The 39 Clues book 1: The maze of bones - Suggested
Activities
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Suggested Activities
Ben Franklin:
We could spend a month on fun Ben Franklin stuff, but
then Ben Franklin was that interesting! Where to begin?
Explore history with Ben Franklin: Introduce students to
Ben Franklin and his many accomplishments by having them
explore this site, as well as, this site.
Franklin was well known for Poor Richard’s Almanac and
the Franklin Gallery. Likely the one thing readers will
remember about Ben Franklin, however, is his Letter to
the
Royal Academy of Farting, written in 1781.
This was referred to in the book on page #95 and is
believed to have been written to the Royal Academy of
Brussels but not submitted to them!
More on Franklin can be found at:
The Library Company of Philadelphia on pg. 88.
Independence Hall in
Philadelphia and sponsored bio of Ben
as well as lots of neat activities and information
at their
U.S. History website.
And don’t overlook his numerous inventions!
Other ideas: A few other trinkets from the story that
families or class might enjoy investigating together:
-
Paris,
France
-
Chapter 12
Ile-St. Louis check it out! (http://www.isle-saint-louis.com)
-
Ch. 16
catacombs! the year 1785 and St.-Pierre de
Montmartre (p. 185)
-
Ch. 14.
brings out a grenade and battery: check into the
making of these for fun science experiments
-
Ch. 18
Franklin flew over Charles River with Kite (p. 205).
Did it really happen, and how was it possible?
-
Ch. 19 p.
218 Mozart KV617 chamber music written for armonicas,
an instrument to investigate. Perhaps this could
lead to the science of music being studied too!
Finally, an adorable
site of full of books for younger ages given to us by
the New York public library system. Enter the site free
through the library at
http://ow.ly/TKbN. Then choose tumblebooks. From the
Tumblebooks site, choose readables and use the search
function to find Blast to the past: Ben Franklin’ fame.
This site provides audio with their books, which then
simulates reading out loud in a classroom. A great tool
to help kids improve reading skills too!
