American Girl Historical Character Doll Craft Class - Part 3 - FLEX
In this 4 week flex class, students can learn about different American Girl historical characters from 1934-1954.
Kristi Rodenbeck
Average rating:
4.9
Number of reviews:(477)
What's included
Class Experience
In this 4-week **FLEX** class, students will learn about the events, topics, and characters mentioned in the American Girl historical book series. As a **FLEX** class, we will NOT meet live. This is a course with an asynchronous learning format, meaning that I will posted pre-recorded videos, engaging questions for students to answer, and directions for projects and activities for students to complete to engage students in learning about the topic. Although we will not be meeting live and students can work on their own time, students should still follow the schedule listed below as to stay involved with the questions and activities. The goal is for students to have fun learning about the topic for each week and to inspire students to read the book series for the character that we are studying while working at their own pace. In this particular **FLEX** course, we will be studying topics and events mentioned in the historical book series of Kit (1934), Nanea (1941), Molly (1944), and Maryellen (1954). Each week, we will focus on a different historical girl, learn a little about her time period via a short video lesson, and do a fun activity/project to explore our creative side. This course is specifically designed for students that love reading and learning history, but also enjoy doing crafts, baking, and creating things. Students will have the opportunity to post on the Outschool class feed and interact with other students that are in the class. Students may interact by either posting a video of themselves showing their projects and answering questions, uploading a document, or commenting on posts. Instructions will be posted at the beginning of class and reiterated each week. As a formal history teacher, I am SUPER passionate about the historical American Girls. I had a few of the historical dolls as a child and fell in love with history because of American Girl. -Lesson Plan - Week 1 - Kit (1934) Monday - I will post a short video lesson about the historical character and the time in which she lived. I will also introduce the project/activity for the week that pairs with the historical doll. Tuesday - Friday - Students work on the project/activity assigned and post a summary/photo of project/activity in the Outschool class feed. **Wednesday - Teacher will post a check-in question in the Outschool feed Kit’s Project: Creating a 1934 newspaper Week 2 - Nanea (1941) Monday - I will post a short video lesson about the historical character and the time in which she lived. I will also introduce the project/activity for the week that pairs with the historical doll. Tuesday - Friday - Students work on the project/activity assigned and post a summary/photo of project/activity in the Outschool class feed. **Wednesday - Teacher will post a check-in question in the Outschool feed Nanea’s Project: Creating a Hawaiian lei Week 3 - Molly (1944) Monday - I will post a short video lesson about the historical character and the time in which she lived. I will also introduce the project/activity for the week that pairs with the historical doll. Tuesday - Friday - Students work on the project/activity assigned and post a summary/photo of project/activity in the Outschool class feed. **Wednesday - Teacher will post a check-in question in the Outschool feed Molly’s Project: Building an “I Can Do It” poster similar to Rosie The Riveter’s poster Week 4 - Maryellen (1954) Monday - I will post a short video lesson about the historical character and the time in which she lived. I will also introduce the project/activity for the week that pairs with the historical doll. Tuesday - Friday - Students work on the project/activity assigned and post a summary/photo of project/activity in the Outschool class feed. **Wednesday - Teacher will post a check-in question in the Outschool feed Maryellen’s Project: Creating a poodle appliqué for a future poodle skirt (poodle skirt directions will be posted on the class feed) Students do not need to have prior knowledge of this topic for class, just an interest in learning. :)
Other Details
Parental Guidance
Although we will not be reading the book series within the Flex class, I always suggest reading the American Girl books. Please be advised that some of the book series present historical events such war and battles. We will briefly mention these events, but will not get into the extreme details of the event as the class is designed to be a crafting class and will be an age-appropriate class.
As a licensed history teacher, I also have many PD hours dedicated to cultural sensitivity and correct teachings when it comes to historical events that present cultural insensitivities.
In all situations for each of the characters of study throughout the flex course, I will present all perspectives of all parties involved in the historical event that the character lives through. It is important to understand historical events from all lenses and perspectives in order to build empathy and understanding of all parties involved.
Supply List
Materials for each week will be listed on the class feed the week prior.
Language of Instruction
English
External Resources
Learners will not need to use any apps or websites beyond the standard Outschool tools.
Sources
Although we will not be using the book series, I always suggest reading the books to each of my students. The historical information presented will be limited as this is not a history class - this is a crafting class.
Teacher sources used for curriculum:
Primary sources: I used a variety of primary sources to gather information (journals, interviews, letters, diary entries, and archive material) primary from the Smithsonian Institute (https://www.si.edu/researchers), and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History (https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources).
Secondary sources: Information will be referenced from my teacher textbook for American history using Prentice Hall's "America - This History Of Our Nation".
Joined May, 2020
4.9
477reviews
Teacher expertise and credentials
Wisconsin Teaching Certificate in Social Studies/History
Hi there! My name is Mrs. Rodenbeck and I am a middle school history teacher! I have taught 6th, 7th, and 8th, grade history for the past 7 years! Before that, I taught high school history. I absolutely LOVE learning about people from the past! I like understanding how people lived in different times in history.
I studied anthropology in college. My goal as a kid was to be Indiana Jones! Archaeology and cultural anthropology are my favorite disciplines. I like to learn about what past peoples have built and how those things impact their culture. I’ve even done work for Chicago’s Field Museum since 2007. Now I work in the education department at the Field Museum with other teachers and bringing history topics into their classrooms.
I love teaching about the American Girl books and their periods of time in history because I used to WORK at the American Girl store in Chicago. I worked there all throughout my college years. I loved American Girl when I was a kid and I loved it, even more, when I worked at the store in college!
I hope that from my courses, you can take some of my passion for history and for American Girl and get a little more excited about learning about other people. There are so many fun and exciting things to learn about! I can’t wait to share them with you! Reviews
Live Group Class
$13
weekly4 weeks
Completed by 1 learner
No live video meetings
Ages: 8-13
