We have now done an Oklahoma Unit twice. Once when my kids were super little, and in kindergarten, and a second time when they were in junior high. Both times, they were fun geography lessons, but they did teach me a lesson in humility. Just because I vividly remember a book and activity, does not mean my kids remember that same activity with great detail, almost 10 years later, of United States geography.
Hi! Future Ticia 2023 here, I’m combining this Oklahoma Unit and the Oklahoma booklist post into one giant post rather than two kind of small posts.
Only the booklist post is not so small because Oklahoma is our neighbor we have a fair number of books.
I can’t write or work on anything related to Oklahoma without the big song from the Oklahoma musical running through my head. It’s kind of hilarious to me that’s true, does anyone else have that problem? Oh well, either way, I had a blast with our Oklahoma book list, I’m adding it into our ultimate book lists post, and it made a great addition to our geography lessons.
(there are affiliate links in here)
JUST A SIDE NOTE ON MY OKLAHOMA BOOKLIST
Over on the subscriber page, you can see a printable list of these books in order by call number. Every book can be found in my local library, for those of you who are local, or if you’re feeling a bit more adventurous and live in Texas, through TexShare.
OKLAHOMA PICTURE BOOKS
- The Cloud Artist– I learned about some cool parts of Choctaw culture that I hadn’t known before (one of my husband’s best friends is Choctaw/Irish but looks all Irish, and so it always makes me happy to see more books about his tribe)
- Pappy’s Handkerchief– I loved this story of a multi-generational African-American family moving from Baltimore to Oklahoma territory to gain their own land. This is one of two stories I very much remember from our first time studying Oklahoma (looking it up on Amazon, it looks like this is part of a series!**)
- Jingle Dancer– a young girl from the Muscogee Nation wants to participate in the jingle dance at the powwow, but her mom isn’t able to get all the supplies, so she carefully works with all of her friends and relatives to create a jingle dress for herself
- In the Land of Milk and Honey– the main character travels from Oklahoma to California, so this could work for either state
- I Have Heard of a Land– another story of the Oklahoma land rush, this time from a single African-American woman’s point of view (sadly out of print)
- They Came from the Bronx: How the Buffalo were Saved from Extinction– this was fascinating to me to read all of this and learn more about how buffalo were repopulated
- Wilma’s Way Home: the Life of Wilka Mankiller– I hadn’t heard of Wilma Mankiller, the first woman chief of the Cherokee Nation, before reading this book, but it was fascinating to learn all about her
- Someday is Now– I loved this story of the 1958 Oklahoma sit-ins and how they spread
- The Trail of Tears– I’ve used this book both for Georgia and Oklahoma, I think it fits a bit more in Georgia than Oklahoma, but that’s just my theory
These last few are on the list because the publisher is in Oklahoma, and I kept them in
- Thank you, Crow– it’s a fanciful story of a friendship between a boy and a crow (it must be out of print because Amazon couldn’t even find the book, and suggested some really weird, completely unrelated books)
- Somewhere a bell is ringing– a story about how interconnected all life is
OKLAHOMA NONFICTION BOOKS
Honestly, I don’t have many nonfiction books on my Oklahoma book list, which is a shame. I guess I could have picked up a book on buffalo…
- Oklahoma– general nonfiction about the state
- Raccoon on the Moon– a silly book of poetry, which was published in Tulsa
- Mole in a Hole– another fiction book published in Tulsa
** I looked up some of the other books in the series, and they include one of my favorite Civil War picture books, The Last Brother. I’m going to have to look and see if the other books in the series are at the library.
Oklahoma Unit resources
And future Ticia 2023 likes to include some other resources like videos, I love videos, and then some fun stuff like random things I’ve found.
And here are the not-terrible Oklahoma videos.
My kids love mocking these videos.
My kids hate Homeschool Pop so much, and I don’t really blame them.
What was in our Oklahoma Unit
All right, this is future Ticia 2020 here, and this is what we did when studying this for junior high. I’ll admit this is easy material for my kids, and it’s more a way to get the kids to learn more about the country, and some books to see different writing styles.
First I pulled out a copy of my United States Geography Notebooking page and filled out the information on Oklahoma. The great part about older kids is their ability to research the information for me, so I don’t have to find it for them (I’ll also say I’ve got some of the information included on the Oklahoma notebooking pages on the subscriber page).**
**You can get the United States Geography Notebooking pages for free with a coupon when you join my newsletter, and then pick up the Oklahoma notebooking pages on the subscriber page.**
Back to our Oklahoma Unit Study, since I completed this back when my kids were young, I still have the animal mini-book, and state symbol mini-book, so you’ve got a buffalo mini-book in the top right.
Next to it, is a mini-book about the jingle dancers, and finally, on the bottom is a mini-book about the Sooner rush.
Here’s the other side of the Oklahoma notebooking pages. You can see the Oklahoma state symbols mini-book on the bottom right page. Next to it is a mini-book about the Choctaw cloud painting, which I found to be fascinating.
The final item is from a book called “Someday is Now” about the Oklahoma City sit-ins. We always hear about the Greensboro sit-ins, so this was a new one for me, and I enjoyed reading about it.
Our original Oklahoma Unit Study
Who wouldn’t love to watch Oklahoma with Hugh Jackman? Much better to my mind than the original movie version. And in my whitewashed version, it’s not so disturbing as it is in reality.
Why, don’t I remember that Rodgers and Hammerstein actually wrote rather disturbing musicals? Carousel, check. South Pacific, addressing racism, and that’s one of the more family-friendly.
I always forget about the attempted rape of Laurie, and how Curly suggests Jud commit suicide…… So, I did a lot of distracting as we watched it.
So, what did my kids get out of it? You can see what my boys got. They reenacted the fight scene between Curly and Jud. Boys.
Princess? She loved the singing; she’s all about the singing.
Other Oklahoma activities:
We read the book “Jingle Dancer,” which is a super cute story about a girl who desperately wants to dance at the upcoming dances, but isn’t able to get a skirt in time. So, she comes up with an original solution to the problem (I won’t tell it here, but you won’t regret reading it).
Side note, this is inspired by the book, but obviously not an actual jingle skirt.
Supplies for jingle bracelets
pony beads, pipe cleaners or yarn (I usually make bracelets like this using pipe cleaners, but yarn works better for this specific craft), small bells
Afterward, we made Jingle bracelets. This works best threaded onto yarn, not pipe cleaners. They happily threaded lots of beads on, and I tied it shut, and we shook them and listened to them jingling as we danced.
And when we were done with the activity I found the bells I had intended to use for this silly project.
And beads roll impressively well on the sidewalk, in case you are wondering. Very well.
So, then we chased them………
And, next I think we’re off to Florida, why? I want an easy state next. And the kids pointed to it randomly and asked about it. Any Florida suggestions? I remember Superheroes and Princesses did manatees.
More geography fun
- Malta Unit Study
- Nebraska Unit Study
- Singapore Unit Study
- Using picture books to learn how to follow maps
- New York picture books
Originally published October 6, 2010
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