Massachusetts Unit

Sometimes you think you’ve written something only to go back and discover that is not a true story. So, I thought I had written a Massachusetts Unit for our geography lessons, and I looked on my blog and looked on the United States unit, and there is no Massachusetts Unit to be found, even though we have studied the state before. So, this is me fixing my mistake.

(there are so many affiliate links in here)

Massachusetts has a lot of history

Here is the tricky part about creating a Massachusetts Unit, there is a lot of history there. The American Revolution basically started in Boston. There are loads of famous people from that time period from there, a few presidents are from there.

So, all that means I have a lot of mini-books to design. Wait, I just had a brilliant idea for that! You’ll have to wait to see until I get down to the Massachusetts notebooking pages further down.

I’m finishing up this post several months later with all those minibooks just sitting here printed forever, and so I’m really wondering just what my brilliant idea was.

Let’s talk Massachusetts picture books

Do you know what topic has the most number of books about it?

The landing at Plymouth Rock and Thanksgiving, I should probably make a Thanksgiving book list because there are so many of them…

Actually, done, that is happening now.

Massachusetts biographies

Like I said, there are a lot of famous people from Massachusetts.

• A Picture Book of John Hancock– It looks like this awesome picture book may be out of print, so let me see… Will You Sign Here, John Hancock?, by Jean Fritz is also a great book, but it will be a longer book
• A Picture book of Samuel Adams– Also out of print, apparently you need to start buying David Adler books whenever you see them at used bookstores, so I give you Samuel Adams: Patriot and Statesman
• A Picture book of John and Abigail Adams– Sigh, so I give you: Who was Abigail Adams? and John Adams Speaks for Freedom
• Leave it to Abigail– Y’all, I want this book, it’s not at our library, but it looks pretty cool
• Girl Running– this is about Boggi Gibb, the first woman to run in the Boston Marathon
• John Adams– another good John Adams book, I like this particular author’s style for his artist books
• William Bradford– a good simple overview of a major player in the Plymouth colony
• Paul Revere and the Bell Ringers– a story from Paul Revere’s youth before he was a “rabble-rouser of the American Revolution”
• John Quincy Adams– another by Mike Venezia in his president’s series
• Miles Standish: Let Freedom Ring– much like the William Bradford book, they’re in the same series, it’s a nice straightforward biography
• JFK– one of the things I loved about this book was the illustrations that were obviously inspired by actual photographs. It’s a nice inspiring biography without getting too political
• John F Kennedy and the Stormy Sea– a story of JFK’s childhood and a boat ride that got a little exciting

Massachusetts nonfiction books

These are the books that are nonfiction, but not necessarily biographies.

• Paul Revere’s Ride– this is a classic version I’ve checked out before, sadly the one I checked out this time isn’t listed on Amazon because it has ever so slightly different acrylic illustrations that are gorgeous, either way this poem is well worth listening to
• Giving Thanks: the 1621 Harvest Feast– portrayed with people, particularly focusing on children in a recreation of the events
• Off to Plymouth Rock!– a retelling of the story in rhyme, do with that what you will. I know rhyming children’s books are really controversial

Picture Books

• My Uncle Emily– this is a fictionalized account of an actual historical relationship, Emily Dickinson’s friendship with her nephew Gil, a super sweet story
• The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey– in homeschooling circles this book is talked about everywhere. The artwork, the story, the word choice, and there is a good reason for it, it’s a lovely story, so if you can find it, grab it
• Sisters of Scituate Light– years ago when we first studied Massachusetts we made a lighthouse craft to go with this book
• Terrible Storm– a fictionalized account of the Blizzard of 1888 and how people holed up together to survive the storm
• Blueberries for the Queen– This is also part of the Netherlands Unit because the queen of the Netherlands comes to Massachusetts during World War 2, and it’s adorable
• Make Way for Ducklings– I originally forgot to include this book on the list, since I have this as a picture book I own, I didn’t put it on my library list.

Massachusetts unit resources: YouTube videos

Sigh, let’s see what pain there is to be had.

Y’all! Y’all! There’s a Captain Jay video about Massachusetts! We’ve been saved! Our brains do not have to leak out of our ears anymore.

But in case you don’t want to learn your United States geography from a pirate, let’s see what all else I can find.

Or maybe something from Socratica…

Luck you, there is no Nat Geo Kids video with the rapping Bald Eagle.

Massachusetts Unit notebooking pages

Okay, there are A LOT of minibooks, and even some minibooks for people I don’t think I have books for, and I realized I forgot a minibook to put in there…

We filled out the United States Notebooking Pages for Massachusetts (if you join my newsletter, as part of the welcome series you’ll get a coupon to get them for free).

Okay, here are all the minibooks, so many I needed 3 pictures to capture it all:

• Make Way for Ducklings map– this came from our original study over 10 years ago
• Green Eggs and Ham graphing– Dr. Seuss is from Massachusetts, so I picked a fun book
• Massachusetts state symbols- something I did back in the days when clip art was a thing
• Benjamin Franklin- apparently he was born in Massachusetts but is mostly known for being in Philadelphia, PA…
• John Adams
• Ralph Waldo Emerson- poet and novelist
• Henry David Thoreau- huh, that is the second author of that ilk from here
• Paul Revere– when we first studied Massachusetts we did a wood-cutting activity
• John F Kennedy
• Clara Barton
• Susan B. Anthony

The original uploader was Daderot at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/, via Wikimedia Commons

Crisco 1492, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons