Contents Baseball Thematic Unit & Study? Details Page No s Introduction 3 Parent/Educator Resource Guide 5 Take Me Out To The Ball Game 6 Baseball Trading Cards 8 Biography of a baseball player 10 Casey at the bat 11 Casey at the bat vocabulary 16 The story behind Casey at the bat 17 Student Trading Cards 20 Literature with a Baseball Theme 20 Baseball Activities 22 Alphabet Flash Cards 24 Calendar Pieces 29 Concentration 36 Flash Cards 37 Theme Addition 40 Tic-Tac-Toe 45 Coloring Pages 48 Days of the Week 53 Number Cards 56 Acknowledgements & Terms of Use 67 2
Introduction Send summer fun into extra innings with these baseball activities for kids. But for you, the parent, a little about the history. Of course you will explain, describe and debate with your children in a manner which is appropriate to their age. The decades between the close of the Civil War and the beginning of World War II were a time of huge social turmoil in the United States. While baseball was becoming very popular around the still-young nation, Americans experienced the sport in various ways reflecting their social and ethnic backgrounds. Baseball appealed to Americans of very different economic positions. While baseball had been known as a "gentleman's game" in the midnineteenth century, its increasing popularity pulled in men and women of the working world who claimed the game as their own. In factory towns and cities across the country, workers found pleasure in this sport which was probably less physically demanding than their own jobs. By 1900, baseball became a popular sport for children of the towns, played in neighborhood fields called sandlots. Other young people played a variation of baseball called "stickball" in local streets among crowded council tenement blocks. That name came from using less sophisticated equipment than the baseball, that is, sticks. 3
People who enjoyed baseball, but could not afford to play or got to the games, sometimes watched the games by climbing on a pole with a view of the field. But wealthy Americans were able to afford seats at the field or stadium - seats much closer to the action or in luxurious private boxes. With the invention of the car, the "rich" family could drive to a professional baseball game dressed in their best clothes for the occasion. As professional baseball expanded into the twentieth century, the baseball teams themselves became an investment. This laid the foundation for modern baseball with the creation of large stadiums in major town and city areas. This thematic unit is suitable for early and more advanced learners, and for a theme within your homeschool classroom. Use the activities to enhance inter alia alphabet and number skills, motor skills, reading, writing and word recognition. Enjoy! With blessings for your educational journey Donnette E Davis www.staidenshomeschool.com 4
Parent/Educator Resource Guide The following websites will prove useful for information purposes, as well as downloading free printables, lesson ideas and links to even more free resources. http://www.staidenshomeschool.com/activities/baseball/baseball_index.html www.usd352.k12.ks.us/teachers/north/mfrazier_site/baseball.htm http://education.baseballhalloffame.org/.../thematic_units/index.html www.kidsparkz.com/baseball.html www.theteacherscorner.net/seasonal/baseball/index.php (for lesson plans) www.theteacherscorner.net/seasonal/baseball/ www.printactivities.com/theme-printables/baseball-printables.html Pages) www.kidbibs.com/topics/baseball.htm (Coloring These sites are for teachers who are planning to use baseball as a theme. http://www.education-world.com/a_lesson/lesson107.shtml http://www.abcteach.com/baseball/baseballtoc.htm Teaching Ideas http://www.usd352.k12.ks.us/teachers/north/mfrazier_site/tradingcards.htm http://www.usd352.k12.ks.us/teachers/north/mfrazier_site/baseballbio.htm http://americaslibrary.gov/jp/game/baseball_noflash.html 5
Take Me Out to the Ball Game As a way of introducing your baseball unit, hand your students each a small baggy filled with either peanuts or cracker jack. Make a topper for the baggy with the words to 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame.' They'll soon become familiar with the song and won't need the words anymore. This song was written in 1908 by a man named Jack Norworth. One day when he was riding a New York City subway train, he spotted a sign that said "Ballgame Today at the Polo Grounds." Some baseballrelated lyrics popped into his head, that were later set to some music by Albert Von Tilzer, to become the well known baseball song, "Take Me Out To The Ballgame." Despite the fact that neither Norworth or Tilzer had ever been to a baseball game at the time the song was written, it is one of the most widely sung songs in America. (1927 version) Nelly Kelly loved baseball games, Knew the players, knew all their names, You could see her there ev'ry day, Shout "Hurray" when they'd play. Her boy friend by the name of Joe Said, "To Coney Isle, dear, let's go," Then Nelly started to fret and pout, And to him I heard her shout. "Take me out to the ball game, Take me out with the crowd. 6
Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack, I don't care if I never get back, Let me root, root, root for the home team, If they don't win it's a shame. For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out, At the old ball game." Nelly Kelly was sure some fan, She would root just like any man, Told the umpire he was wrong, All along, good and strong. When the score was just two to two, Nelly Kelly knew what to do, Just to cheer up the boys she knew, She made the game sing this song. "Take me out to the ball game, Take me out with the crowd. Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack, I don't care if I never get back, Let me root, root, root for the home team, If they don't win it's a shame. For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out, At the old ball game." 7