Silverdale Press is thrilled to announce the release of the White House Holidays: Christmas Unit Study! 

Designed for students in grades K-12, this unit study is a great way to create memorable experiences this Christmas. The unit study is brimming with vivid illustrations, rich stories, and creative and meaningful activities. 

How to Use

• This unit study comes in a downloadable PDF format
• There are 24 days of Christmas activities, giving your family one activity option per day leading up to Christmas
  
• The study is arranged into four lessons with 6 activities for each lesson
  
• Each lesson has a read aloud portion designed for all grade levels to use together
  
• The activities are the same for all grade levels. The level of parental guidance needed will vary with children's ages.

What You'll Learn and Do

• Explore White House Christmas themes throughout history, including Jacqueline Kennedy's The Nutcracker Suite theme and Barbara Bush's Story Book Christmas theme
• Learn about White House Christmas traditions, including the presidential nativity scene, gingerbread house, Christmas cards, and the official tree
• Cover a variety of subject areas including history, government, art and art history, nature study, geography, writing, and more 
• Analyze primary source documents, complete unique arts and crafts projects, and bake White House cookies and confections
  
• Experience "peace on earth, goodwill to men" by serving others

The curriculum is easy on parents. It features...

• Lesson plans for teachers—with an introduction and overview for each lesson
• Fun and easy activities
• An answer key

Amazon is in the news all the time. The retailer is one of the world’s biggest companies. It has completely changed the way people shop. 

Kids of all ages should be familiar with Amazon, as it has left a huge imprint on our culture. 

Read this article from the Seattle Times about Amazon’s latest innovation. Use the questions that follow to spark your discussion. 

• How much do you trust Amazon?
• What makes a person trust a company? Why do you think Amazon ranks in the top three companies people trust? 
• Is your family a member of Amazon Prime? Why or why not? 
• Why do you think Amazon wanted to start the Amazon Key program? What benefits does it give to online shoppers? What benefits does it bring to Amazon?
• Do you think people will pay $250 dollars for the Cloud Cam and smart lock? Would you? 
• Do you think Amazon deliverers will accidentally let out pets and steal things? What other worries would you have about letting Amazon into your home? 
• Do you think the safety features the article mentions are enough? 
• If you had Amazon Key, would you feel secure? 

We here at Silverdale Press love presidential libraries. We also love the holidays. We also love primary sources. Combine all three, and we're over the moon!

That's why this week, we wanted to share a fantastic resource as you prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving in your homeschools. The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library has a great collection of documents online about the 1939 Thanksgiving debacle. This was the year Americans celebrated two Thanksgivings. Check out the link to learn more. 

After you've examined one or more of the primary sources, apply these helpful document analysis worksheets from the National Archives.  

Want to learn more? The 1939 Thanksgiving debacle is just one slice of America's Thanksgiving history. For a more comprehensive study, including presidents and primary sources, check out our White House Holidays: Thanksgiving Unit Study.