Books in Spy on History series

When your students watch commercial airliners flying high in the sky, do they realize how much it took for that common sight to become a reality? When they see military jets blasting through the clouds, do they know how far flight has come in the last 100 years? Creative activities, games, action rhymes, songs, a skit and more involve students in discovering for themselves how the Wright Brothers dreamed of man in flight and worked diligently to bring their dreams to life. They'll learn about the almost ridiculous fragility of the first airplanes, the crazed and driven men who risked their lives trying to be the first to successfully fly and the success of two brothers who refused to give up.

All boys, and most girls, are intrigued by dinosaurs. They sit through movies about these huge creatures wreaking havoc on people, and the kids cheer for the dinosaurs! Some young children who can barely pronounce their own names can correctly say Brachiosaurus with no difficulty! Your students will love Dinosaur Dig. The difficulty may be getting them to move on to other subjects of study. If children love dinosaurs so much, you might as well bring them into your classroom! That's what the hands-on activities in this book help you do. Charts, time lines, diagrams, models they make themselves, dramatized stories, maps and much more will help students discover what dinosaurs looked like, what they ate and when and where they lived. They'll also learn about dinosaur hunters (paleontologists) and what they do, including some impressive discoveries of famous dinosaur hunters who lived many years ago. Dinosaurs may be dead, but interest in them is very much alive. Of course no one knows for sure why dinosaurs became extinct, but at the end of this book students are given an opportunity to express their opinions and discuss them. The discovery, exploration and investigation required by students in this study will be useful in their other schoolwork and in everyday life.

Do your students consider taking a trip on an airplane an amazing, exciting adventure? If they don't now, they will after learning about how Charles Lindbergh ushered in the age of commercial flight in an historic flight from New York to Paris. They'll discover how Lindbergh's early flying experiences uniquely qualified him for his flight across the Atlantic. They'll learn how he prepared for the flight, and they'll climb into the cockpit of the Spirit of St. Louis with him and share his thoughts during the 33 1/2 hour flight through discussion, games, creative writing, art, songs, rhymes and more. They'll even learn some French, which Lindbergh did not do, and they'll compare his small plane with small planes of today. It's a flight they won't forget, and it will teach them to appreciate their next flight experience as they never have before.

The current generation is used to instantaneous information. Overnight mail delivery anywhere in the country from FedEx and UPS and immediate answers to e-mails have led to regular mail delivery, taking two to three days, being called "snail mail." It is hard for us to imagine what it was like 150 years ago when mail usually took a month or more to go across the country. We applaud the hearty souls, especially the Pony Express, who tried to improve the situation. The heart and mind of every boy and girl will be stirred by the picture of the Pony Express rider galloping through the night, facing discomfort and danger, to deliver the mail. The fact that most of the riders were just teenagers only adds to the drama. In a society where heroes are often movie stars and athletes, it's good for children to learn about the true heroes of the west, the Pony Express riders. Students will enjoy learning about this period of American history through poems, music, games, discussion, art and creative writing. They'll learn what a petition is and start one of their own; they'll make Pony Rider puppets and work together to dramatize a Pony Express ride and they'll compete in a relay race to discover for themselves what the Pony Riders knew, that everybody on the team has to do his best and not let the team down. Students will cooperate in putting together a Pony Express museum to illustrate what they have learned and to share their knowledge with friends and family. All this and more will open up the pages of history and involve students in a fun learning adventure they'll always remember.

Children of today are so used to going everywhere quickly and comfortably in the family car, they take the whole thing for granted. They don't have a clue about the problems and challenges that had to be met by early inventors and automobile factories to make a smooth ride possible for us today. So why not bring one of the inventors of the automobile right into your classroom! Introduce Henry Ford to your students and let them discover for themselves the exciting early history of cars! Henry Ford was one of the most interesting inventors in American history. Students will learn about his early life and see the curiosity that motivated him. They'll discover that he was a hard worker and that once he set his mind on a goal, he didn't give up until he reached it. Students will have an opportunity to take apart machines to see how they work, then try to put them back together as Ford enjoyed doing. They'll look at pictures of Ford's first car and his Model T to compare them and see what improvements Ford made in the later car. Through an action song students will discover that riding in a car in Ford's day was fraught with difficulties. They'll be able to design their own cars and they'll discover why Ford's Model T was the most popular car in America. They'll even get to experience working on an assembly line, and be able to set up their own automobile museum in the classroom. The study culminates with a Ford Festival with students involved in the food, decorations and entertainment.