Tips and Tricks for
BP Hands-On Materials

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Choose a product below to see tips and tricks for adapting BP to different learning styles. These are all our hands-on student materials: Cool Histories, Hands-On Maps, Timelines, Coloring Books and BP Notebooking.

Tips and Tricks Code Key:

SL – Tips for Struggling, Sensory and Special Learners

G/AL – Tips for Gifted and Advanced Learners

E – Tips for Everyone

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Cool Histories

  • Because answering questions is a great way to review the reading. The search for answers takes students back through the text, helping them remember more of it.
  • Because answering questions forces students to take a closer look at what they’ve read.
  • Because answering questions helps students recognize what is important to remember—something students often miss.
  • Because answering questions can lead to deeper questions and deeper understanding.
  • Because answering correctly gives students a sense of accomplishment.
  • Because answering questions helps students prepare for their tests.
  • Because assignments help teachers hold students accountable.
Click the button for tons of ideas on how to use BP Cool Histories.

Hands-On Maps

  • Because history and geography go hand-in-hand. Map work shows students where history happened, and how geography can affect history.
  • Because map work helps students grasp the flow of history. The lines on their maps change as they watch kingdoms rise and fall, and new ones rising from the ashes of the old.
  • Because understanding geography helps students understand cultures. They see how different terrains and temperatures make for different kinds of people; and they also see people overcoming the challenges posed by geography. For example, students who know the harsh climate of Mongolia can easily understand why the Mongols of medieval times were so harsh—and why the Mongol Empire grew so big, so fast.
  • Because BP maps build over the course of each year, adding more and more to students’ geographical databases.
Click the button for tons of ideas on how to use BP Hands-On Maps.

Timelines

Timeline Graphic
  • Because timelines give students a hands-on way to interact with the people and events they cover in their weekly readings.
  • Because timelines help students grasp the flow of history, following kingdoms and empires as they rise and fall.
  • Because timelines help students grasp the connections between events happening all around the world.
  • Because timelines show students which historical figures from around the world were contemporary with which others. For example, they learn that Thomas Jefferson was contemporary with Napoleon, and that King Henry VIII was contemporary with Martin Luther.
  • Because timelines are an easy way to review old lessons. As students page through their flowcharts, searching for the proper place to paste their figures, they can’t help being reminded of stories they’ve covered in weeks past.

Click the button for tons of ideas on how to use BP Timelines.

Colored Pencils

Coloring Books

  • Because coloring scenes from history helps students learn history.
  • Because coloring is a fun way to engage younger students as they listen to you read.
  • Because giving fidgety kids something to do with their hands can help settle them, which can help them focus on their lessons.
  • Because coloring while listening helps visual and sensory learners focus on what they’re hearing.
  • Because our 2nd edition Coloring Books have a lot to offer. Students of all ages will enjoy our new, more detailed coloring pages. Years 1, 2 and 4 are already in 2nd edition, with Year 3 coming soon.

Click the button for tons of ideas on how to use BP Coloring Books.

BP Notebooking

  • Hopeless at handwriting? Some PDF readers allow users to type in data. If yours does, then you can substitute typing for handwriting.
  • Notebooking in Cycles: If you’re planning to cycle through the four years of BP again, then you can add to your notebooks as you cycle. For example, you might do one page per president the first time through, and more pages the next time around. What fun to have some pages done by a nine-year-old, and others done by the same student at age thirteen!
  • Notecards: If you’re mixing notebooking with memory work, then it helps to print the presidents (or whatever you’re studying) on individual notecards. You can also add pictures or fun facts to your notecards.
Click the buttons for tips specific to each kind of BP Notebooking.