Into Ben's edublogosphere!

My treasure box focuses around Benjamin Franklin and the Declaration of Independence.  Some items I included are photographs of the main signers of the Declaration, a picture of Independence Hall, a copy of the Declaration, a quill pen and ink, a map of the 13 colonies, and two books "Now and Ben" and The Journey of the One and Only Declaration of Independence.
My unit is focused around Ben Franklin so I wanted to keep a common theme when it came to my treasure box and show the role Ben Franklin had in the signing of the Declaration.  Students used the map of the 13 colonies in the treasure box to map from the signers of the Declaration traveled from in their notebooks.
My main core subject I teach is Fourth Grade Science.  I chose to focus my unit on Ben Franklin because of his contributions to science through his many inventions.  After reading Signing their Lives away, I had a different view of the famous Franklin. We grow up viewing these historical figures as heroes who were perfect and upstanding citizens.  Ben Franklin was quite an interesting guy.  He was very conceited and quite the ladies man.  The most interesting thing I read was the discussion that many believe Franklin's kite experiment never happened.  After research, most believe that if the experiment with the kite actually happened as described he would have been "fried."  It was also interesting how long it took him to publish the findings and information about the experiment.
I don't think I lost respect for Ben Franklin after reading all these details of his life, I think I became more aware that these historical heroes had crazy lives and stories as we do today.  It made Ben's life more realistic to me.  I will certainly not think of him the same way again though.