Educents recently let my family and I review a copy of their "Actual Size Social Studies Book" which includes 36 complete lesson plans to help your family or classroom create their very own full-scale drawings of things such as viking ships, the Statue of Liberty's Torch, real Slave cabins, modern tanks, and even The Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
This wonderful resource book gives you detailed lesson plans and even blueprints for each of it's 36 activities. Each lesson will give tell you what type of small tools that you will need in order to complete the activity. These tools include things such as yardsticks, measuring tapes, carpenters squares and/or a chalk line reel. And the main tool you will need, besides ambitious children, is side-walk chalk (quite a bit of it.)
My family and I live in West Michigan, so we regularly visit the many lighthouses along the lake-shore. When my son and I first came across Activity #1 The Lighthouse of Alexandria, I knew this was going to be where we would begin our journey. This activity only called for a tape measure and the chalk. Basically, I would go over the lesson and teach my son about the Lighthouse of Alexandria as we constructed/drew a 6 foot tall replica of it in our driveway. By the time out lesson was over, we had learned that this lighthouse was not only the very first lighthouse in the world and that it stood for 1500 years, but that it was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and that it was identified by Greek travelers during the 4th Century BCE.
I apologize, but I can't get my camera's SD card to upload into my computer just now, and so I have no photos to share with you of our wonderful creations. As soon as I get it working right, I will get them uploaded into this review and get it all updated with our personal photos.
My son and I also worked on a replica of the Roman Colosseum and a Medieval Castle that were also great learning adventures. My son absolutely loves this book and I know we will be spending a whole lot more time outside in the driveway not only making life-size replicas of famous landmarks, but also learning about these great historical moments while we also spend great quality time together.
I highly recommend these Actual Size Social Studies and Science books to anyone with young children or school students, either who could clearly benefit from such a wonderful and fun learning resource tool.
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