Enchanted Express Extension Ideas

 

Wonders Close to Home

Discover the wonders in your part of the world by checking out your local history and talking to parents, grandparents and other members of the community.  Students will create a list of local “wonders” and research interesting facts about their origin and history.  Wonders can include places, people and the stories they tell.  The book The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs by Betty G. Birney, a great read aloud, will inspire this project. 

Birney, Betty G. The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs. New York: Atheneum, 2005.

 

What is it made of?  Where does it come from?

Did you know that apple pie is made from ingredients from all over the world?  Apples grow in temperate regions of the United States today, but they were first grown in Central Asia.  Most of the sugar used in the United States today comes from California and Hawaii, but it originates from India.  Cinnamon is made from the bark of a tree that grows in Southeast Asia.  Trace the ingredients in your favorite foods back to their geographic and plant origins and have a food festival to celebrate your discoveries. 

 

What are you talking about?!

Explore idioms and learn the lingo of the railroad with the book Jingle the Brass by Patricia Newman.
Newman, Patricia. Jingle the Brass. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2004.

 

Create a travel brochure for one of the destinations from Enchanted Express.
Research cool facts about your favorite stop on the Enchanted Express, and compile them in a travel brochure that tells everyone why they should visit that place.