing posts with label American Girls. Show all posts

Trip to Chicago

Posted by My Heart Song

3/26/2012

Last Friday I took my two children to Chicago, to fulfill the promise I made to my daughter last September that she could earn a trip to the American Girl store in Chicago when she read through all of the historical American Girl books.

The train ride and Chicago visit were more "firsts" that happened last week. My husband wasn't able to go with us, so I can say it was a first for me too - first trip to the big city with two young children. Besides being very tired at the end of the day, it went very well.

My kids were so very excited for the train ride. It was 2 and 1/2 hours one way, so it was a LOT of time to be on the train. Thankfully they both spent most of the time looking out the window at the scenery. However, when we left it was still dark, so that was a rather boring hour!

 It was a foggy day in Chicago. It rained later in the day but not when we were walking from the train station to the mall. Here are the kids on the bridge over the Chicago River.

While we were walking, we stumbled upon this 26 foot statue of Marilyn Monroe. That definitely wasn't there 10 years ago when I lived in Chicago!

My daughter in front of the display case with the historical girls. Cecile is her favorite historical girl (the one in blue, seen above my daughter's head in this picture).
My daughter posing with "McKenna" - the 2012 Girl of the Year. My daughter isn't very familiar with the modern "Girls of the Year" - as our focus has been on the historical girls rather than the modern-day books.


My daughter had a budget of $35 to spend at the American Girl store. She already owned (second-hand) a doll, who accompanied us. My daughter settled on buying a shirt for herself and a matching shirt for her doll. That's as far as $35 will go at the American Girl store (which we knew ahead of time so we anticipated not getting much there).

My 4-year-old son went with us. He was most excited about the train ride and visiting the Lego store (which is right-next-door to the American Girl store at the mall in Chicago). So here are a few pictures from our visit to the Lego store.

The kids posing with Woody, made out of Legos. My rambunctious boy nearly knocked him over. Yah, that's my son.

We loved the fact that the Lego store has Legos out for kids to play with. This was a great outlet for the kids, after spending hours on the train and visiting the American Girl store where you can't really play with anything.

One of the "must do" items the kids had come up with was a taxi ride. So after our time at the mall, we took a taxi back to the train station. No picture of that, but my daughter says it was a crazy adventure that involved lots of honking. [Having lived in Chicago for a few years, I thought it was tame. Perspective changes everything.]

First train ride.
First walk in downtown Chicago.
First time at the American Girl store.
First time at the Lego store.
First taxi ride.

A promise fulfilled.

A good day!

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Children's Reading List: American Girl Julie and Lapbook

Posted by My Heart Song


3/14/2012

Well, my daughter has done it! She's finished reading ALL of the American Girl historical books!

Julie's books were the last to be read. Julie lived in California in 1974. I admit I was more leery about these books than the others. I wondered how the hippie, free-love movement would play into these books. There is a book that deals specifically with gender equality as well and I wondered how this would be presented. Julie's parents are divorced, which was another factor that played into my unease. [Part of my concern is related to American Girl's website, which, in my opinion, takes the feminist agenda beyond gender equality and into the realm of gender superiority]

I did not preview the books before my daughter read them. I did, however, talk with my daughter about my concerns. I asked her to be on the look-out as she read for anything that bothered her and to talk with me about it. And I asked more questions about the books as she read each one. Some good discussions were born out of these talks and my concerns, so I am glad we could talk about it together. Part of growing up is realizing that other people have different views - we don't all think alike and that is fine - and yet we should know where we stand on things.

We discussed President Nixon and Watergate, as well as laws about gender equality in schools and sports. We talked about families and how divorce used to be uncommon. We made the connection between women going to work during WWII while their husbands were off fighting in the war (something we talked about when reading Molly's books) and women wanting to continue to work outside the home after WWII, creating 2-income families as well as the need for daycare.

As we have done with all of the other American Girls, we made a lapbook for Julie. A lapbook is like a fancy character study. All of the templates we used can be found here, for free.

Here's my daughter with the cover of the lapbook - a drawing of Julie.

This is page one of the lapbook, with tabs detailing Who is Julie, Mother, Father, Nutmeg (Julie's pet bunny rabbit), Changes in Julie's Life, and 4 fun facts about life in 1974.


Here my daughter is showing page 2 of the lapbook, with tabs describing Julie's Favorite Things, styles of Housing in Julie's day, Conflict that Julie experienced with others, some facts about the world in 1974, and a map showing where Julie lived (San Francisco).

My daughter began reading the American Girl books in September and now has finished all of them. My favorite part - the fact that my daughter is learning about American history but she thinks she's just reading for fun!

I'm so proud of her! She has earned a trip to Chicago to the American Girl store. We are planning that trip right now and will surely post some pictures afterwards.

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Children's Reading List: American Girl Molly and Lapbook

Posted by My Heart Song


3/5/2012

My daughter is zipping through the American Girl books, reading them in historical order. She's now finished Molly's books. Molly lived in 1944 and her father was serving as a medical doctor with the military overseas. WWII was fascinating to my daughter, which surprised me a bit. She learned about victory gardens and recycled scrap metal and other creative ways that all Americans pitched in to help the war effort.

In addition to the 6 "Molly" storybooks, there is a supplemental book we used called Welcome to Molly's World. This book helped give historical context to Molly's life. It's full of real photographs and brief snippets of life in 1944, with topics such as fashion, employment, the issues at stake in WWII, the role of women on the home front, a map of what a small town may have looked like, a cut-away shot of what a typical American home looked like, who was President at the time, etc. There are other books like this for the other American Girls also and they are a real treasure, if you want to delve more into the historical context of each girl.

As we've done with all the American Girls we've read about, we created a lapbook for Molly. A lapbook is like a fancy and colorful book report / character study. All of the materials we used for the lapbook can be found for free here.

Here is my daughter showing the cover picture of Molly, which she drew. Here she shows page 1 of the lapbook, with lift-the-flap items for Who is Molly, her mother, her father, her best friend, conflict (who does she clash with in the stories), and 4 quick facts about life in 1944. Here is page 2, describing Molly's house, fashion, favorite things, her pet dog, and a map showing where Molly lived in America.

I think Molly was one of my daughter's favorite girls to study. Now, though, she's moved on to the last American Girl - Julie - from 1974. She's already told me "Mom, you should be buying those train tickets to Chicago now!" When she's done with Julie, she will have earned a trip to the American Girl store in Chicago. It won't be long now!

Now, I better put on my thinking cap for what book series she should start on next. Hmmmm. Any ideas would be welcome!

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Children's Reading List: American Girl Kit and Lapbook

Posted by My Heart Song

2/20/2012

Kit. 1934. The era of Shirley Temple, typewriters, and the Great Depression. Having read all of the American Girl books in chronological order has led to some fascinating discussions with my daughter about how much has changed and what things have stayed the same. Reading about Kit from 1934, there are many things in Kit's life that are much like our lives today. Cars. School. Newspapers. Electricity. In that way, 1934 doesn't seem like it was that long ago. Talking about the Great Depression was also timely, as we compared and contrasted that with current economic woes in America.

As we've done with all of the other American Girls before Kit, we made a lapbook detailing her story. All of the materials we used for the lapbook can be found for free here.My daughter drew a picture of Kit for the cover of her lapbook. Here my daughter shows page 1 of the lapbook, with mini-books about Who is Kit, Mother, Father, Best Friend, Kit's World, Kit's Pet Dog Grace, and Life in 1934.
Here is page 2 of the lapbook, with tabs detailing more of Life in 1934, Conflict for Kit, What Changes Kit's Life, a few of Kit's favorite things, and a map showing where Kit lived (Ohio).

We've already requested the books for the next girl - Molly - from the library. After Molly, there is just one more girl left! Yeah!

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Children's Reading List: American Girl Rebecca and Lapbook

Posted by My Heart Song

2/8/2012

My daughter has finished reading the book series for the next American Girl - Rebecca from 1914.

Rebecca is from a Jewish family of immigrants from Russia. They live in a cramped apartment in New York and raise money for other extended family members to make the trip to America. My daughter asked some deeper questions about what Jewish people believe after reading these books. She also found it fascinating that "moving pictures" were just being invented and were woven into Rebecca's books. She proudly recognized the name Charlie Chaplin.

As we've done for the previous girls, we worked on a lapbook for Rebecca.
All of the materials we used can be found for free here. Since Rebecca is a newer girl, there aren't templates yet designed for her. We used the generic templates that can be used for any girl. Here's my daughter with the cover of her lapbook - a picture she drew of Rebecca. She included a menorah in the background. Page 1 of the lapbook, with mini-books describing Rebecca's mother, father, father's job, hobbies, house, fashion from 1914, my daughter's favorite book from the series (and why) and what lessons she learned from the books.

Page 2 of the lapbook shows mini-books describing Rebecca's best friend, her hometown, her pet, and 4 fun facts about life in 1914, along with a map highlighting New York (where Rebecca's story takes place).

There are now 3 more girls before my daughter has read all of the American Girl books (for the historical characters) and earned her way to visit the American Girl Store in Chicago. Looks like I should prepare myself that visit to be in March, at the rate she's going.

Moving on to Kit, who lived during the Great Depression.

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Children's Reading List: American Girl Samantha and Lapbook

Posted by My Heart Song

1/30/2012

My daughter has finished reading about American Girl Samantha, who lived in 1904.

Way back when I was a girl, Samantha was my favorite American Girl. At that time, there were only 3 (as opposed to the 9 or 10 they have now, and are always adding more). I thought Samantha was very pretty and rich and I thought the Victorian era was so beautiful and idyllic. I remember reading a few of the Samantha books back then. Fast forward 20-some years and now my daughter is enjoying those same books, which is wonderful (and also makes me feel old).

As we've done with all of the American Girls we've studied so far, we made a lapbook to highlight Samantha's story and life. All of our lapbooking templates can be found for free here.


Here's my daughter showing the cover of her Samantha lapbook - a drawing she made of Samantha in her fancy house. Here's page one, with flaps for: Who is Samantha, Samantha's World, Living in 1904, a house from her era, and Fashion.

Here's page two, with mini-books showing: favorite things, favorite pastimes, what changes in Samantha's life, conflict, and a map showing where Samantha lived (New York).

Only 4 more American Girls to study (Rebecca, Kit, Molly, and Julie). My daughter is earning a trip to Chicago to the American Girl store by reading through these books chronologically. Looks like she'll have earned that trip in a month or so, if she continues at this pace!

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Children's Reading List: American Girl Addy and Lapbook

Posted by My Heart Song


1/19/2012

My daughter recently finished reading the next book series in the American Girl collection: Addy.

Addy and her mama are runaway slaves, living in 1864. They escape, but leave behind Addy's baby sister, older brother and papa. The family is eventually reunited and find freedom. Although these books may pose an unrealistically happy ending to this family's story, they were a great introduction to the Civil War time era, slavery and the Underground Railroad.

We have not yet studied this time period in our homeschool history lessons (my daughter moved on with the American Girl books while we're studying American history at a slower pace in school). After reading this series, I pulled out some other materials to supplement her learning.

We have numerous Adventures in Odyssey tapes, including episodes on Abraham Lincoln and the Underground Railroad, so my girl has been enjoying the history woven into those entertaining radio dramas.

My daughter also created a lapbook for Addy, as she's done for all of the American Girls she's read about so far. All of the lapbooking templates we use can be found for free here.

This is the lapbook cover - a picture my daughter drew of Addy, in front of the sewing shop where her mother found work.

Here's the first set of pages of the lapbook, with mini-books showing Who Is Addy, her Father, her Mother, Living in 1864, What Changes in Addy's Life, and more descriptions of Addy's World.
The lapbook opens up to two more pages, with mini-flaps about Addy's pet, her best friend, her favorite things, conflict in the storyline, and a map showing where Addy lived (in the South and the North).

So my daughter has read about Kaya, Felicity, Josefina, Kirsten, Marie-Grace and Cecile... and now Addy. These girls span 100 years, from 1764 to 1864. What a great way to learn about American history! Next up is Samantha from 1904.

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Children's Reading List: American Girls Marie-Grace and Cecile and Lapbook

Posted by My Heart Song

12/13/2011

My daughter is rapidly working her way through the American Girl book collection. She has now finished reading the stories of American Girls Marie-Grace and Cecile.
These two girls are brand new and belong to the same time period - 1853. They are friends and their stories overlap and intertwine. So instead of 6 books about 1 girl (the pattern for all of the other American Girl book series), for these gals there are 3 books about Marie-Grace and 3 books about Cecile - all taking place in New Orleans in 1853.

I did not read these books alongside my daughter, but I did ask a lot of questions as she worked through them. I like the fact that American Girl chose to address the race issue with these girls head-on (Marie-Grace is white, Cecile is a free black girl). This lays some ground work for the next girl in line to study - Addy - who is a slave girl in the south in 1864. I admit that I'd rather shy away from discussing slavery and some of the difficult points in American history, but these books have brought it up in a sensitive way which has helped open up a dialogue for my daughter and me.

My daughter made a lapbook for these girls, as she's done for all of the American Girls we've read about so far. A lapbook is simply a fancy book report or character study. All of the lapbook templates we use can be found here and are free for anyone to use.

Since Marie-Grace and Cecile are brand new to the American Girl collection, there aren't any lapbook materials specific to them, their location or their time period. So we used more of the "generic" templates that can be used for any of the girls and created a few of our own to make specific for these girls.


Here's my daughter with her lapbook cover - her own drawing of the two girls.

Inside page 1 - with flaps describing the personalities of Marie-Grace and Cecile, fashions, fun facts, houses, best friends, a description of New Orleans in 1853.

Inside page 2 - with flaps about pets, hobbies, favorite past times, fun facts, two interesting facts about the year 1853 and a map showing New Orleans.

5 American Girls down and 6 more to go... my daughter has already moved on to the next girl and is on track to finish her books before Christmas.

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Children's Reading List: American Girl Kirsten and Lapbook

Posted by My Heart Song

11/21/2011

My daughter is rapidly working through the American Girl books and this week finished reading about the 4th girl, Kirsten, who lived in 1854 during America's frontier days. The Kirsten books reminded me a lot of the Little House on the Prairie books, which my daughter has read before. So she is quite familiar with the covered wagon era.

In the first book, Kirsten's family immigrated to America from Sweden and they included some of the stories about the boat ride over. I have ancestors from Sweden and Norway, so I found that to be interesting. I told my daughter that it's possible that Kirsten's life and was similar to the lives of her great-great-great-great grandparents. That's really neat to think about.

My daughter made a lapbook for Kirsten, as she's done for the other American Girls. All of the lapbook materials we use can be found here, for free.

Here she is with the cover - a picture of Kirsten that she drew.

Here's page 1 of the lapbook, showing mini-books about Kirsten's World, her mother, her father, conflict, fashion and 4 interesting facts about life in 1854.

And here is page 2, showing hobbies, pets, best friend, favorite things, what changes in Kirsten's life and a map of where Kirsten lived (Minnesota).

The pictures of Kirsten often show her with her long hair in pigtail braids, wound into circles. My daughter thought we should try this with her hair, so we did. She liked it and slept with it that way, leaving her usually straight hair very wavy the next day.

Four American Girls down and she's moving on. There's no slowing this girl down when it comes to reading!

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Children's Reading List: American Girl Josefina and Lapbook

Posted by My Heart Song


11/8/2011

My daughter is zipping through the American Girl books. She's now finished reading about the third American Girl - Josefina, who grew up on a ranch in New Mexico in 1824.

I've not read any of the Josefina books so I relied on my daughter to pass on the highlights of each book. For each American Girl, there are 6 main books that tell her story.

When my girl finished the books, we made a lapbook about Josefina just as we had done for the previous two girls. A lapbook is simply a fancy formatted book report or character study. All of the American Girl lapbook materials we use can be found online for free at this site.

Here's my daughter with her lapbook, showing the cover picture she drew of Josefina in her bright Mexican dress.

Here's the inside of the lapbook, showing mini-books on Who Is Josefina, Living in 1824, Hobbies, Favorite Things, What I Learned From This Story, Prized Possessions, Pets and What Josefina's House Was Like.

Then the lapbook unfolds to two more pages, showing mini-books on Living in 1824, Conflict, Josefina's Father's Job, My Favorite Book of the Series, Spanish Words and a map of the United States to show where Josefina lived.

My daughter liked the numerous Spanish words found throughout the story. She did very well coming up with a few facts about life in 1824 also, to put in the mini-books about that time period. For example, Josefina's family (being ranchers) had a bed in their house near the kitchen were orphaned lambs were kept and at Christmas a special play is performed, acting out scenes from the first Christmas with Jesus in the manger.

My daughter read through this series very quickly and is again itching to move on to the next historical American Girl - Kirsten, from the pioneer era. She is compelled by both her love of reading and her desire to take me up on my offer of a trip to Chicago to the American Girl store when she finishes all of the books!

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Children's Reading List:: American Girl Felicity and Lapbook

Posted by My Heart Song


10/20/2011

My daughter has now finished reading about Felicity, the next girl in the American Girl collection. Felicity is the girl who lived during colonial times in America (around 1774). We are learning about this time period in our homeschool history studies.

As we did with the previous American Girl study on Kaya, my daughter made a lapbook for Felicity. A lapbook is a cross between a book report and a character study, but done in a creative format. All of the American Girl lapbook templates we used can be found online for free here.

 Here's my daughter with the cover - a picture of Felicity which she drew (and she proudly wrote FELICITY in cursive... she's just learning to write in cursive).

 The inside of the lapbook, page 1, showing little tabs to describe who Felicity is, as well as her mother, father, home, horses and favorite things. All of these open up and my daughter has written and/or drawn something about each aspect of Felicity's life.

And page 2 shows a tab on conflict in Felicity's life, what changed in her life through the book series, 4 tabs describing what life was like in 1774 and a map of where Felicity lived (in Virginia colony, which covered way more than simply the current day state of Virginia).

Both my daughter and I learned a lot through this study on colonial days in America. My daughter thought it was so funny that big white wigs were worn by men and women. Learning the difference between the Whigs and the Tories and discussing which side we would've been on was very interesting.

My daughter says she really enjoyed the Felicity study... but she's already itching to move on to the next American Girl - Josefina from New Mexico in the year 1824.

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Children's Reading List: American Girl Kaya and Lapbook

Posted by My Heart Song

9/13/2011

It's official - we've begun reading through the American Girl books. We started with Kaya because she is the "first" American Girl chronologically (the setting for Kaya's life is 1764 in the Pacific Northwest) and she is a Native American.

This was a great series for my daughter. She loves to read, especially fiction. This series beautifully supplemented what we've been studying in school about Native American history, all the while entertaining my daughter with the fictional characters.


We made a lapbook for the Kaya series. All of those lapbooking printouts can be found here and are completely free. It's been a while since we made a lapbook and my daughter practically begged me to make this one, when I told her that I had free access to the basic materials. Above is the cover she made for the lapbook - her own artistry.

Here she is showing the inside of the lapbook - the first set of pages with mini-books focusing on describing what Kaya was like, what her housing was like, what her mother and father were like, some of Kaya's favorite things, and what life was generally like in 1764.

Then you can turn the page in the lapbook and here is the next set of mini-books. These focused on Kaya's horses, what changed in Kaya's life throughout the series, what conflict Kaya had with someone else in the books, and a map of the United States highlighting the parts of Oregon, Idaho and Washington where Kaya's Nez Perce tribe lived.

I've made my daughter this promise: we will read through all of the American Girl books as we study U.S. history and when we are done we will take a train ride to Chicago and go to the American Girl store together. She can't wait! I'm not sure if I should let her loose to just read all of the books quickly (which she would love to do and would finish them this fall) or make her wait until we go through each period of history so she better understands what is taking place in the books. I'd like for her to go the slower route, but we'll see.

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