We started using YWAM Publishing last year as part of our homeschool read alouds with my then third-grader and quickly fell in love. Until recently, we had only read the Christian Heroes (which are amazing), but because we love historical biographies too, we decided to check out Heroes of History – Davy Crockett with its Digital Unit Study from YWAM Publishing.
YWAM Publishing Davy Crockett
This is the first time I have added the Digital Unit Study to the books and wow what a difference it makes! I seriously can’t imagine reading another Christian Heroes or Heroes of History without this to go along with it. The Digital Unit Study for Davy Crockett is 72 pages and is jam-packed with resources and activities.
The different sections you’ll find in the Digital Unit Study are:
Key Quotes:
In this section you’ll find seven quotes that can be used or go alongside your lesson. There are a few ways that you can use these key quotes. You can choose to let your student memorize all or one of the quotes, you can use them to spark conversations or even made into a plaque to display during this unit study. We chose to make it into a little laminated poster and pulled it out it at the beginning of our lessons. We chose our quote together and talked more in-depth about it at the time. It’s been a wonderful addition to the unit.
Display Corner:
This section is so much fun! Both of my boys are very visual learners and the display corner was a huge hit. With this section, it suggests displaying different items that are talked about throughout the Davy Crockett book. For example: primer, photos, and even items that you may find. Like the entire unit study, this can be done as an individual or group setting. We added pictures and other items that we already had that related to Davy Crockett. I feel it really helps the children understand that time frame more.
Chapter Questions:
To me, chapter questions are key in really pulling them in. In the past when we have done these read alouds without the Digital Unit Study I could see my little dude drifting off to daydream, but with the simple addition of the chapter questions, he gives me 100%. He wants to make sure he can answer the questions correctly. For the most part, this seems to lead to longer discussions.
Student Exploration
This is a fantastic section that focuses on creative writing, essay/research topics, hands-on projects, audio/visual projects and arts and crafts. We ended up doing a few of these projects and a lot of fun. We even prepared one of David’s favorite foods – corn dodgers.
Community Links
In this section, it has suggested items to do that goes along with your study. For example: bring in a hunter to speak with the kids, take a field trip, bring in a politician, etc. We are currently planning a field trip to Davy Crockett National Forest, and are super excited about this.
Social Studies:
This area is divided into six categories: places, journey, terms/vocabulary, geographical characteristics, timeline, and conceptual questions. Each of these categories show how to get more in-depth with Davy Crockett. From mapping, timelines, and more.
Related Themes to Explore
This section gives you different ideas/suggestions on other related themes to help extend the learning. I loved this section and feel it really added to our unit study. In fact, we are still exploring additional learning that this unit guide suggested.
Culminating Event
This section is all about closing the unit study. It gives fun ideas on how to go about doing this, such as have the children dress like Davy Crockett, throw a campaign rally barbecue and so much more. Talk about having a blast with sections…we sure did!
Along with this, you also have an additional 4 pages of reproducibles that includes two maps, timeline and a fact sheet.
About Davy Crockett:
While we hadn’t been studying Davy Crockett, I had an idea that my nine-year-old would love his story. Living in the South, I knew without a doubt that he would be familiar with a lot of the things that Davy Crockett had a passion for. We plant a garden, we hunt, and love just being in the woods. Immediately upon opening this book, he was hooked.
Davy Crockett was forced to grow up pretty fast as a child. He wasn’t an educated man, but was an honest man that never gave up on anything he did. He is one of America’s best-known folk-heroes that served as a frontiersman, a scout, a soldier and even a politician.
Our thoughts:
I knew a little about Davy Crockett before we started the Heroes of History book and unit study, but I even admit that I learned so much more. These books are recommended for ages 10+, but they were perfect for my nine-year old as well. There were a few bigger words that he wasn’t sure what they meant,but we would stop and talk about those as we went along.
We read a chapter a day and answered the questions and then throughout the weeks, we would add an activity. Hands-on, craft, writing, etc. This helped to give him more understanding about Davy Crockett and he has learned so much. We were both a little sad that it’s came to an end, but do plan on extending our learning by looking at the recommendations that are suggested in the Digital Unit Study.
All in all, I highly recommend YWAM Publishing. These stories are very engaging and everyone in our family enjoys listening to them. Even my five-year old would stop what he was doing every day and come listen to the story of Davy Crockett.
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