As the History SOL sneaks up on us, I am preparing my kiddos in any way that I can! Although in the big picture standardized tests do not truly show how much a child has learned, they are unfortunately a vital part of life. The kids will be taking these until the are adults, so we might as well get into the swing of them now so that they can feel secure and confident in their testing abilities.


One of the topics that I notice is particularly difficult for my third-graders is explorers. In Virginia, the kids need to know Christopher Newport, Christopher Columbus, Juan Ponce de Leon, and Jacques Cartier. All their names sound similar (Chris, Chris, Cartier, Columbus, BLAHHHHHHH), and all their sailing intentions were pretty darn similar. Minus Juan and his hope to find the fountain of youth. Nice try, Juan. #fountainofyouthfail

Oh, Jacques! Such a charmer.

Explorers Brochure!

Impacts of Europeans on American Indian

This year, the kids and I created a big mural for the hallway. I am stoked with how it turned out. Today on the kids’ morning work I wrote questions like “Where did Christopher Columbus land?” and “Who wanted to discover the fountain of youth?” A couple of my kiddos raised their hand and proclaimed they did not remember. I smiled and said “GO OUTSIDE!!” They ran out there and found the answer! My teammates are going to bring their kid to my wall for a “field trip” to study all the different explorers.