GUIDEBOOK LINKS
All lessons (Customizable large map, multiple page, for designing as desired)
Alaska and Hawaii maps are here
Lesson 1 – Iowa
Lesson 2 – Iowa
CTM & Activity – Sod House (Link also includes video)
Homestead Act (unappropriated public land)
Lesson 3 – Missouri
CTM – Dred Scott (this includes the video at the bottom)
Lewis & Clark for kids (we do not necessarily endorse all information on this page)
Lesson 4 – Missouri
Activity – The Arch (long video)
Activity – The Arch (see it done in 2 minutes with blocks!)
Lesson 5 – Kansas
Lesson 6 – Kansas
Activity – See someone make it!
Lesson 7 – Nebraska
CTM – Sandhill Crane (NOTE: uses “millions of years”)
Lesson 8 – Nebraska
Lesson 10 – South Dakota
Sinkholes (Longer video explanation)
Another option (using sugar cubes, salt cubes, or bread cubes and a tube)
Lesson 11 – North Dakota
CTM – Please note there is one intentional “BEEEEP” sound at mm 3:38 – 4:01 (no cursing is heard)
BOOK LIST
This is here as a courtesy only. No books are required for the unit. Some of these books may contain errors about the event or time period.
Customers may also write in and suggest to add books to this list. All lists come recommended to us by others and have not all been vetted by us. If you have any suggestions to add to this list, please email in so we can do so. Some of these books may contain more mature themes or theology or other educational teachings that we do not necessarily endorse, so we advise all parents to screen for content and personal beliefs. Books can also be sub-categorized into different age groups, so feel free to jump around!
Early Learner:
No Small Potatoes by Tonya Bolden
Sunflower House by Eve Bunting
My Mothers Apron by Edward F Keller
Rushmore by Lynn Curlee
To the Top by Amanda E Doyle
Creekfinding by Jacqueline Briggs Martin
Farming by Gail Gibbons
Corn by Gail Gibbons
Dandelions by Eve Bunting
Nora’s Chicks by Patricia Maclachlan
Bones in the White House by Candice Ransom
Aunt Minnie and the Twister by Mary Skillings Prigger
Growing:
The Buffalo are Back by Jean Craighead George
King of the Mound by Wes Tooke
Flat Stanley’s Worldwide Adventures: The Mount Rushmore Calamity by Jeff Brown
A Boy Called Slow by Joseph Bruchac
The Secret Garden of George Washington Carver by Gene Barretta
They’re Off by Cheryl Harness
How We Crossed the West by Rosalyn Schanzer
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
McBroom’s Wonderful One Acre Farm by Sid Fleishman
The Huckabuck Family and How They Raised Popcorn in Nebraska and Quit and Came Back by Carl Sanburg
Anna’s Blizzard by Alison Hart
Advanced:
Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson
By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs by Betty Briney
Little Town in the Ozarks by Roger Macbride
A Lantern in Her Hand by Bess Streeter Aldrich
The Red Umbrella by Christina Gonzalez
All activities in the unit are as follows.
– Culinary activity (ingredients needed will vary depending on what you have in your pantry already)
– Life/job/science skills activity
– Bucket List
We intentionally design our units so that you should have most everything you need around your home. Anything extra will be listed below:
LESSON 1/2 – Option 1 [SNICKERS’ SALAD]
Vanilla Pudding
Whipped Cream
Apples
Snickers Bars
LESSON 1/2 – Option 2 [SOD HOME]
Small boxes
Toothpicks or Craft Sticks
LESSON 1/2 – Option 3 [PESTICIDE PROBLEM SOLVER]
Nothing
LESSON 3/4 -Option 1 [GOOEY BUTTER CAKE]
Standard Baking Ingredients + cream cheese & powdered sugar
LESSON 3/4 -Option 2 [TOASTED RAVIOLI]
Standard Cooking Ingredients + frozen ravioli, vinegar, breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, Marinara sauce
LESSON 3/4 -Option 3 [GATEWAY ARCH]
Items around home + standard craft items (LEGOs, clay, string, tape, etc.)
LESSON 3/4 -Option 4 [SHOW ME SPEECH]
NOTHING
LESSON 5/6 – Option 1 [ CHILI AND CINNAMON ROLLS]
Chili & Cinnamon Rolls
LESSON 5/6 – Option 2 [KANSAS WINDMILL]
Standard craft items around the home (cardboard, tape, etc.)
LESSON 7/8 – Option 1 [SALAD DRESSING]
Standard cooking ingredients + 10oz tomato soup, vinegar, dry mustard, celery seed, dried spices (garlic, pepper, salt, etc.)
LESSON 7/8 – Option 2 [TRAIN WHEELS]
Paper or plastic cups
Tape
LESSON 9/10 – Option 1 [KUCHEN]
Standard baking ingredients + yeast & cream
LESSON 9/10 – Option 2 [SINKHOLES]
Sugar -or- sugar cubes -or- stale bread cubes
Dirt or sand
Optional: a metal or plastic tube
LESSON 11/12 – Option 1 [KNOEPHLA SOUP]
Standard cooking ingredients + onion, celery, carrot, dried spices (including nutmeg, salt, garlic, etc.), 10 c chicken stock, fresh parsley, bay leaves, potatoes, heavy cream
Sources
IOWA
Kate Shelley (https://www.kateshelley.com/)
John Vincent Atanasoff: The Father of the Computer (https://www.columbia.edu/~td2177/JVAtanasoff/JVAtanasoff.html)
John Vincent Atanasoff (https://nationalmedals.org/laureate/john-vincent-atanasoff/)
President Herbert Hoover (https://hoover.archives.gov/hoovers/president-herbert-hoover)
Loess Hills (https://iowageologicalsurvey.uiowa.edu/iowa-geology/landforms-iowa/loess-hills)
Loess Hills State Forest (https://www.iowadnr.gov/Places-to-Go/State-Forests/Loess-Hills-State-Forest)
Ten Products You Didn’t Know Were Made with Corn (https://nebraskacorn.gov/cornstalk/corn101/ten-products-you-didnt-know-were-made-with-corn/)
The Sullivan Brothers (https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/us-people/s/sullivan-brothers.html)
Corn Facts and FAQs (https://www.iowacorn.org/corn-facts-faq/)
Iowa Crop Production Report – August 2024 (https://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/Iowa/Publications/Crop_Report/2024/IA-Crop-Production-08-24.pdf)
Farmed Prairie Potholes (https://crops.extension.iastate.edu/blog/danielle-m-clark-wilson-emily-heaton-tyler-donovan/farmed-prairie-potholes)
The Impact of the Homestead Act on Iowa’s Landscape (https://scholarworks.uni.edu/jias/vol105/iss3/3/)
Iowa’s Loess Hills: A Geological and Cultural History (https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/publications/TB/1463318.pdf)
The Sullivan Brothers: Legacy of an American Family (https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/publications/TB/1286193.pdf)
Bonnie and Clyde in Dallas County (https://www.dallascountyiowa.gov/DocumentCenter/View/548/Bonnie-and-Clyde-Newsletter-2-PDF)
Louisiana Purchase, 1803 (https://history.state.gov/milestones/1801-1829/louisiana-purchase)
The Louisiana Purchase (https://www.loc.gov/collections/louisiana-european-explorations-and-the-louisiana-purchase/articles-and-essays/the-louisiana-purchase/)
The Exploration and Legacy of the Louisiana Territory (https://www.loc.gov/collections/louisiana-european-explorations-and-the-louisiana-purchase/articles-and-essays/the-exploration-and-legacy-of-the-louisiana-territory/)
Louisiana as a Spanish Colony (https://www.loc.gov/collections/louisiana-european-explorations-and-the-louisiana-purchase/articles-and-essays/louisiana-as-a-spanish-colony/)
Spanish Colonial Louisiana: Adaptation and Change (https://64parishes.org/entry/spanish-colonial-louisiana-adaptation)
The Cartographic Setting (https://www.loc.gov/collections/louisiana-european-explorations-and-the-louisiana-purchase/articles-and-essays/the-cartographic-setting/)
Louisiana as a French Colony (https://www.loc.gov/collections/louisiana-european-explorations-and-the-louisiana-purchase/articles-and-essays/louisiana-as-a-french-colony/)
A Question of Boundaries (https://www.loc.gov/collections/louisiana-european-explorations-and-the-louisiana-purchase/articles-and-essays/a-question-of-boundaries/)
Louisiana Purchase Treaty (1803) (https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/louisiana-purchase-treaty)
The Louisiana Purchase: A Historical and Geographical Overview (https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2003/spring/louisiana-purchase.html)
The Louisiana Purchase, 1803 (https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/jd/14321.htm)
Implementing the Louisiana Purchase (https://web.sas.upenn.edu/earlyamericanstudies/2024/01/28/implementing-the-louisiana-purchase-jacob-f-lee/)
Louisiana Purchase Treaty: First Convention (https://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/louis2.asp)
Louisiana Purchase; 1803 and Associated Documents (https://avalon.law.yale.edu/subject_menus/fr1803m.asp)
The Purchase of the Louisiana Territory (https://www.socialstudies.org/system/files/publications/articles/se_6702100.pdf)
Homestead Act (1862) (https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/homestead-act)
Homestead Act (https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/homestead_act)
The Homestead Act of 1862: The First Entitlement Program (https://campushistory.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/2033/2024/10/The-Homestead-Act-of-1862-The-First-Entitlement-Program.pdf)
There’s No Such Thing As Free Land: The Homestead Act and Economic Development (https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/iraz/files/Raz_JMP_2019.pdf)
1862, May 20 – 12 Stat. 392, Homestead Act (https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/hornbeck_usa_2_d/12/)
World War I and the Homestead Act of 1862 (https://www.nps.gov/articles/upload/World-War-I-and-the-Homestead-Act-of-1862.pdf)
An Act to Grant Pre-emption Rights to Settlers on the Public Lands (https://maint.loc.gov/law/help/statutes-at-large/21st-congress/session-1/c21s1ch208.pdf)
MISSOURI
Gateway Arch National Park – https://www.nps.gov/jeff/index.htm
Gateway Arch: A Mirror of America – https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2016/fall/gateway-arch.html
Missouri’s Official State Monument: The Gateway Arch – https://www.sos.mo.gov/symbol/monument
History & Culture of Gateway Arch National Park – https://www.nps.gov/jeff/learn/historyculture/index.htm
Gateway Arch: Cultural Resource Report – https://www.getty.edu/foundation/pdfs/kim/gateway_arch_cmp_apt_cmp_nps_bvh.pdf
Gateway Arch in St. Louis – https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/visit-play/arch.cfm
Missouri Gateway Arch Project Profile – https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ipd/project_profiles/mo_gateway_arch.aspx
Teaching with Documents: The Lewis and Clark Expedition – https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/lewis-clark
Lewis and Clark Expedition Journal Entry (January 1, 1806) – https://lewisandclarkjournals.unl.edu/item/lc.jrn.1806-01-01
Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail – https://www.nps.gov/lecl/index.htm
An Introduction to the Ozarks – https://festival.si.edu/blog/ozarks-introduction
USGS Report on the Ozarks: A Regional Perspective – https://www.cerc.usgs.gov/pubs/ozarks/DSR-2004-0094.htm
Times Beach Disaster: A Town, a Flood, and a Superfund Site – https://www.epa.gov/mo/town-flood-and-superfund-looking-back-times-beach-disaster-nearly-40-years-later
A Petition To Declare Times Beach, Missouri A National Historic Landmark – https://cei.org/sites/default/files/Eric%20Askanase%20-%20A%20Petition%20To%20Declare%20Times%20Beach,%20Missouri%20A%20National%20Historic%20Landmark.pdf
Times Beach, Missouri: Evacuated Due to Contamination with Dioxin – https://www.environmentandsociety.org/tools/keywords/times-beach-missouri-evacuated-due-contamination-dioxin
Times Beach Residents Win Fight for Relocation from Contaminated Dioxin Sites – https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/times-beach-residents-win-fight-relocation-contaminated-dioxin-sites
The Pacific Railway Act (1862) – https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/pacific-railway-act
Library of Congress Guide: The Pacific Railway Act – https://guides.loc.gov/pacific-railway-act
Building the Transcontinental Railroad – https://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=3&psid=4004
The Transcontinental Railroad: History of Railroads and Maps – https://www.loc.gov/collections/railroad-maps-1828-to-1900/articles-and-essays/history-of-railroads-and-maps/the-transcontinental-railroad/
Federal Legislation and the Pacific Railroad Act – https://www.ndstudies.gov/gr8/content/unit-iii-waves-development-1861-1920/lesson-2-making-living/topic-4-federal-legislation/section-4-pacific-railroad-act
Missouri Railroads: UMSL Mercantile Library – https://www.umsl.edu/mercantile/barriger/mo-rrs.html
Pacific Railway Act of 1862 – https://railfanning.org/encyclopedia/pacific-railway-act-of-1862/
The Transcontinental Railroad and Its Impact – https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/transcontinental-railroad
Missouri Historical Timeline – https://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/history/timeline/3
The Transcontinental Railroad: Maps and History – https://www.loc.gov/collections/railroad-maps-1828-to-1900/articles-and-essays/history-of-railroads-and-maps/the-transcontinental-railroad/
Missouri Railroad History and Development – https://dl.mospace.umsystem.edu/umsl/islandora/object/umsl%3A196978#page/1/mode/2up
KANSAS
Wheat Scientists Drive Strengths in U.S. & World Production – https://www.k-state.edu/research/about/seek/spring-2021/wheat-scientists-drive-strengths-in-us-world-production.html
A Study of Agriculture in Kansas: An Honors Journal Article – https://scholarspace.jccc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1085&context=honors_journal
Kansas Geological Survey: Natural Regions of Kansas – https://www.kgs.ku.edu/Publications/primer/04_regions.html
Kansas Agriculture Overview – https://www.agriculture.ks.gov/kansas-agriculture
Kansas Agriculture Industry – https://www.kansascommerce.gov/industry/agriculture/
Kansas Agricultural Statistics: State Overview – https://www.nass.usda.gov/Quick_Stats/Ag_Overview/stateOverview.php?state=KANSAS
Flint Hills Geology – https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/flint-hills-geology.htm
Flint Hills National Wildlife Refuge – https://www.fws.gov/refuge/flint-hills
What Are the Flint Hills? – https://www.flinthillsdiscovery.org/594/What-are-the-Flint-Hills
The Story of the Pony Express – https://postalmuseum.si.edu/research/articles-from-enroute/the-story-of-the-pony-express.html
Pony Express History & Culture – https://www.nps.gov/poex/learn/historyculture/index.htm
Red Hills of Kansas – https://www.kgs.ku.edu/geokansas/geokansas/red-hills.html
Treaty of October 11, 1842, with the Sauk and Fox Nation – https://www.sacandfoxnation-nsn.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Oct_11_1842.pdf#:~:text=ARTICLE%202.%20In%20consideration%20of%20the%20cession,cents;%20and%20the%20United%20States%20also%20agree%2C
Treaty with the Sauk and Foxes (1804) – https://treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-with-the-sauk-and-foxes-1804-0074?
Sauk and Fox Treaty Document – https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/sauk-and-fox-treaty?
Black Hawk. Life of Ma-Ka-Tai-Me-She-Kia-Kiak or Black Hawk. Edited by J.B. Patterson, Cincinnati: n.p., 1833.
Wakefield, John. History of the War between the United States and the Sac and Fox Nations. Jacksonville, Ill.: Calvin Goudy, 1834.
Drake, Benjamin. The Life and Adventures of Black Hawk. Cincinnati: G. Conclin, 1838.
Ford, Thomas. A History of Illinois. Chicago: C.S. Griggs, 1854.
Reynolds, John. My Own Times; Embracing also a History of My Life. Belleville, Ill.: B.H. Perryman and H.L. Davison, 1855.
Armstrong, Perry. The Sauks and the Black Hawk War, With Biographical Sketches, Etc. Springfield, Ill.: H.W. Rokker, 1887.
Thwaites, Reuben G. “The Story of the Black Hawk War.” In Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, edited by Lyman C. Draper et al., vol. 12, 217-265. Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1892.
Stevens, Frank. The Black Hawk War. Chicago: Blakely Printing Company, 1903.
Van der Zee, Jacob. “The Black Hawk War and the Treaty of 1832.” Iowa Journal of History and Politics 13 (July 1915): 416-428.
Hauberg, John H. “The Black Hawk War, 1831-1832.” In Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society, 1932, 91-134. Springfield: Illinois State Historical Society, 1932.
Cole, Cyrenus. I Am a Man: The Indian Black Hawk. Iowa City: State Historical Society of Iowa, 1938.
Lambert, Joseph. “The Black Hawk War: A Military Analysis.” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 32 (December 1939): 442-473.
Eby, Cecil. “That Disgraceful Affair,” The Black Hawk War. New York: W.W. Norton, 1973.
Nichols, Roger L. “The Black Hawk War in Retrospect.” Wisconsin Magazine of History 47 (Autumn 1963): 21-32.
Trask, Kerry A. Black Hawk: The Battle for the Heart of America. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2006.
Jung, Patrick J. The Black Hawk War of 1832. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2007.
Hall, John W. Uncommon Defense: Indian Allies in the Black Hawk War. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2009.
Edmunds, R. David. The Fox Wars: The Mesquakie Challenge to New France. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1993.
Clifton, James A. The Prairie People: Continuity and Change in Potawatomi Indian Culture, 1665-1965. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1998.
Wallace, Anthony F.C. Prelude to Disaster: The Course of Indian-White Relations Which Led to the Black Hawk War of 1832. Springfield: Illinois State Historical Society, 1970.
Lewis, James. The Black Hawk War, 1831-1832. Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1973.
Quaife, Milo M. Chicago and the Old Northwest, 1673-1835. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1913.
Baldwin, Elmer. History of La Salle County, Illinois. Chicago: Rand, McNally & Co., 1877.
Peck, John M. A Gazetteer of Illinois. Jacksonville, Ill.: R. Goudy, 1834.
Blanchard, Rufus. Discovery and Conquests of the Northwest with the History of Chicago. Chicago: R. Blanchard & Co., 1881.
Matson, Nehemiah. Memories of Shaubena. Chicago: D.B. Cooke & Co., 1878.
Armstrong, Perry A. The Sauks and the Black Hawk War. Springfield, Ill.: H.W. Rokker, 1887.
Stevens, Frank E. The Black Hawk War. Chicago: Blakely Printing Co., 1903.
Thwaites, Reuben Gold, ed. Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, vol. 12. Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1892.
Quaife, Milo M., ed. The Black Hawk War, 1831-1832. Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1913.
Edmunds, R. David. The Potawatomis: Keepers of the Fire. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1978.
NORTH DAKOTA
Exploring North Dakota Foodways: Scandinavian Cuisine Past and Present – https://www.ndsu.edu/agriculture/extension/publications/exploring-north-dakota-foodways-scandinavian-cuisine-past-and-present
Scandinavian Heritage in North Dakota (State Museum Flyer) – https://statemuseum.nd.gov/sites/default/files/scandinavian-flyer-web.pdf
North Dakota History – https://www.ndtourism.com/articles/north-dakota-history
North Dakota QuickFacts (U.S. Census Bureau) – https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/ND/PST045223
Scandinavian Immigration to North Dakota (University of Chicago Journal) – https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdf/10.1086/622637
Theodore Roosevelt Center – https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/
White House Kids Series: Alice Roosevelt Longworth – https://reagan.blogs.archives.gov/2023/04/17/white-house-kids-series-alice-roosevelt-longworth/
Theodore Roosevelt Biography (National Park Service) – https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/theodore-roosevelt-biography.htm
Alice Roosevelt Longworth (National Park Service) – https://www.nps.gov/people/alice-roosevelt-longworth.htm
Chronicling America: Alice Roosevelt Longworth (Library of Congress) – https://guides.loc.gov/chronicling-america-alice-roosevelt-longworth
White House Kids Series: Alice Roosevelt Longworth (Reagan Library) – https://reagan.blogs.archives.gov/2023/04/17/white-house-kids-series-alice-roosevelt-longworth/