Monday, September 24, 2012

Georgia FREE Unit Study Resources

Image(s): FreeDigitalPhotos.net

My husband and I were born and raised in Pennsylvania. We have lived in Georgia since 2001 and both of our kids were born in Georgia. Georgia is quite different from Pennsylvania. At first it took some getting used to but we LOVE it. There is lots of great history, amazing places to visit, wonderful people to talk to and great weather!

Georgia Facts:
Georgia was named the 4th State on January 2, 1788, and was one of the original 13 Colonies. It is known as “The Empire State of the South" and the "Peach State."

-State Capitol: Atlanta which was actually the fifth permanent capital for GA. Prior to being called the city of Atlanta it was named Terminus  in 1837, then Marthasville in 1843 and in 1947 it became Atlanta. And Atlanta is the only city in North America to be destroyed by a fire as an act of war.

Atlanta Skyline and our wonderful highways.

-State Bird: Brown Thrasher
-State Flower: The Cherokee Rose
-State Fish: Large Mouth Bass
-State Insect: Honey Bee
-State Butterfly: Tiger Swallowtail
-State Animal: White Tailed Deer
-State Marine Mammal: Right Whale
-State Crop: Peanut
-State Rock: Granite
-State Fruit: Peach
-State Tree: Live Oak
-State Song: GA On My Mind (view the lyrics and hear the song here)
-State Motto: Wisdom, justice, and moderation
-Highest Point: Brasstown Bald; 4,784 feet, 25th
-Largest City: Atlanta
-State License Plates 
-The Summer Olympics took place in Atlanta in 1996
-Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is the world's busiest airport
-Georgia’s Okefenokee Swamp is home to hundreds of species of birds and wildlife. It covers over 600 square miles along the Georgia/Florida border, and is the largest freshwater swamp in the world.

This day in Georgia History, see what was going on in Georgia on a specific day. For further research on Georgia be sure to browse around on this fabulous website.

Postcards:
Last year we participated in a postcard link up. I thought it would be fun to make our own postcards to go along with each theme. Later we joined a USA postcard swap so I printed them out on 4x6 paper and we mailed them to other homeschool families in the USA who in turn mailed us postcards. Each of these posts contains more details about Georgia. 


I don't have a post about this postcard which is all about the history of the Georgia Flag.


Field Trips:
Georgia is filled with wonderful places to visit. There are nature centers, museums, historical sites, festivals, zoos, an aquarium, gardensamusement parks, state and national parks and lots more.

If you cannot make a trip to GA in person take advantage of these virtual options:
-The GA Capitol offers tours daily and also has a great museum. To enhance the experience there are many great activities for parents and teachers that can be downloaded for FREE.
-Take a virtual field trip of the GA Aquarium.
-Tour and learn more about the Atlanta Zoo online.
-The seven wonders of the State of Georgia.
-Little White House Virtual Tour.
-Take a virtual tour of Stone Mountain.
-Turner Field virtual tour.

Websites for GA fieldtrip reviews:
-Kathys Cluttered Mind Field Trip Reviews and here is my Museum and Attraction Guide for the Southeast (this is a work in progress).
-Expedition Mom
-Fieldtrips With Sue

Pictures of some of the places we have visited in GA:


Take a quick tour via this YouTube video of Atlanta:



Food:
-Anything with peaches: peach pie, peach jelly, peach cobbler, peach milkshake - the peach is Georgia's State fruit.
-Georgia shake - Georgia produces 40% of the Nations peanut supply. Did you know peanuts are not nuts they are legumes (like beans and peas).
-Chees Grits
-More GA recipe ideas

Famous Atlantians:
Atlanta is one of only two cities in the World to be home to two Nobel Peace Prize winners - Jimmy Carter in 2002 and Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1964.

-Jimmy Carter - thirty-ninth president of the United States, born October 1, 1924, in the small farming town of Plains, Georgia.
-John Pemberton - an Atlanta pharmacist who founded Coca-Cola.
-Margaret Mitchell - most well know for her book Gone With The Wind which won a Pulitzer Prize in 1937.
-Dr. Martin Luther King - a major participator in the advancement of civil rights using nonviolent civil disobedience. 
-Joel Chandler Harris - wrote the Uncle Remus stories, you can even visit his home the Wrens Nest.
-Bobby Jones - only play to ever win golf's Grand Slam.
-Little Richard- a famous singer.
-S. Truett Cathy - founder of Chick-fil-A
-Bernie Marcus - co-founder of Home Depot

Animals:
-Learn more about Georgia's wildlife from the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. 
-GA fish identification

Music/Songs/Folktales:-A number of notable musicians in various genres of popular music are from Georgia. Like Ray Charles (whose many hits include "Georgia on My Mind", now the official state song), and Gladys Knight (known for her Georgia-themed song, "Midnight Train to Georgia").
-Folktales written by Joel Chandler Harris - Uncle Remus Brer Rabbit stories (read online for FREE)
-Hush, Child! Can’t You Hear the Music? is a remarkable collection of black folktales and photographs from rural Georgia. During the 1930s and 1940s Rose Thompson worked as a home supervisor with the Farm Security Administration in middle Georgia. While she worked with farmers and their wives--teaching them to put up preserves, make cotton mattresses, and build chick brooders--she listened to the stories they told.

Artists/Artwork:
-High Museum of Art is Georgia's largest art museum and features a permanent folkart exhibit with works from GA artists. Like this amazing piece by Carlton Garrett. We were told during a tour that Carlton only had an elementary education. This piece is a hand carved recreation of the church services from his younger days, including such vanishing elements as the mourner’s bench, where repentant sinners knelt to ask forgiveness.
-Booth Art Museum - I am not sure how much of the artwork here was done by native Georgians but there are wonderful exhibits which certainly go along great with Georgia lessons like the permanent Native Hands exhibit.

Geography and Weather:
-Atlanta's terrain is very hilly. The elevation is between 738-1,050 fee above sea level. 
-Georgia is bordered on the south by Florida; on the east by the Atlantic Ocean and South Carolina; on the west by Alabama; and on the north by Tennessee and North Carolina. The northern part of the state is in the Blue Ridge Mountains, a mountain range in the Appalachian Mountains system. The central Piedmont extends from the foothills to the fall line, where the rivers cascade down in elevation to the continental coastal plain of the southern part of the state. 
-The majority of the state is primarily a humid subtropical climate. Hot and humid summers are typical, except at the highest elevations. The entire state, including the north Georgia mountains, receives moderate to heavy precipitation, which varies from 45 in. in central Georgia to approximately 75 in. around the northeast part of the state.

Crafts:
-Make a dream catcher to learn more about Georgia's Native American history.
-Make a plaster cast of a Live Oak leaf.
-Make a replica of Stone Mountain using modeling clay.
-Make your own Atlanta skyline - here are the instructions (this can be adapted for any city):
All you need are some markers or crayons, a light of some sort (Christmas lights work well) and a flat box, shoe box or oatmeal container. Next show your children a picture of your cities skyline and have them try to recreate it on there box or container. After they draw their picture have them color it in with markers or crayons. Next take a pencil or exacto knife and help your child poke holes were windows would be. Then place a light behind or in the container to see your skyline light up.


Recommended Books:
-The Awesome Atlanta Mystery
-Georgia Geography Projects
-P is for Peach
-Georgia What's So Great About This State?
-Georgia (Hello USA)

Online Learning:
-Georgia learning games, videos and printables.

Make A Unit Study Lapbook, Binder or Notebook:
Here are several more great links to FREE worksheets, coloring pages, fact cards, maps, etc for you to create your very own record of learning. 

-Use this great worksheet for filling out State facts as you learn them.
-Here is a great map of Georgia that you can use to mark the capitol, rivers, attractions, etc.
-Learn about all of Georgia's History at Our Georgia History.
-Find Georgia's State animals in these Animals of the United States cards. Print them out and place them in your state lapbook, binder or journal.
-Here is a great idea for a mini book from Living Life Intentionally.
-Lots of fun GA activity pages like wordsearches, crossword puzzles, coloring pages and more
-More great coloring pages including a coloring page of the Georgia State coin.
-Georgia coin coloring page.
-Georgia timeline
-Lots of great lesson plans for Georgia
-Free powerpoint presentations on Georgia.
-Civil War coloring pages.
-Native Americans in Georgia.
-FREE state lapbook pieces.
-Printable GA Unit Study - $2 from Currclick.
-GA notebooking pages - $3.95 from Currclick.
-State of Georgia copywork - 50 cents from Currclick.
-Mini State Lapbook GA - $1.00 from Currclick.

**After you complete your Georgia Unit Study test your knowledge by taking this QUIZ!**

We are participating in The Preschool Toolbox Cultural Kids Exchange Project for FALL 2012.


I hope you find these resources useful as you learn about the State of Geogia. If you ever have any questions feel free to leave me a comment or email me. Also be sure to follow my FB page where I post FreeBEEs daily.

*Disclaimer - Many of the links found on my side bars and in my blog posts are affiliate links. Please note that prices indicated in the post are subject to change. As a result, I might get paid money and I will most likely spend the money on homeschool supplies.

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