Category: Carol Kerney
-
“Arcilla of Pompeii” Chapter 1
reproduced without permission. All rights reserved. Prologue Neapolis, Italy August 24, AD 129 To Marcus, Marcellus, Claudia, and Livia, my beloved grandchildren. Greetings from your old grandmother, whom you have been pestering for years to “tell a story about your childhood.” And so I have told you stories of my youth in Pompeii, a city…
-
The Triplet Adventures, “The Secret of the Ancient Cave,” Chapter 1
Chapter 1 I was thinking about adventures as I pulled the house key from my backpack. In class today my teacher talked about how life is an adventure. And he said that good stories—like life—take us on wondrous adventures. We never have any adventures. “We” is my Dad, Dr. Carter Sanderson, who is an archaeologist,…
-
Middle Grade Novels That Teach History: The Triplet Adventures Series
Even though, like parents and teachers, I guess writers aren’t supposed to have favorites, I admit I really like the triplets in my Triplet Adventures series. I admire Ben Franklin beyond measure, I get a kick out of the time flies Klax and Zia, and I empathize with the Roman slave Arcilla (“Arcilla of Pompeii”),…
-
My Article in an Educational Magazine–“Teachers Pay Teachers” Website
Introduction to Teachers Pay Teachers. As a teacher and a writer, I use a wonderful website called Teachers Pay Teachers. It’s found at teacherspayteachers.com. It’s a website where teachers upload their favorite classroom activities. You, as a teacher, can find just about anything there to purchase, download, and use. Teachers create the TPT resources. That…
-
Time Flies, “The Mayflower Compact,” Chapter 1
Writing these blogs for you is a lot of fun! I’ll be uploading a blog very two weeks for the rest of the year. I’ve decided to include the first chapter of the first book in all four of my historical fiction series so that you have a taste of the stories. Here is Chapter…
-
The Young Benjamin Franklin Series, “Ben at Ten,” Chapter 1
Chapter 1 “Ben! Now where did that boy get off to?” Ben heard his mother call from the door of his house at Hanover and Union Streets in Boston in Massachusetts Colony. It was 1716, and Ben was ten years old. Ben wanted to continue reading the book that Mr. Jones had loaned to him.…
-
Middle Grade Novels That Teach History: The Young Benjamin Franklin Series
What an interesting man was that Benjamin Franklin! He came from a tradesman’s family of 17 children in Boston, Massachusetts. He had only two years of formal schooling. At 10 he went to work in his father’s soap and candle shop. So here’s this kid with two years of education who became one of the…
-
Novels That Teach History: Time Flies Series
Some students hate social studies. It’s just forgettable dates and dull facts. Who cares when the Whiskey Rebellion happened, even if it has an interesting name? Think back to when you were in school. Were you bored to tears? That’s a shame. History is storytelling about real events and real people. Or maybe you liked…
-
Using Novels To Teach History (Excerpts from an Article Published in“Homeschool Magazine,” May 2024)
Introduction. The following look at using novels to teach history consists of excerpts (with some modifications) from an article I wrote that appeared in “Homeschool Magazine” in May, 2024. If I haven’t mentioned this before, let me say that while the previous blog and this discussion both are taken from articles in homeschool publications, the…
-
Using Novels to Teach History
A lot of students just don’t like history. Teachers struggle with that all the time. We ask ourselves what can we do to make social studies more engaging to students. I think one answer is to take advantage of the widespread enjoyment of novels. The following is excerpted from a blog I wrote for the…
Carol Kerney Books 