4th of July

Patches was amazing yesterday. The topic was Independence Day. We learned a little about why we celebrate the 4th of July and about colonial life. We made dolls from corn husk with hair of corn silk.

I learned about hornbooks. This description is an excerpt from the Blackwell Museum:

Paper was pretty expensive once and hornbooks were made so children could learn to read without using a lot of paper. A hornbook was usually a small, wooden paddle with just one sheet of paper glued to it. But because that paper was so expensive, parents and teachers wanted to protect it. So they covered the paper with a very thin piece of cow's horn. The piece of cow's horn was so thin, you could see right through it. That's why these odd books were called "hornbooks."

We made our own version of a hornbook that could be used with a dry erase marker.

The kids colored their American Flags and marched to some of our nations tunes. Some were equiped with musical instruments, and the parents were serenaded with a cacophony of drums, xylophones, and bells.

What a great start to America's birthday!