Interdisciplinary learning is an excellent way to cover several subjects under the umbrella of one exciting topic.The key to a successful cross curricula lesson is having fine organizational skills. By preparing your lessons, your materials, and your time frame, you can achieve your goal...a classroom full of educated, interested students!

If you are presenting information about the American Revolutionary War to your class you can capture their interest by reading from the American Girl "Felicity" series. I know, you are questioning how this would work with the boys in the class. In the back of the book they talk about the War, and the society at the time. The entire class enjoys that section of the book. The story itself centers on a female character, however, it is a fine story with excellent historic information valued by all students.

This reading lesson leads beautifully to the study of King George and the taxes he wanted the colonists to pay. This history lesson can easily lead to biographies about important people during the Revolutionary War. Someone can research Ben Franklin and another student can report on his son William Franklin, the then Governor of New Jersey. They had a terrible feud, William supported King George and his tax, Ben was against the King, and his son, and wanted the colonies to form a free country. From this feud, you can have a discussion on family conflicts and how we can solve them fairly.

I mentioned biographies of the time. Yes, the usual subjects; George Washington, Paul Revere, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Benjamin Banneker, and Betsy Ross are researched. However, another area of study, women in American history can be developed by researching Sybil Ludington, Molly Pitcher, Margaret Cochran Corbin, and Penelope Pagett Barker. These women had an important part in the development of our country.

Any of these reports can be accompanied with an artistic presentation. Your students can create a three dimensional diorama of an important scene in the lives of one of these Americans. You can also stage a debate between those citizens in favor of King George's rules, and those who wanted a new country. When these presentations are made, you can allow your speakers to dress up in costumes of the time.

The math component of this project would involve creating time lines of important events in the creation of the United States of America from 1770 to 1790. The dates included would cover the Boston Tea Party and the Edenton Tea Party, the Declaration of Independence, the beginning and the end of the Revolutionary War, and various other events.

Once this time line is completed each child can create their own time line from their birth to the present day. These dates would include events which they feel are important and need to be recorded.

Now, after this project is completed you have instructed your class in lessons on reading comprehension with vocabulary skills, American history, biographies and dioramas, artistic expression, debates, Women in American history, and mathematics. To celebrate the conclusion of this project you can ask the class parents if they would like to bring in red, white, and blue cupcakes for a sweet treat!

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