Today we began with a Florida Studies Weekly reader about fact or fiction. We read about fiction fairy tales and facts with examples about Martin Luther King Jr. and Abraham Lincoln. Danny was encouraged to work independently through the packet related activities. He had to label pictures fact or fiction, label non-fiction and fiction books based on their titles (this was a little tricky for him), identify pictures of items that help us with history, and tell why Martin Luther King worked to change laws. We continued learning about the past with the nonfiction book, School Then and Now, by Robin Nelson. This book series provides great black and white as well as color photographs to offer helpful visuals to build knowledge in these concepts. We saw how kids walked a long way to school and now they use a car or bus. Their schools had one room, while now we have many rooms. Students used to share one desk and now they have their own. Students used to write on slates with chalk vs. today’s use of paper and pencil. Finally, the kids long ago studied reading, writing, and arithmetic, while today we study reading, writing, math, science, and social studies. We then compared clothing of long ago and today for Danny’s interactive notebook. For the flip picture of long ago, Danny copied the sentence: Girls wore dresses and aprons. Boys wore long pants and boots. For today, Danny copied: Kids wear short pants, t-shirts, and tennis shoes. Finally, we began our next Magic Tree House book (book #3), Mummies in the Morning by Mary Pope Osborne. We reviewed highlights from the previous two books and Danny remembered some key items. We then read about how the kids picked out a picture of ancient Egypt as the location for their next adventure. They saw a pyramid with a long parade. We looked on a real map of Pennsylvania (where the kids live), Florida, and found Egypt. Throughout the process we discussed fact or fiction.