For American kids, learning their history can feel like a daunting task, but Mrs Wordsmith, the creators of word games and study guides designed to make English and vocab work fun, have launched a new study guide especially for America’s semiquincentennial (first lesson: that means 250th anniversary!)
Packed full of study guides, strategies, and vocabulary words that help contextualize American history, culture and commerce, The Great American Story: 250 Years of America in 250 Words is a timely and convenient tool for educators and parents alike to improve their kids’ language ability for modern living in the United States. And now, for a limited time, this $50 educational tool for at-home use is offered as a free gift to American families by its British maker so children have a way to access and relate to the celebration of the signing of the U.S. Constitution.
The Great American Story is a comprehensive, 538-page interactive PDF featuring 250 thoughtfully selected words grouped into helpful categories ranging from Learning, Togetherness & Belonging, Science & Discovery, American Art and many more. These categories help contextualize each word on their own and in relation to the other terms in the category to help kids better retain the ideas. Mrs Wordsmith uses science and evidence-based teaching tools to craft their study guides, including word maps with synonyms and word pairs to better build deep understanding, delineated daily and weekly lesson plan options to better tackle specific words or word groups, and ready-to-print activities for either individual students or entire groups of young learners.
The PDF features a helpful, interactive table of words separated by category to help easily navigate back to tricky words in case kids need a refresher on synonyms or definitions, and every word page asks students to use the word in a sentence of their own making. Just click on the word and instantly jump to its page! Everything from American musical genres to terms of government, activist movements, art, technology, economics and everything in-between, The Great American Story arrives just in time for kids to acquire a well-rounded understanding of their country in a complicated yet significant point in history.
Evaluation comments:
“This program which helps children build their civic literacy (learning 250 words over 10 all American themes, is educational and more entertaining than any history textbook.”
“The vocabulary is interesting and meaningful, especially during this 250 th year.”
“I like that this program is unique, unlike anything I have seen.”
“I like the fact that there are 10 themes and 25 words in each. I like the clear and easy to follow daily and weekly lesson plans (for each of the 10 themes) that make it easy for educators or parents to support their children’s learning.”
“I like that the art is colorful, which will keep the children interested and excited to learn.”
“History is not just taught in a dry, boring manner, it is taught through actual vocabulary words that are used to talk about America’s history.”
“Makes history much more interesting.”
“This is a great program for students and would be a wonderful tool for families who are doing homeschooling programs.”