Traveling Back in Time

guest post by Deborah Kalb

What would it be like to travel back in time and meet the early presidents and their families? That’s what the fifth graders in George Washington & the Magic Hat and its sequel, John Adams & the Magic Bobblehead, get to do.

Sam and Ava are regular 21^st century kids, living across the street from each other in Bethesda, Maryland, dealing with issues a lot of kids face. Sam and his former best friend, Andrew, aren’t speaking to each other any more. Ava, in a newly blended family, can’t stand her stepbrother, J.P.

And then, thanks to a crotchety hat, in Sam’s case, and a talking bobblehead, in Ava’s, they are transported into a completely different time.

Students can focus on the historical figures--George Washington, John and Abigail Adams, and more. What do they know about the Founding Fathers and Mothers? Is there one that they’re particularly interested in and why? What do they think these historical figures would make of today’s world if the time travel were reversed?

And then there are the contemporary issues. How do the students identify with Sam? With Ava? How do the students try to resolve the issues that bother them?

If they had a magic hat or a magic bobblehead, which time period would they like to visit, and why? Is there a particular person they’d like to get to know? 

Any of these questions can prompt a discussion or writing assignment that will get students thinking about history or today’s issues or a combination of both.

Here are links to George Washington’s home, Mount Vernon, in Northern Virginia, and to the Adams National Historic Park in Quincy, Massachusetts.

   

Deborah Kalb is a freelance writer and editor. She spent two decades working as a journalist in Washington, D.C., for news organizations including Gannett News Service, Congressional Quarterly, U.S. News & World Report, and The Hill, mostly covering Congress and politics. Her book blog, Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb, which she started in 2012, features hundreds of interviews she has conducted with a wide variety of authors. She is the author of the new children’s book The President and Me: John Adams and the Magic Bobblehead (Schiffer, 2018), the second in a series — after The President and Me: George Washington and the Magic Hat (Schiffer, 2016) Visit http://www.deborahkalb.com/

Writing Connections with Dan Gutman

by Mary Quattlebaum

Like a master alchemist, Dan Gutman can take ordinary stuff and turn it into comic gold.  As the best-selling author of 125 books, he knows how to keep kids laughing as they turn the pages.  I recently interviewed him for KidsPost/WashingtonPost about the first book (The Lincoln Project) in his new history series, “Flashback Four.”  With its time-travel shenanigans, the new series is sure to be as popular as Gutman’s “My Weird School” and “Baseball Card Adventure” series.

Below are writing lessons for the classroom or for individual writers ages 8 and up.  Gutman’s website www.dangutman.com includes puzzles and games related to his books.

VIEWS OF HISTORY:  In the “Lincoln Project,” the four main characters travel back to the time of the Gettysburg Address, in 1863, for a wild adventure.  But each experiences that time differently, depending on race and gender.  Luke and Julia are white, Isabel is a scholarly Hispanic girl and David is an African American boy.

Classroom Discussion:  Ask students to read the book and to jot down differences between the way boys and girls dressed or were treated.  How about African American and white people?  What is David worried about?

Classroom Writing: Ask each student to list what they would have liked/disliked/been worried about if they had traveled on Miss Z’s invention back to Gettysburg, in 1863.  What would have been their favorite thing? Now, ask them to be someone from a different race and/or gender and do the same thing.  How were the answers different?

Classroom Writing:  Miss Z has tapped you to be one of her time-traveling students.  What point in time would you like to travel back to—and where?  (It doesn’t have to be the United States.)  What important moment would you take a photo of?  Write Miss Z a letter explaining (1) why you are the best person to go, (2) why this place and time are important to visit, and (3) why it is important that this moment be photographed.  To prepare the most persuasive letters, ask students to do some research into their point in history.  Ask them to write down what excites them and what they may be afraid of.  How do they think they will be treated back then?  Give some reasons why.

www.maryquattlebaum.com