American Girl Curriculum - Girls of American History Unit 3 1824 South Western-Josefina® - Teacher License

Life on the Rancho can be hard.  Sacrifice, endurance and trust are highlighted in this unit, along with wagon trains and Southwestern Culture.  Additional activities include learning Spanish and making traditional cookies.

Making history engaging for students is possibly one of the most difficult tasks for teachers.  How do we overcome that?  Two key things are critical for accomplishing this task.  First, it must be relatable in someway, and secondly, it needs to offer learning opportunities for multiple learning styles.  Girls of American History uses the popular American Girl book series.  This instantly makes history relatable, as the main characters are school age children, families and strong male characters. 

Girls of American History uses multisensory learning, which follows a pattern of Do It, Write It, Say It, Read It, See It.  Multisensory learning is great for every kind of learner - because each learner gets to experience learning the way they are most comfortable - but they also have the opportunity to learn through other senses.  Studies and research have shown that learning material through multiple senses helps children to retain information better.

The experiences practiced in multisensory learning allow each student to participate in ways that help them understand and retain best.  Boys and girls learn together and help each other with projects such as making a clay pot, leather stamping, having discussions about the story, historical information, as well as positive character traits such as bravery, selflessness, etc.   

Schooling multiple ages together, in a co-op setting for example, is very manageable.  And, with the continuity of the same subject matter for literature and history, as well as crafts and field trip experiences, opportunities for discussion are plentiful and help build a love of learning.

This six week unit study using the American Girl® Josefina® series books is also great for doing school in a large class setting,  or a smaller co-op environment.  Enjoy a classroom fiesta of your own at the end of the unit!

There are two options for the required readers for this unit.  American Girl orignally printed the Josefina stories in a six book set. These stories have been reformatted into a three book set called "Beforever".  Either book set will work for this curriculum.

This series of books follows a young girl in New Mexico hanging on to old traditions and learning to make new ones.  

This unit works well for studying the early 19th century, the southwestern states, the Alamo, Pueblo Indians, the Mexican American War, and so much more. The early 19th century really covers so much more than the southwestern states. Many inventions took place as well as the Lewis and Clark expedition and the Louisiana Purchase. This unit was a favorite with my boys. Craft and field trip ideas from the time period are included in the unit to help enhance the study. Some examples of crafts include; pottery, weaving, leather work, drawings and more.

**Crafts are not included in the purchase of the curriculum, but resources and instruction as to what crafts to purchase are included.  Teacher License allows permission for the purchaser to teach to as many groups and classes as they like.  There is no expiration.  Teacher may not make copies for parents, other teachers or the school/co-op.  The file remains the property of the purchaser only.