4th Grade Theme-by-Theme Resources for HMR

 

 

Theme 1 (Journeys)

 

Launching the Theme:

 

United Streaming:

¯    Rafting AlaskaÕs Wildest Rivers (clip on AlaskaÕs Rivers: The Last Great Frontier)

 

Selection 1:  Akiak

 

United Streaming:

¯    The Jeff Corwin Experience: Alaska: An Extreme Environment

¯    National Parks: AlaskaÕs National Parks

 

Iditarod Race Across Alaska:  Information about the race, the dogs and Alaska from Scholastic

http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/iditarod/

 

Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race: Official website of the Iditarod race

http://www.iditarod.com/

 

Sled Dogs: An Alaskan Epic: Information, pictures and an animation from PBS (go to Dogsledding 101 link)

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/sleddogs/index.html

 

Federal Aviation Administration, Alaskan Region's Weather Cameras: View current weather conditions in various parts of Alaska

http://akweathercams.faa.gov/

 

All About Snow: Information from the National Snow and Ice Data Center

http://nsidc.org/snow/

 

Selection 2:  GrandfatherÕs Journey

 

Japan: Pictures and information about Japanese culture and life in Japan today from a teacher on a Fulbright program

http://www.amphi.com/~psteffen/fmf/

 

Japan for 6 to 10 Year Old Children: Site with pictures and information about Japanese culture from a teacher on a Fulbright program

http://www.sover.net/~johnd/categories.html

 

Selection 3:  Finding the Titanic

 

United Streaming:

¯    Science of the Sea: Places in the Sea (clip on A Closer Look at Shipwrecks)

 

I Survived the Titanic: The story of a 12-year old girl, Ruth Becker, who survived the sinking of the Titanic

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/media/world/9607/titanic.html

 

RMS Titanic, Inc.: The official website of the Titanic with photos and historic and current information about the ship

http://www.titanic-online.com/

 

Ocean World: Icebergs: Pictures and information about icebergs

http://oceanworld.tamu.edu/students/iceberg/

 

International Ice Patrol: Official home page of the International Ice Patrol from the Coast Guard

http://www.uscg.mil/lantarea/iip/home.html

 

Selection 4:  By the Shores of Silver Lake

 

United Streaming:

¯    Elementary Video Adventures: Early America (clip on Trains)

¯    Follow My Leader (clip on Jimmy Struggles to Adjust to Loss of His Sight)

 

Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History: Pictures of the Transcontinental Railroad

http://cprr.org/

 

Central Pacific Railroad, Photographic History Museum: Site contains many images of old trains

http://cprr.org/Museum/index.html

 

The New Nation: Read about the Transcontinental Railroad on AmericaÕs Story

http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/jb/nation/train_1

 

Driving the Last Spike: Pictures and information from the Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco

http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist1/rail.html

 

Welcome to the Braille Bug Site: Information about Braille and blindness for kids from the American Foundation for the Blind

http://www.afb.org/braillebug/

 

Blindness: Information for kids about blindness from a visually impaired teacher

http://www.mcwdn.org/Blind/BlindKidsMain.html

 

 

 

Theme 2 (American Stories)

 

Launching the Theme:

 

United Streaming:

¯    America At Its Best: America: A Land of Many People (clips on What is Diversity?, So Many Americans!)

¯    This Is Our Country (clips on Different Cultures, Landmarks)

 

Main Selection 1: Tomas and the Library Lady

 

Weedpatch Camp: Pictures and information about the migrant camp in California.  Teachers could share the site when introducing the selection to build background about the lifestyle of the main character.

http://www.weedpatchcamp.com/camp.htm

 

Families Living in the Camps: Black and white photos of families living in migrant camps that could be shared by teachers when introducing the selection to build background about the lifestyle of the main character.

http://www.cyesis.org/webinstruction/grapesofwrath/pictures2.htm

 

Take a Tour of the DDC: Online Flash tour of the Dewey Decimal Classification system used by libraries. Teachers could share some of the Flash tour with students so theyÕd get a better understanding of how books are categorized in the library. (Click on the Take Multimedia Tour link for information about libraries; click on LetÕs Do The DCC and then on Dinosaurs since Tomas read about dinosaurs). The Information and Study Skills lesson (page 181C-D) that corresponds to this selection covers Using the Library so this website addresses that lesson as well.

http://www.oclc.org/dewey/resources/tour/

 

Main Selection 2: TanyaÕs Reunion

 

United Streaming:

¯    What is a Family? (Family History clip)

 

Wessels Living History Farm: Learn about the history of farming, watch the web cams, and take a virtual tour of a living history farm. Teachers could share some of the 180-degree views of the farm if students need to know more about farming to understand the story.

http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/

 

Main Selection 3: Boss of the Plains

 

Stetson: The hatÕs official website.  It provides background about Stetson hats for teachers.

http://www.stetsonhat.com/

 

The Gold Rush: Images and information about the California gold rush from PBS. The pictures could be shared with the class to build background for the time period of the story.

http://www.pbs.org/goldrush/

 

American Cowgirl: Movies and history of the women of the west.  This site provides additional background about their lifestyle.

http://www.kodak.com/US/en/corp/features/cowgirl/  

 

National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum Diamond Ranch:  The museumÕs official website for children. Click on the Songs link. Content supports Cowboy Songs selection.

http://www.nationalcowboymuseum.org/diamondr/index.html

 

Main Selection 4: A Very Important Day

 

United Streaming:

¯    America At Its Best: What It Means To Be An American Citizen (clip on What Is An American Citizen?)

 

Ancestors in the Americas: Stories about immigration in America, including QuickTime movies. Teachers can share clips about immigrants to American to build background.

http://www.cetel.org/programs.html

 

Ellis Island: Audio and video files about Ellis Island and immigration. Teachers can share audio files or clips about immigrants coming to Ellis Island to build background for the selection.

http://www.historychannel.com/ellisisland/index2.html

 

Immigration: Stories of yesterday and today from Scholastic that could be read by students, if time permits.

http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/immigration/index.htm

 

The Light of Liberty: Site from National Geographic for Kids that would be a good resource for learning about the Statue of Liberty.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngkids/9907/liberty/

 

NOAA Photo Library: Images of different types of weather conditions. (ELL students may profit from seeing images of snow and other types of weather.)

http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/nssl/

 

Savage Seas: The Weather Factory: Video of savage weather conditions. (ELL students may profit from seeing images of snow and other types of weather.)

http://www.thirteen.org/savageseas/weather-main.html

 

Additional Resources Related to Theme:

 

The following online resources also support the theme.  Students or teachers can download and print images to add to the Focus Wall, showing various landmarks or symbols of America.

 

Kids Voting USA: Official website for the program

http://www.kidsvotingusa.org/

 

BenÕs Guide to Government for Kids: Information about government and the United States for students in grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12.

http://bensguide.gpo.gov/

 

AmericaÕs Story: Site for children about people and places in America from the Library of Congress.

http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi

 

 

Theme 3 (ThatÕs Amazing!)

 

Launching the Theme:

 

No suggested online resources

 

Selection 1:  The Stranger

 

United Streaming:

¯    The Four Seasons (clip on Fall)

 

Autumn Leaf Scrapbook: Browse through the pages of a virtual scrapbook of autumn leaves

http://mbgnet.mobot.org/sets/temp/leaves/

 

A Change of Seasons: Site from NASA with audio of text (downloadable in Real Player) and a narrated animation about the seasons

http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/News/2001/News-AutumnalEquinox.asp

 

Selection 2:  Cendrillon

 

The Annotated Cinderella: Story has definitions in hypertext

http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/cinderella/index.html

 

Cinderella: Multicultural Cinderella stories (all text)

http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0510a.html#woodencloak

 

Selection 3:  Heat Wave!

 

United Streaming:

¯    Weather Smart: Weather (clip on Hot and Cold Weather Safety)

 

The Sun:  Statistics and information about the sun from the Melbourne Planetarium

http://www.museum.vic.gov.au/planetarium/solarsystem/sun.html

 

Temperature Converter: An online temperature converter (Celsius to Fahrenheit and Fahrenheit to Celsius)

http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/lookitup/crunchers/Temperature.html

 

Tall Tales: Information about the format of Tall Tales and some of the characters and tales

http://www.hasd.org/ges/talltale/talltale.htm

 

 

Theme 4 (Problem Solvers)

 

Launching the Theme:

 

No suggested online resources

 

Selection 1:  My Name is Maria Isabel

 

Where Did Your Name Come From?: Information about the origins of names

http://www.siskiyous.edu/class/engl12/naming.htm

 

Names for Japanese: information about the origin and meaning of Japanese names (all text)

http://www2.kanawa.com/japan/names.html

 

Selection 2:  Marven of the Great North Woods

 

No suggested online resources

 

Selection 3:  The Last Dragon

 

Chinese Dragons: Read about the role of dragons in China

http://www.crystalinks.com/chinadragons.html

 

A Virtual Journey into San FranciscoÕs Chinatown: Take a tour of Chinatown right on your computer

http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/chinatown/intro.html

 

Selection 4:  Sing to the Stars

 

The String Section: Read about, watch videos and listen to the violin, viola, cello, and double bass

http://www.artsalive.ca/en/mus/instrumentlab/strings.html

 

Welcome to the San Francisco Symphony for Kids Site: Learn about the instruments of the orchestra and compose your own music

http://www.sfskids.org/templates/home.asp?pageid=1

 

The Instrument Lab: Pictures, information and audio of music from different parts of an orchestra

http://www.artsalive.ca/en/mus/instrumentlab/

 

Jazz Kids: Interactive site about jazz music for kids from PBS

http://www.pbs.org/jazz/kids/

 

Jazz for Young People Curriculum: Read about Louis Armstrong and hear his music

http://www.jazzatlincolncenter.org/educ/curriculum/modules/louisArmstrong/module.html

 

 

Theme 5 (Heroes)

 

Launching the Theme:

 

No suggested online resources

 

Selection 1:  Happy Birthday, Dr. King!

 

United Streaming:

¯    American Heroes and Heroines: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

¯    The Boyhood of Martin Luther King Jr.

 

Martin Luther King, Jr. and African American History: Links for kids to information on King and other Civil Rights leaders

http://teacher.scholastic.com/researchtools/articlearchives/honormlk/index.htm

 

We Shall Overcome: The Players: Background for teachers about the Civil Rights Movement

http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/civilrights/players.htm

 

Timeline of Selected Events of the Civil Rights Movement: Timeline of events from 1865-1989

http://www.greensboro.com/sitins/timeline.htm

 

ÒI Have a DreamÓ: Audio of MLK speeches

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/mlk/king/speeches.html

 

Rosa Parks: Pioneer of Civil Rights: Profile, biography, pictures and an interview with links to audio and video files

http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/par0pro-1

 

Selection 2:  Gloria Estefan

 

Gloria Estefan Ð Bio: Background for teachers about Gloria Estefan in English or Spanish

http://www.epiccenter.com/EpicCenter/custom/56/biojump.html

 

Selection 3:  Lou Gehrig: The Luckiest Man

 

The History Channel Speeches and Video: Type Lou Gehrig into the search box to hear his farewell to baseball speech

http://www.historychannel.com/broadband/home/index.jsp

 

Lou Gehrig: Picture and short biography from the National Baseball Hall of Fame

http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers_and_honorees/hofer_bios/gehrig_lou.htm

 

Baseball Hall of Fame Statistics: Links to batting, pitching and managerial records for hall of fame members

http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers%5Fand%5Fhonorees/hofer%5Fstats/

 

Yankee Stadium History: Picture and information about the history of Yankee Stadium from the official site of the New York Yankees

http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/nyy/ballpark/stadium_history.jsp

 

 

Theme 6 (Nature: Friend and Foe)

 

Launching the Theme:

 

United Streaming:

¯    Earth Science: Weather and Climate (clip on Violent Weather)

 

Selection 1:  Salmon Summer

 

Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association: The official website of the association with information about tribes, history and culture

http://www.apiai.com/

 

Aleut: Information about the Aleut from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

http://www.mnh.si.edu/arctic/features/croads/aleut.html

 

Selection 2:  Wildfires

 

United Streaming:

¯    Enviro_Tacklebox: Module 4: Forces in the Environment: Rebirth in Fire (clips on Successful Prescribed Burns, Benefits of Prescribed Burns, etc.)

 

Forest Fires: Learn some of the benefits of forest fires from Ranger RickÕs site (all text)

http://www.nwf.org/gowild/kzPage.cfm?siteId=3&departmentId=76&articleId=817

 

SmokeyBear.com: Learn about wildfires, their effect on different ecosystems and how to prevent them from the official Smokey the Bear site

http://www.smokeybear.com/

 

Selection 3:  Skylark

 

United Streaming:

¯    Pioneers: The American Frontier

 

Homes on the Prairie: Information, pictures and a virtual tour of a farmhouse

http://www.pbs.org/ktca/farmhouses/homesprairie.html

 

Tropical Savannah: Information about the tropical savannah

http://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/msese/earthsysflr/savannah.html

 

Build A Prairie: Learn about prairie ecology in this interactive activity

http://www.bellmuseum.org/distancelearning/prairie/build/