Portraits of American Girlhood: 2011

Portraits of American Girlhood is a wonderful curriculum based on the American Girl books and is written by Cindy Sotelo of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

I am in no way affiliated with Portraits of American Girlhood. I began this blog as a safe way to have lots of great resources that go along with the books and curriculum in one place, reducing the time for parents to look for information on-line so they can spend more time learning together as a family.

I began this blog in June of 2010 and it will probably take me a year to complete it. I hope that you find it helpful; however, if you come across any links or videos that are questionable or no longer working, please leave me a comment so I can make the necessary changes.

Here are the American Girls we have studied so far...

Kit Saves the Day - Week 5

Hobo - A hobo is a term which is often applied to a migratory worker or homeless vagabond, often penniless. The term originated in the Western—probably Northwestern—United States during the last decade of the 19th century.[1] Unlike 'tramps', who work only when they are forced to, and 'bums', who do not work at all, 'hobos' are workers who wander. (from Wikipedia)

Crossword Puzzle Generators:

ArmoredPenguin.com

CrosswordPuzzleGames.com

DiscoveryEducation.com

NEWSPAPER LESSON PLANS:

Build a Newspaper

Creating a Classroom Newspaper

Let's Write a Newspaper Story!

Teaching Current Events via Newspapers, Magazines, and TV

Happy Birthday, Kit - Week 4

WORD LIST:
(from the Webster's 1828 Dictionary)

Frugal - Economical in the use or appropriation of money, goods or provisions of any kind; saving unnecessary expense, either of money or of any thing else which is to be used or consumed; sparing; not profuse, prodigal or lavish. We ought to be frugal not only in the expenditure of money and of goods, but in the employment of time. It is followed by of, before the thing saved; as frugal of time. It is not synonymous with parsimonious, nor with thrifty, as now used.

Twang - 1) v.i. To sound with a quick sharp noise; to make the sound of a string which is stretched and suddenly pulled; as the twanging bows. 2) v.t. To make to sound, as by pulling a tense string and letting it go suddenly. Sound the tough horn, and twang the quivering string. 3) n. A sharp quick sound; as the twang of a bowstring; a twang of the nose. An affected modulation of the voice; a kind of nasal sound.

Almanac - AL'MANACK, n. A small book or table, containing a calendar of days, weeks and months, with the times of the rising of the sun and moon, changes of the moon, eclipses, hours of full tide, stated festivals of churches, stated terms of courts, observations on the weather, &c. for the year ensuing. this calendar is sometimes published on one side of a single sheet, and called a sheet-almanack. The Baltic nations formerly engraved their calendars on pieces of wood, on swords, helves of axes, and various other utensils, and especially on walking sticks. many of these are preserved in the cabinets of the curious. they are called by different nations, rimstocks, primstories, runstocks, runstaffs, clogs, etc.

FRUGAL TIPS FROM THE GREAT DEPRESSION:

20 Frugal Tips from Someone Who Lived Through the Great Depression

When Times are Tight: 168 Frugal Tips to Make Your Dollar Stretch

Frugal Food Tips From the Great Depression

WASTE NOT/WANT NOT IDEAS:

(Inspired by Aunt Millie)

Kit's Radio Script (American Girl Publishing)

Penny Pincher Puzzle (American Girl)

"Waste Not, Want Not" (by Home Made Happy)

OLD TIME RADIO SHOWS:

Behind the Dial (Radio in the 1930's)

Download Free Old Time Radio Shows

Free Old Time Radio Shows from "The Golden Age of Radio!"

Kit's Surprise - Week 3

AVIATRIX:

A female aviator. The term is often applied simply to pilots, but is often extended to include aviation navigators, bombardiers, Weapon Systems Officers, and Electronic Warfare Officers.

AMELIA EARHART:

Amelia Earhart - the Official Website

Amelia Earhart (enchantedlearning.com)

Amelia Earhart (pppst.com)

Flight of Amelia Earhart (scholastic.com)

EVICTED:

1. To put out (a tenant, for example) by legal process; expel.
2. To force out; eject. See Synonyms at eject.
3. Law To recover (property, for example) by a superior claim or legal process.

Kit Learns a Lesson - Week 2

DUST BOWL:

For eight years dust blew on the southern plains. It came in a yellowish-brown haze from the South and in rolling walls of black from the North. The simplest acts of life — breathing, eating a meal, taking a walk — were no longer simple. Children wore dust masks to and from school, women hung wet sheets over windows in a futile attempt to stop the dirt, farmers watched helplessly as their crops blew away. The Dust Bowl of the 1930s lasted about a decade. Its primary area of impact was on the southern Plains. The northern Plains were not so badly effected, but nonetheless, the drought, windblown dust and agricultural decline were no strangers to the north. In fact the agricultural devastation helped to lengthen the Depression whose effects were felt worldwide. The movement of people on the Plains was also profound.

* Watch "Surviving the Dust Bowl" on PBS here.

SOUP KITCHEN:

A place where food is offered to the hungry for free or at a reasonably low price. Frequently located in lower-income neighborhoods, they are often staffed by volunteer organizations, such as church groups or community groups. Soup kitchens sometimes obtain food from a food bank for free or at a low price, because they are considered a charity.

SHIRLEY TEMPLE:

Meet Kit - Week 1

KIT KITTREDGE:

Clever, Resourceful Kit (Squidoo)

Hobo Jungle Poetry

Journalism with Kit (Scholastic)

Kit Games and Activities (American Girl)

Kit Lapbook (Homeschool Share)

Kit Lapbook (Lapbook Lessons)

Lesson Plans for Kit Kittredge (An American Girl Movie)

Stories of Robin Hood (free audio versions)

ECONOMY:

noun

1. Primarily, the management, regulation and government of a family or the concerns of a household.

2. The management of pecuniary concerns or the expenditure of money. Hence,

3. A frugal and judicious use of money; that management which expends money to advantage,and incurs no waste; frugality in the necessary expenditure of money. It differs from parsimony, which implies an improper saving of expense. Economy includes also a prudent management of all the means by which property is saved or accumulated; a judicious application of time, of labor, and of the instruments of labor.

4. The disposition or arrangement of any work; as the economy of a poem.

5. A system of rules, regulations, rites and ceremonies; as the Jewish economy.

6. The regular operation of nature in the generation, nutrition and preservation of animals or plants; as animal economy; vegetable economy.

7. Distribution or due order of things.

8. Judicious and frugal management of public affairs; as political economy.

9. System of management; general regulation and disposition of the affairs of a state or nation, or of any department of government.

GREAT DEPRESSION:

1. The economic crisis beginning with the stock market crash in 1929 and continuing through the 1930s

2. A period during the 1930s when there was a worldwide economic depression and mass unemployment

10 Lessons for Teaching About the Great Depression (Education World)

Great Depression Lesson Plans (Scholastic)

Great Depression Slideshow (Scholastic)

The Great Depression (Mr. Donn)

STOCK:

Includes any ownership interest in a start-up company, the stock of which is not publicly traded, or in any publicly traded company (except when invested in a diversified fund not controlled by you or a spouse/life partner) where the entity has an investment, license, or other commercial interest in any drugs, products, or services that are the subject of the content of CME under consideration.

Play the Market (PBS Kids)

Stock Market Lesson Plans and Games (ProTeacher.com)

Stock Market On-line Games for Kids

Changes for Samantha - Week 6

PREDICTIONS:

n. A foretelling; a previous declaration of a future event; prophecy. The fulfillment of the predictions of the prophets is considered to be a strong argument in favor of the divine origin of the Scriptures.

Modern Christmas: A Prediction from 1900 of Christmas Day 100 Years Hence

Predictions of the Year 2000 (The Ladies Home Journal of December 1900)

THEODORE ROOSEVELT:

Samantha Saves the Day - Week 5

CONSERVATION:

n. The act of preserving, guarding or protecting; preservation from loss, decay, injury, or violation; the keeping of a thing in a safe or entire state; as the conservation of bodies from perishing; the conservation of the peace of society; the conservation of privileges.

ORVILLE AND WILBUR WRIGHT:

Remember the Wright Brothers Historic Flight

The Wright Brothers Lesson Plans (Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum)

The Wright Brothers: Wilbur and Orville (Enchanted Learning)

Wright Brothers Power Point Presentations (Mr. Donn)

Happy Birthday, Samantha - Week 4

CHANGE:

Function: verb; Inflected Form(s): changed; chang·ing; 1. To make or become different : ALTER; 2. To give a different position, course, or direction to; 3. To replace with another : SWITCH, EXCHANGE (change places); 4. To give or receive an equal amount of money in usually smaller units of value or in a foreign currency (change a $10 bill); 5. a - To put fresh clothes or covering on (change a bed) b - To put on different clothes
- chang·er noun
- change hands : to pass from one person's possession to another's

THE SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT:

* Suffrage - Function: noun; The right of voting; also: the exercise of such right

* Enforce - Function: verb; 1. To bring about by force : COMPEL (enforce obedience)
2. To carry out effectively (enforce the law)
- en·force·able /-fr-s-bl, -fr-/ adjective
- en·force·ment /-fr-smnt, -fr-/ noun
- en·forc·er noun

* Denied - Function: verb; Inflected Form(s): de·nied; de·ny·ing; 1. To declare not to be true : CONTRADICT (deny report); 2. To refuse to grant (deny request); 3. To refuse to accept the existence or truth of

* Legislation - Function: noun; 1. The action of making laws; 2. The laws made by a legislator or legislative body

* Abridged - Function: verb; Inflected Form(s): abridged; abridg·ing; Etymology: Middle English abregen "deprive, reduce," from early French abreger (same meaning), from Latin abbreviare "to shorten" --related to ABBREVIATE; 1. To make less : DIMINISH ; 2. To shorten in duration or extent; 3. To shorten by omission of words : CONDENSE - abridg·er noun

* Article - Function: noun; 1. A separate part of a document dealing with a single subject (the third article of the U.S. Constitution); 2. A piece of writing other than fiction or poetry that forms an independent part of a publication (as a magazine); 3. A word (as a, an, or the) used with a noun to limit it or make it clearer; 4. A member of a class of things (articles of clothing)

Lapbook on Voting

Woman's Suffrage Lesson Plans (Mr. Donn)

Woman's Suffrage Games and Activities

Woman's Suffrage (Scholastic)

The 19th AMENDMENT:

Section 1. The right of the citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

(from Wikipedia) - The Nineteenth Amendment (Amendment XIX) to the United States Constitution prohibits any United States citizen to be denied the right to vote based on sex. It was ratified on August 18, 1920.

The Constitution allows states to determine the qualifications for voting, and until the 1910s most states disenfranchised women entirely. The amendment was the culmination of the women's suffrage movement, which fought at both state and national levels to achieve the vote.

Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton drafted the amendment and first introduced it in 1878; it was forty-one years later, in 1919, when the Congress submitted the amendment to the states for ratification. A year later, it was ratified by the requisite number of states, with Tennessee's ratification being the final vote needed to add the amendment to the Constitution.

The Nineteenth Amendment was unsuccessfully challenged in Leser v. Garnett (1922). In that case, the Supreme Court rejected claims that the amendment was unconstitutionally adopted.

SUSAN B. ANTHONY:

Bio of Susan B. Anthony

Susan B. Anthony Dares to Vote! (Scholastic)

Susan B. Anthony Day

Susan B. Anthony House

Susan B. Anthony Printable

The Susan B. Anthony Coin

Samantha's Surprise - Week 3

THOUGHTFUL:

* thought·ful (thôtfl)
* adj.

1. Engrossed in thought; contemplative.
2. Exhibiting or characterized by careful thought: a thoughtful essay.
3. Having or showing heed for the well-being or happiness of others and a propensity for anticipating their needs or wishes.
4. considerate in the treatment of other people
5. showing careful thought
6. pensive; reflective

USA STATES & CAPITALS:

Capital Catch

State Capitals Games

State of Mind Quiz (American Girl)

United States Geography Games

USA Games (Shepherd's Software)

CHRISTMAS IN THE 1900's:

Christmas in the 1900's

A Victorian Christmas

Vintage Christmas Advertisements

Vintage Christmas Recordings

Samantha Learns a Lesson - Week 2

PROGRESS:

1.)
: a royal journey marked by pomp and pageant; a state procession
: a tour or circuit made by an official (as a judge)
: an expedition, journey, or march through a region

2.)
: a forward or onward movement (as to an objective or to a goal); advance

3.)
: gradual betterment; especially : the progressive development of humankind
— in progress
: going on; occurring

Examples of PROGRESS:

* the rapid progress of the ship
* He made slow progress down the steep cliff.
* The project showed slow but steady progress.

ASKING QUESTIONS:

LOOKING BACK TO 1904:

America in 1904: What a Difference a Century Makes!

American Women in the Early 1900's

School in the Early 1900's

Statistics from 1904

Meet Samantha - Week 1

Samantha Lapbook

Samantha Valentine's Lapbook

Samantha Word Scramble

NAIVE:

~ Adjective

Definition:

1. extremely simple and trusting: having or showing an excessively simple and trusting view of the world and human nature, often as a result of youth and inexperience

2. not shrewd or sophisticated: showing a lack of sophistication and subtlety or of critical judgment and analysis
* a politically naive statement

3. artless: admirably straightforward and uncomplicated or refreshingly innocent and unaffected

4. arts rejecting sophisticated techniques in art: not using the conventional styles and techniques of trained artists, e.g. in the treatment of perspective or light and shade

5. science not previously experimented on: not previously used in any scientific tests or experiments or not having previously used a particular drug
* naive laboratory mice

THOMAS EDISON:

Biography and Lesson Plans on Thomas Edison

Lesson Plans on Thomas Edison

Thomas A. Edison (Garden of Praise)
Thomas Alva Edison

Thomas Edison at pppst.com

Thomas Edison Homeschool Lesson Plans

Thomas Edison's Inventions in the 1900s and Today: From "New" to You!

Changes for Addy - Week 6

FREE'DOM, n. (Webster's 1828 Dictionary)

1. A state of exemption from the power or control of another; liberty; exemption from slavery, servitude or confinement. Freedom is personal, civil, political, and religious. [See Liberty.]

2. Particular privileges; franchise; immunity; as the freedom of a city.

3. Power of enjoying franchises.

4. Exemption from fate, necessity, or any constraint in consequence of predetermination or otherwise; as the freedom of the will.

5. Any exemption from constraint or control.

6. Ease or facility of doing any thing. He speaks or acts with freedom.

7. Frankness; boldness. He addressed his audience with freedom.

8. License; improper familiarity; violation of the rules of decorum; with a plural. Beware of what are called innocent freedoms.

CHRISTMAS IN 1864:

Can You Hear the Bells?

Christmas 1864 Poem

Civil War Harper's Weekly

Addy Saves the Day - Week 5

ABRAHAM LINCOLN:

Abraham Lincoln (Enchanted Learning)

Abraham Lincoln (for Primary children)

Abraham Lincoln Presentations

The Life of Abraham Lincoln

Timeline of Abraham Lincoln

Happy Birthday, Addy! - Week 4

DOUBLE DUTCH JUMP ROPE:

How To Jump Double Dutch

eHow Shows You How To Jump DD

Jump Rope Rhymes

ICE CREAM:

How to Make Snow Ice Cream

Ice Cream in a Bag Recipe

Ice Cream Theme Unit

Ice Cream Poems and Crafts

Write an Instant Ice Cream Poem

STATES THAT SECEDED DURING THE CIVIL WAR:

Order of Secession

Timeline Civil War

Addy's Surprise - Week 3

FOOD OF THE CIVIL WAR ERA:

Civil War Food Links

Civil War Recipes

Recipes of the Civil War Era

A Taste of Civil War Food

HOW TO MAKE A CORNHUSK DOLL:

RESOURCEFUL:

* someone who is resourceful is capable of dealing with difficult situations

* capable or clever; able to put available resources to efficient or ingenious use; using materials at hand wisely or efficiently

* having inner resources

* adroit or imaginative

UNDERGROUND RAILROAD ROUTES: