With the Election Let's Learn about Washington DC

Title: Washington, DC History for Kids: The Making of a Capital City
Author: Richard Panchyk

Chronicling the rich and fascinating history of Washington, DC, this useful resource for teachers and parents, reveals to young readers the city’s remarkable past through 21 hands-on activities. Children will gather items for a building cornerstone’s time capsule, design a memorial for a favorite president, take a walking tour of the National Mall, and much more. The book also includes a time line and list of books, websites, and places to visit.

I've reviewed several of books in this series on my other blog The O.W.L.  I've always found them very informative and great at getting kids to bring themselves into the history or topic.  This one was no different.

With all the election news kids are hearing right now, this is a great book to teach kids about Washington D.C.  What I really liked was that it wasn't just about the White House.  It looked at the whole city.  So many times books seem to focus on the White House, but this one reminds kids that there is a whole city filled with history.  It starts in the 1700's with the start of the city until now.  The pictures alone that follow the creation of the city are fun to see.  

The book also takes you through many of the monuments in D.C.  When I visited Washington the Vietnam Memorial was the most powerful place for me.  I was really struck by it.  This book explores the memorial and even ties one of the activities to it.  It talks about how to get a rubbing from the wall, but also how to go online and learn about the people behind the names.  Very well done.  

Another activity in the book is writing a letter much like a Civil War soldier would have including encouraging the child to sit outside and write it! What a nice way to help students getting a better understanding.  

Over-all a great book for anyone wanting to learn more about Washington D.C.  This would be a book I would share with teachers in my building who are studying American history or want to do more during this election year.