Booking Across The USA!

I have teamed up with some amazing bloggers over the entire United States to bring you Booking Across The USA!

Here are all of the bloggers who are participating!
Alabama: Everyday Snapshots Alaska: Little Wonders’ Days Arizona: Simply Kinder Arkansas: Homeschooling in Arkansas California: Juggling with Kids and The Outlaw Mom Colorado: Learners in Bloom and Living Montessori Now Connecticut: The Teacher Park Delaware: Mama Miss Florida: Teaching Stars Georgia: Fabulously First Hawaii: Teaching With Style Idaho: True Aim Education Illinois: Growing Book by Book Indiana: Teach Preschool Iowa: Surviving a Teacher's Salary Kansas: KCEdventures Kentucky: Chicken Babies Louisiana: New Orleans Moms Blog Maine: Maine Adventure Mom and Country Fun Child Care Maryland: Picture Books and Piourettes Massachusetts: Mama Smiles Michigan: Play DrMom Minnesota: The Wise Owl Factory Mississippi: Hey Mommy, Chocolate Milk Missouri- Ready. Set. Read! Montana: The Honey Bunch Nebraska: The Good Long Road Nevada: Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy Crafts New Hampshire: Elementary Matters New Jersey: The Pleasantest Thing New Mexico: Enchanted Homeschooling Mom New York: What Do We Do All Day North Carolina: Realistic Teacher Blog North Dakota: ND HealthWorks Ohio: Smart Chick Teacher’s Blog Oklahoma: Herding Kats in Kindergarten Oregon: Journey of a Substitute Teacher Pennsylvania: Land of Once Upon a Time Rhode Island: Smiling in Second Grade South Carolina: Cookies and Kiddos and JDaniel4’s Mom South Dakota: The Wise Owl Factory Tennessee: No Monkey Business Texas: Curls and a Smile and Kid World Citizen Utah: Teach Beside Me Vermont: Burlington Vt Moms Blog Virgina: Once Upon a Story, and The Freckled Homeschooler Washington: Home Learning Journey and Boy Mama Teacher Mama West Virginia: This Week @ Great Peace Academy and Mamas Like Me Wisconsin: Reading Confetti Wyoming: No Twiddle Twaddle USA: The Corner on Character

Does this make you want to sing the Fifty Nifty song?  A little bit?  Ok, here we go!


Most of you know that I am now teaching in Hawaii.  I am loving learning about the Hawaiian culture of my state and also the Filipino culture of my island.  I've already blogged a bit about it.  You can catch up by going here, here, and here.

For my book, I chose a Hawaiian folktale that is modeled after the traditional story of The Pied Piper.  

Get the book from BeachHouse Publishing or Amazon

The story is very cute and includes tons of nods to authentic Hawaiian culture, not just stereotypical lu‘aus, surfing, and hula - which I still love, but I want to read about other aspects of the culture, too!  It is about a boy named Maka who loves to make people happy by playing his ‘ukulele and singing his song about the shaka.  But one day, a wild boar comes in his village and chases everyone away.  He climbs a tree to hide and sees that his baby sister is still on the ground in a basket, so he plays his ‘ukulele to calm the boar and saves his sister and the village.  

As I was writing my unit to go with this story, I obviously saw the text-to-text connection to The Pied Piper, but I also saw opportunities for classrooms and children to discuss nonviolent conflict resolution, text-to-self connections, and also diving more into Hawaiian culture and language.  The book also includes a CD of the song Maka plays and also a page in the back with lyrics and music.  I'm thinking about having my husband come in and play the song for my class!  


You can now find this unit in my TpT shop! :)

In my unit, I included:
  • Vocabulary cards, worksheets, and a journal
  • Two non-fiction passages with comprehension questions to practice writing in full sentences and finding information in text
  • Writing prompts with graphic organizers to plan out essays or paragraphs
  • Two types of writing paper for each activity and answer keys where needed
I hope you get a chance to teach your class a little about Hawaii.  I bet they will love it!

Do you teach about the different states in your classroom?  Which state are you most excited to learn about?

28 comments

  1. I remember that song. Wonder how much of it my preschoolers could master? Thanks for the free unit. It will add to what I do with children's music.

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  2. We read many, many stories and have discussions with each other about what culture means and how it's involved in each of our families - we all come from different areas! Thank you for the chance!

    Sara
    Miss V's Busy Bees
    ventrellasara@gmail.com

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  3. Wow...this unit is amazing!!! Thank u so much!! I would love to learn more about Alaska as well!

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  4. About culture....I do a huge Christmas Around the world unit celebrating various cultures!

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  5. This is so fun! I always do "The Great Mail Race" the end of the year and have my class write to other 1st grades in the other 50 states. What a fun way to introduce the project or even learn more about it when we get a letter from Hawaii! Fun, fun, fun! Wanna be my Hawaii contact?? :) I wasnt so into blogs 2 years ago when I did it last (last year was a wash due to my new little man!)

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  6. This is great! We learn abour different cultures when we complete our Christmas around the world unit.

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  7. This would be great for my homeschool co-op!

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  8. We have assemblies for United Nations Day and celebrate Christmas Around the World!

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  9. I like to do Christmas Around the World as one of my activities.

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  10. I love that song haha!

    I've seen students get to share holiday traditions their family does and put a dot on maps. Or do a family speech or family tree.

    Journey of a Substitute Teacher

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  11. This looks amazing! I remember that song too! I wish the kids still sang it. My kids are amazed when I can belt out the first half......the second half, well- not so much :(

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  12. im just starting to homeschool, but i like the idea of "christmas around the world" as a way of introducing different cultures and traditions.
    thank you!
    *kelly
    kelly-tillotson@hotmail.com

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  13. Love the idea of linking up with people from every state! I love sharing information about states...and my students love hearing about them. Thanks for sharing!

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  14. I love the idea of "Booking Across America". What a fun idea. I would love to teach about Alaska... so different from Arizona :)
    Cindy
    Granny Goes to School

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  15. Christmas around the World is one of our favorites each year! Thanks for this chance!
    Lori S
    lschaar6@gmail.com

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  16. Your unit is amazing! Thank you so much for participating in the Booking Across the USA project.

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  17. School is diverse so it is somewhat easy to incorporate culture into lessons. I read stories from various cultures to my class, but the school has done things such as Christmas Around the World.
    Toni
    chief9937@Yahoo.com

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  18. Yay! A new Hawaiian style story

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  19. I think it's awesome you are teacing in HI. I absolutely loved it there when I visited-such a beautiful place and beautiful people. Consider me jealous :)

    EnglishWithMrsL.blogspot.com

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  20. I love reading and teaching my students about different customs and cultures around the world! It really opens their eyes up to the world around them and they are very curious as to why other cultures do things differently!!

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  21. Thank you for sharing. I love to hear about the books and units that others out there are using!

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  22. This book looks great! Love your ideas with it. I love to read stories about different cultures - especially different versions of classic stories, this week we are reading different Cindrella stories - even my boys are loving it!

    Jennifer @ Herding Kats In Kindergarten

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  23. This book looks so cute!! Love the activities too! Thanks so much!

    ღDeAnne
    First Grade and Fabulous

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  24. Excellent! It sounds like so much fun in your class! Thank you! Pinned!

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  25. Wow! What a great book choice...and your freebie is uh-mazing!! What a great project to be a part of, too! Miss ya, girlie :)

    Treasures for Teaching

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  26. I teach Christmas Around the World, Texas (our state), and Hawaii. Love the freebie.

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