Frozen Nuts and Other Things: Notebooking 4th Grade American History, Part 2: War of 1812

This is part two of our American History Notebook from grade 4. In this section we studied the War of 1812. The first page is a copy of our Constitution from the previous section, followed by the cover for the War of 1812 section. Just like the previous section, we left this page blank and returned to it when the unit was done to draw items that reminded us of what we learned.

In our next section, vocabulary, we learned words like: time-line, impressment, first lady, frigate, cannon, bayonet, musket, cotton bale, and treaty.

After finishing up the vocabulary section, we made a map of the East Coast to show Washington, D.C., Fort McHenry, Baltimore and New Orleans as we began discussing battles in those areas.

We drew the president, James Madison, in the previous section, so now we learn about the first lady, Dolley Madison, and how she saved documents in 1814. We made a bag (pocket) to store some documents and a picture of George Washington which she carried to safety. She was our third portrait this year.

We talked about what a 'hero' was and wrote about it. Then we got on to the subject of impressment. The scene below shows the British kidnapping Americans.

Weapons of the War of 1812 are depicted next followed by the USS Constitution.

Next was the Battle of Lake Erie followed by the Burning of Washington, D.C. We made notes and drew pictures about what we learned.

Dolley Madison saving the documents is discussed along with a page entitled "The British Eat Dinner" about the attack on the President's house.

Battles continue and we discuss the Battle of Fort McHenry and the writing of the "Star Spangled Banner" by Francis Scott Key.

The Battle of New Orleans comes next. The picture of the men hiding in cotton bales is one I really enjoyed. We finish up the section with a page "My Favorite Thing to Study" and a fold out drawing. The favorite was "The Battle of Lake Erie".