Welcome to American Girl Doll Nanea! During our live sessions (one per week for 8 weeks),  students will engage in a discussion of the book Nanea; The Spirit of Aloha as well as participate in activities that support learning of the historical time period of the 1940;s with specific attention to Pearl Harbor. Students will be exposed to different reading strategies, vocabulary exploration, discussion, map work, journal writes, and creative activities such as crafts, games, and even cooking. Outside of our class meetings, students can expect to read a couple of chapters a week in addition to completing short assignments and/or projects at home. Students will travel through time, back into a period where the attack on Pearl Harbor stuns the entire country and pushes the United States to officially join in the fighting of World WarII. We will be using the American Girl Nanea story to learn about the Hawaiin culture and the 1940’s in America. While this class does not replace a complete curriculum, it is a great supplement to your regular study of U.S. history. 

Students do not need prior knowledge of the 1940s. They will be exposed on a "surface" level. Your child can be at any reading level. They will not be asked to read during our live session. They will need to be able to read outside of the live session, but this can be done via audio books, read aloud by parents, etc. 

Our first live session (no prior reading necessary for this first class)

Week 1 Introduction Nanea
-Introduce ourselves 
-reading focus: Read aloud and discussion of Nanea and her family
-Geography focus: map of Hawaiian Islands


Outside of class for week 1, students will finish their maps and read ch 1 and 2

Week 2
-discussion of ch 1 and ch 2
-vocabulary exploration thru guessing and using context clues to figure out meaning
-historical focus: Pearl Harbor and WW11

Outside of class for week 2, students will finish vocabulary and read ch 3 and 4



Week 3
-discussion of ch 5 and 6
-vocabulary exploration thru guessing and using context clues to figure out meaning
-Historical focus: Pearl Harbor and WW11 
-activity: create a postcard

Outside of class for week 3, students will finish vocabulary and read ch 7 and 8

Week 4
-discussion of the ch 7 and 8
-vocabulary exploration thru guessing and using context clues to figure out meaning
-review with an interactive game
-historical focus: history of hula 
-create a flower crown

Outside of class for week 4, students will finish their vocabulary and read ch 9 and 10




Week 5
--discussion of ch 9 and 10
-vocabulary exploration thru guessing and using context clues to figure out meaning
-historical focus: Sacrifice for war effort 
-create a make a difference poster

Outside of class for week 5, students will finish vocabulary, finish poster, and read ch 11 and 12


Week 6
-discussion of ch 11 and 12
-vocabulary exploration thru guessing and using context clues to figure out meaning
-historical focus: Hawaiian culture
-word search
-game: Kumu Hula says

Outside of class for week 6, students will finish their vocabulary and read ch 13 and ch 14


Week 7
-discussion of ch 13 and 14
-vocabulary review: bingo
-historical focus: Hawaiin culture
-crossword puzzle
-bake guava bread

Week 8: 
-celebration of Nanea
-share projects

My teaching style is very student-centered. I also like to get to know my students by sharing weekly "what is going on in our world.