Social Studies
Social Studies
Activity Worksheet
|GRADE LEVEL: |Third |
|Course Title: |Comparing Communities |
|Strand: |Time and Chronology |
|Topic: |I. History |
|Grade Level Standard: |3-1 Evaluate time and chronology. |
| |
|Grade Level Benchmark: |1. Measure chronological time by decades and centuries. |
|(I.1.LE.1) |
|Learning Activity(s)/Facts/Information |Resources |
| | |
|1. Put in a group and have students write a timeline of their life. | |
| | |
|Present to the class “It’s About Time” activity. | |
| | |
|Evaluate how they worked together (truthful to one another). | |
| | |
|2. It’s About Time (activity attached) | |
| | |
|3. Laura Ingalls Wilder and Pioneer Life (activity attached) | |
| | |
|4. Explore the years 1000-1700 (activity attached) | |
|New Vocabulary: Chronology, decade, century |
IT’S ABOUT TIME
DESCRIPTION
In collaborative teams, the students will create individual autobiographical presentations that help them understand their historical background. As they collaborate and create their projects they will discuss and come to understand how current decisions affect their future.
NARRATIVE
The lesson has been very important to my students because it allows them to view historical figures as people whose decisions are motivated by family and cultural influences. They learn to understand how personal experiences have importance and consequences. The students are also encouraged to view the possible influence their present actions will have on their futures. The students learn to research, evaluate and communicate outcomes to collaborative group members and the class in oral and written form. The topic question helps them understand the importance of history.
DETAILED TIMELINE
"It's About Time" is planned to take about one month to complete. The students will be involved in eight computer lab sessions that take place two times per week. Student planning will take place in the classroom. You can plan on at least one half hour of planning per lab session. They will have to plan focus questions for research, sources of information and the initial layout of the presentation slides.
Materials/Hardware/Software
Construction paper and markers for concept mapping
Computer, printer, scanner
Word processor
Inspiration for computer concept mapping
PowerPoint for slide presentation
Encarta, World Book, Grolier's for source material
Family photos to scan for project
Magazines
Paper pencils and crayons for drawing
TEACHER PREPARATION
The teacher should be familiar with word processing, Inspiration and PowerPoint programs. They should be able to assist the students using a scanner and importing data from a variety of sources.
Prerequisite Student Skills
It will be helpful for students to be familiar with "storyboarding" strategies. They will also need some keyboarding and word processing experience. Students should have a basic understanding of how to use the Inspiration and PowerPoint programs. Otherwise, they run the risk of using up their time discovering the magic of the software instead of using it as a tool to express themselves.
ACTIVITIES/PROCEDURES
Students will begin by "painting a picture" of themselves, at this moment in time, composed of the different facets of their lives. It is recommended that the students create their first storyboard with magic marker on construction paper. Then they move to the computer software, Inspiration. During this process the students will constantly be refining their project. As classroom facilitator I set up daily positive critique situations so the students are able to help each other improve their work. PowerPoint slides will be used to capture the important elements of the student's past, present and predicted future. Students, working in collaborative groups, will create a list of criteria that they feel will be important to making their presentations a success.
FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITIES
A logical follow- up activity to this project would be to have the students make a list of future events that they would like to add to their autobiographies at the appropriate time. They might also choose to delve further into the past.
Laura Ingalls Wilder and Pioneer Life
DESCRIPTION
The Big Idea--Michigan Pioneer Trail
The students will be studying Laura lngalls Wilder and pioneer life. The students will spend three weeks reading the theme of Laura Ingalls Wilder. They will be integrating other subjects such as math, social studies, science, and the fine arts. We will be using maps to measure distances from Pepin, Wisconsin to Kansas. We will then compare that to a place we could travel if we started a Pioneer Trail in Traverse City, Michigan. The students will be looking at the topography of Michigan in the 1870's and how that would affect their travels. The students will be writing a journal entry for 20 minutes a day for a week from the viewpoint of a family member. We hope to integrate the fine arts of art, music, and gym by learning some dances (polka and waltz) and singing frontier songs. We will also be making our own paper to use for our journal entries.
NARRATIVE
Life on the pioneer trail was different from life today. The Laura Ingalls Wilder reading theme is the foundation for this unit. Focus Questions:
1. What is a pioneer trail?
2. How was life different in 1870-1880 compared to modem times?
3. What were the physical characteristics of Michigan in 1870 and how did this impact how pioneers traveled to Michigan?
4. How were the expectations of children different in the 1870's than expectations of children today?
DETAILED TIMELINE
The reading theme will take three weeks. As a culminating activity, the students will be writing journal entries/travel logs as a family member for 20 minutes a day for a week. The math activity of measuring the distance from Pepin, Wisconsin to Kansas and comparing that to where you could go if you started in Traverse City, would take two or three hour-long classes.
Materials/Hardware/Software
Computers
Aver Key
Internet Access
Reading Theme Books Journals
Cardboard Egg Cartons
Shoeboxes or Small Boxes for Covered Wagons
Muslin to Cover all Boxes
Maps of United States and Michigan
Videotape Presentations
Aver Key:
Little House Journals-students will be shown examples of good journal entries and poor journal entries
Overhead Projector:
Show map of United States:
• Trace route the Ingalls' family traveled from Wisconsin to Kansas in red marker (this could also be done on the Aver Key).
• Fill in names of all the present day states Ingalls family traveled through on the way.
• Designate Mississippi, Missouri and Verdigris Rivers in blue marker.
• Draw miniature house to represent where the Ingalls family settled.
• Shade the Indian Territory (green marker)
• Write the names of the three Native American tribes who lived in territory.
Computer /Internet:
• Research Laura and Mary.
• Explore an abandoned Indian Camp.
• Research the Prairie Indian Tribes—what might students have seen if they had gone to the Indian Camp while Indians were still living there (examples: articles of clothing, weapons or tools, home, animals).
Video:
• Show Laura Ingalls Wilder video.
• A size appropriate group prepares a scene from the story for dramatization, acts it out and relates the significance of the scene to the entire book. (This should include costumes, props and sound effects.)
Activities/Procedures
KWL Chart: Pioneers; discuss vocabulary; read theme on Laura Ingalls Wilder; research on the Internet to collect information about pioneer life; map out covered wagon and kids will decide what they will take with them; mapping and measuring activities which will include a poster and presentation of which route they will take; timeline of their journey; make paper from cardboard egg cartons; write journal entries/travel logs on homemade paper; learn dances from the times such as the polka and the waltz as well as songs from the times; learn games from pioneer life (cats cradle, jacks); make cornbread. These activities will tap into the multiple intelligences as well as work on cooperative teaming, learning and problem solving.
Assessment/Evaluation
• Create a rubric for our timeline and journals.
• Theme test in reading.
• Assess mapping by students creating a route to travel and listing the possible problems due to topography.
Follow-up Activities
A possible follow up activity would be presenting a play about Laura's life:
Bringing in a fiddler, guest speaker: Historian of Michigan, building a model covered wagon using tech prep training through the Traverse Bay Area Intermediate School District, box social for the families.
EXPLORE THE YEARS 1000-1700
Clarifying the Benchmark
Students will be able to count the number of years which have passed between historical events. They should be able to state this measurement in terms of decades (tens of years) and by centuries (hundreds of years).
An Example of Teaching to the Benchmark
After a study of the exploration and settlement period of American History, work as a class to create a timeline of significant events from the period. Provide students with a vertical timeline form with marks on it for Centuries and decades from 1000-1700. Have students label the marks on one side, noting that there are ten decades in a century equaling one hundred years in a century.
Distribute a list of class generated events for this time period. The list should include significant dates relevant to African-Americans and Native Americans as well as for Viking, Marco Polo, other explorers and European settlements. Some sample dates are included below:
• 1,000 Vikings land on Canadian shores
• 1200 Marco Polo visits China ( increasing urge to travel to the East)
• 1492 Columbus stumbles on Caribbean Islands—at least one African crew member
• 1513 Balboa crosses Isthmus of Panama with African expedition members
• 1519 Cortes with Africans as part of his expedition
• 1524 Pizarro with Africans as part of his expedition
• 1530 Esteban (Estevanico) an African served as a guide to Spanish explorers in the southwest
• 1607 Jamestown founded
• 1619 Kidnapped Africans traded to Virginias for food
• 1644 Nine Africans petitioned for and won their freedom in New Netherlands
Have students enter the information at the appropriate place on the timeline. Encourage working together and verifying answers with each other.
Once the timeline is complete, model observation statements that can be made using the timeline information and including decade/century information.
EXAMPLE: Columbus did not make his famous voyages until almost five centuries after the Vikings. Have students write one or two similar statements. Establish some criteria for a 'good' statement, which include some in depth observations. Students should then work in cooperative groups to listen to and verify each other's statements. Have each group share favorite statements with the class. For several statements, have students formulate a jeopardy type question. For students who are comfortable, help them learn how centuries are counted (15th century = 1400-1499)
REFERENCES
Kent, Deborah. (1996). African Americans in the thir1"een colonies. (pp.3-5). New York :Children's Press, Inc.
Voices in African American history: The colonies. (1994). Cleveland, OH: Modem Curriculum Press.
Engels, Andre. (1996). "Discoverers web: The age of discovery: Other voyages to the Americas." ~ www .win.tue.nl/~engels/discovery/#age (August, 2000)
Cumpston's fifth grade classroom (1999)."Explorers of the New World.” loswego.k12.or.us/schools/12a1/cum12stot/cum12stQ1,html (August, 2000).
ASSESSMENT TASK
'Classroom Quiz Bowl'
Model the kinds of questions that could be asked using another topic of familiarity to students. EXAMPLES: What event happened II days after school started? How many days are there between Monday and Friday? How many decades between Roger Maris's homerun record and Mark McGwire’s breaking that record? How many centuries since the Declaration of Independence?
DIRECTION TO STUDENTS: We are going to play a round of quiz bowl (or any other quiz show format with which your students are familiar) using the information from our timeline. Your task is to write 10 questions whose answers are on the time line. Five of these questions should ask for answers to be given in decades. The other five should ask for answers to be given in centuries. You must also write the answers to the questions.
SCORING RUBRIC
|Benchmark |Apprentice |Basic |Meets |Exceeds |
|(I.1.LE.1) | | | | |
|Measure chronological time |Questions do not ask for |Questions ask for use of |Five questions ask for use |Five questions ask for use |
|by decades and centuries. |use of decades or centuries|some decade and century |of decade measurement and |of decade measurement and |
| |and answers are not |measurement but not all |five questions ask for use |five questions ask for use |
| |included. |questions meet this |of century measurement. |of century measurement. |
| | |expectation. Answers are |All questions are |All questions are |
| | |included but may not all be|accurately answered in |accurately answered in |
| | |accurate. |writing. |writing. Extra information|
| | | | |about events is added. |
Social Studies
Activity Worksheet
|GRADE LEVEL: |Third |
|Course Title: |Comparing Communities |
|Strand: |Time and Chronology |
|Topic: |I. History |
|Grade Level Standard: |3-1 Evaluate time and chronology. |
| |
|Grade Level Benchmark: |2. Place major events in the development of their local |
|community and the state of Michigan in chronological order. (I.1.LE.2) |
|Learning Activity(s)/Facts/Information |Resources |
| | |
|1. Michigan 1600 – 1700 (activity attached) | |
|New Vocabulary: Chronological order, major event |
MICHIGAN 1600-1700
Clarifying the Benchmark
Major historical events are those which significantly affected the lives of individuals and the future of the local community or the state of Michigan. Chronology is the order in which events occurred. Students in later elementary grades can meaningfully use years, decades and centuries to organize events chronologically. A timeline can be used to show chronological order. This understanding of temporal order provides the framework for students' analysis of connections between the events and between the past and the present.
An Example of Teaching to the Benchmark
Access students' prior knowledge about the following terminology: decade, century, chronological order, and elapsed time, and guide any necessary clarification.
During guided reading from "American Heritage," students generate a chronologically-arranged, dated list of major events in Michigan history.
The events are, then, grouped by century. Examples of timelines are examined and discussed to establish students' understanding of their purpose, structure, and organization.
Using a timeline form divided into decades and centuries, the teacher models the creation of a timeline of major events in Michigan from 1600 to 1700 with a title and dated events in chronological order. Students are then asked why a timeline might be useful, what they observe about the specific events listed on this timeline, and how events listed on the timeline affected other events in Michigan history.
REFERENCES
Killoran, J., Zimmer, S., & Jarrett, M. (1997). American Heritage. In Michigan: It's land and people. (pp. 73-165). Ronkonkoma, NY: Jarrett Publishing Co.
National Center for History in the Schools. (1996). National standards for history. (pp. 17-18). Los Angeles, CA: University of California
ASSESSMENT TASK
Students are provided with a time line form divided into centuries and decades and are asked to create a timeline of major events in Michigan from 1700 to 2000, labeling a minimum of eight events in chronological order at appropriate points.
SCORING RUBRIC
|Benchmark |Apprentice |Basic |Meets |Exceeds |
|(I.1.LE.2) | | | | |
|Place major events in the |Labels a minimum of five |Labels a minimum of eight |Labels a minimum of eight |Labels more than eight |
|development of their local |major events on the |major events on the |events on the timeline in |events on the timeline in |
|community and the state of |timeline within the correct|timeline within the correct|chronological order within |chronological order within |
|Michigan in chronological |century.- |century and includes an |the correct decade and |the correct decade and |
|order. | |appropriate title. |includes an appropriate |includes an appropriate |
| | | |title. |title. Identifies cause |
| | | | |and effect relationships |
| | | | |between events listed on |
| | | | |the timeline. |
Social Studies
Activity Worksheet
|GRADE LEVEL: |Third |
|Course Title: |Comparing Communities |
|Strand: |Time and Chronology |
|Topic: |I. History |
|Grade Level Standard: |3-1 Evaluate time and chronology. |
| |
|Grade Level Benchmark: |3. Place major events in the early history of the United |
|States in chronological order. (I.1.LE.3) |
|Learning Activity(s)/Facts/Information |Resources |
| | |
|1. Famous People Research Project (activity attached) | |
| | |
|2. Lewis and Clark’s Historic Trail | |
| | |
|3. Native American Life vs. Early Settlers (activity attached) | |
| | |
|New Vocabulary: |
Famous People Research Project
DESCRIPTION
In this unit third grade students will research a famous person in US history. All students must choose individuals from a different era between 1400s and 18005. Then, as students present their research project, plot data on a class timeline. Students will use at least three different resources including technology to conduct their research. They will use various forms of technology to create individual research projects and a class slide show presentation of their topics. The slide show presentation may be published on a server or a Web page to provide access by all. Students will also participate in a Wax Museum and interview session to demonstrate their working knowledge of their topic and speaking skills.
DETAILED TIMELINE
This unit will take approximately four weeks to complete. Steps 1-3 should be initiated two weeks prior to the actual unit to allow students time to read the biographies and perform the initial search to verify that additional research sources are available.
Materials/Hardware/Software
Teacher provided materials:
Outline of project
List of famous people (if desired)
Mapping form
Bibliography examples
Books and Other Familiar Resources:
Biographies available at libraries
Encyclopedias
Biographical dictionaries
Developing Web Pages for School and Classroom by
Teacher Created Materials, Inc.
Community Resources:
Local libraries and museums
Technology Resources:
AlphaSmart® Pro Keyboards by Intelligent Peripheral Devices, Inc.
For online help go to
Word-processing software
Timeliner software (optional) by Tom Snyder Productions
Multimedia encyclopedias
PowerPoint® by Microsoft™ or Kid Pix™ Studio by Broderbund™, other presentation software
Digital camera or photographs and scanner
PictureWorks Photo Enhancer by PictureWorks Technology, Inc. or similar software provided with camera
Web Buddy software by DataViz or similar program
Access to Internet sources such as:
Welcome to the Notable Citizens of Planet Earth Biographical Dictionary ()
Biographies ( .com/search)
TEACHER PREPARATION
The instructor should introduce the unit. The introduction should include a discussion of the project and handouts of the unit outline and list of famous people (if used). A list of famous people may be compiled by the instructor to provide some direction to students and to insure that the biographies needed are available.
Prerequisite Student Skills
Students should have basic keyboarding skills, be familiar with a word processing program and have a basic knowledge of geography, history, and industries. Student skills should meet the Instructional Technology Benchmarks for grades K-3.
Activities/Procedures
1. Students should be instructed to choose one famous person (from the list) to research. This should be someone they can relate to and learn from.
2. Students will begin their research by reading a biography of the person they have chosen.
3. Additional research conducted by the students should include at least two other sources such as encyclopedias, biographical dictionaries, multimedia encyclopedias, or the Internet. Of these additional sources, at least one should use technology. If research is to be conducted on the Internet the student may need instruction on conducting a search and monitoring during the activity.
4. Students will take notes and construct a story map showing the following: Early life
Adult life
Accomplishments
Items of Interest
(A sample story map is included at the end of this unit.)
5. Using their notes and story maps students will compose, edit and publish a research report using AlphaSmart® keyboards and a word processor program such as Microsoft™ Works®.
a) The initial composition will be typed on an AlphaSmart® (or similar) keyboard then uploaded to a computer with a word processor program and printed for editing. The keyboard step may be omitted where there is sufficient access to computer stations.
b) The compositions will be edited for content, grammar and spelling by self, peers, and instructor before publishing. Students may need to be shown editing functions such as spell check and cut and copy on the word processor program. The student will perform the initial editing then read the report to a peer for peer suggestions on content, sequence and grammar. The instructor will perform a final edit of content, grammar, and spelling before the student is allowed to publish the project.
c) A time line showing the major events in this person's life will be included. The time line may be completed using the attached handout or constructed using a software program such as Timeliner by Tom Snyder Productions.
d) A bibliography will be included. Students will need instruction in documenting all sources used in their project. A handout including examples will help students with this activity. A good source for this is found in Developing Web Pages for School and Classroom by Teacher Created Materials, Inc.
e) The finished project will include a title page arid picture of the person researched. The picture may be obtained from a multimedia reference source, downloaded from the Internet, or scanned from a book. Students will need to know how to copy and insert or scan a picture into a document.
7. Students will participate in a Wax Museum presented to family, friends, and teachers where they would dress and pose as the person they researched and be interviewed to demonstrate speaking skills and an understanding of the person researched.
8. Students will prepare a class slide show of all the famous people researched.
a) Students should use a program such as PowerPoint® by Microsoft™ or Kid Pix™ Studio by Broderbund to create individual slides of each person researched. Each slide should include a photo, and the name, birth and importance of the famous person.
b) Photos of the students dressed as famous people taken with a digital camera may be used in place of actual photos. Students will need to know how to open PowerPoint® or Kid Pix™ Studio, select a slide format, insert information and import pictures. If a digital camera is used they will need to know how to operate the camera and download the pictures. Downloading software is usually available with the camera.
c) The individual slides should be organized in chronological order to form a class slide show presentation and loaded on a server or the Internet for all to view. Permission must be obtained from parents to publish photos of students.
FAMOUS PERSON RESEARCH
Title Page: Name of person
Birth and death dates
Your name
Date research is due
Timeline: Dates for their birth, three or four important events in their life, and for their death if needed
First Paragraph: Childhood, include such things as where they grew up, stories about their family, and their education
Second Paragraph: Adulthood, include important events in their lives
Third Paragraph: Importance, include why this person is famous
Fourth Paragraph: Reaction, include how you feel about this person, and why you would or would not like to be like this person
Bibliography: See additional sheet
ASSESSMENT/EVALUATION
The final research reports should be assessed using the project outline. The interview and slide show presentation should be assessed for compliance with the individual Standards addressed.
MANAGEMENT
Students will work independently for the research and drafting activities. If they are using AlphaSmart® keyboards they will be able to work anywhere. They will need access to a classroom computer or lab and library for researching and downloading activities. The setup must be flexible, as students will work at different paces. Some will be working independently while others are working with peers. The teacher will be available to all as progress warrants and to those needing additional guidance.
NATIVE AMERICAN LIFE VS EARLY SETTLERS
Clarifying the Benchmark
Early history of the United States includes the following: Native Americans, European explorers, and colonization and settlement (beginnings to 1763). Major events significantly affected the developing nation and people's lives. Later elementary students can use years, decades and centuries to arrange events chronologically, the order in which they occurred. Sequencing events in the early history of our country provides a framework for making connections and comparisons.
An Example of Teaching to the Benchmark
Through teacher modeling and class discussion, clarify students’ understanding that major events in the early history of the United States are those which significantly affected people's lives and the developing nation. Explain to students that they will be viewing two videos: "Native American Life" and "Early Settlers" (each 25 min.). Before viewing, ask them to identify what they already know about important events during these eras in American history. Record and sequence their responses. Explain that, after viewing, they will each use this list and new information from the videos to prepare a chronological list of major historical events in the early history of the United States. They will also be asked to identify events that occurred prior to 1600, during the 1600s, and during the 1700s.
REFERENCES
Schlessinger Media. (Producer). (1992). Early Settlers. [videotape]. American history for children video series. (Available from Library Video Company, )
Schlessinger Media. (Producer). (1996). Native American Life. [videotape]. American history children video series. (Available from Library Video Company, )
Assessment Task
Have students prepare a chronological list of at least ten major events in the early history of the United States using the class-generated list of what they already know before viewing and information from two videos, "Native American Life" and "Early Settlers.” Ask them to identify those events that occurred prior to 1600, during the 1600's, and during the 1700's.
SCORING RUBRIC
|Benchmark |Apprentice |Basic |Meets |Exceeds |
|(I.1.LE.3) | | | | |
|Place major events in the |Lists a minimum of five |Lists a minimum of five |Lists a minimum of ten |Lists more than ten major |
|early history of the United|events in the early history|major events in the early |major events in the early |events in the early history|
|States in chronological |of the United States. |history of the United |history of the United |of the United States in |
|order. | |States in chronological |States in chronological |chronological order and |
| | |order. |order. |correctly identifies events|
| | | | |that occurred before 1600, |
| | | | |during the 1600s, and |
| | | | |during the 1700s. |
Social Studies
Activity Worksheet
|GRADE LEVEL: |Third |
|Course Title: |Comparing Communities |
|Strand: |Comprehending the Past |
|Topic: |I. History |
|Grade Level Standard: |3-2 Comprehend the past in your community. |
| |
|Grade Level Benchmark: |1. Summarize the sequence of key events in stories |
|describing life from the past in their local community, the state of Michigan, and the |
|United States. (I.2.LE.1) |
|Learning Activity(s)/Facts/Information |Resources |
| | |
|1. Read the “Old Home Day.” (activity attached) |Old Home Day by Donald Hall |
| |ISBN: 0152768963 |
|2. The Big History Lesson (activity attached) | |
| | |
|3. Exploring life in Jamestown Settlement (activity attached) | |
|New Vocabulary: Key events, history |
OLD HOME DAY
Clarifying the Benchmark
In order to understand the present it is important for students to understand the past. Historical understanding begins with an exploration of the history of a child's own family and progresses on to that of their local community, the state of Michigan and the United States. To bring history alive and interest young students in history it is important to center historical studies in stories describing people and life from the past.
An Example of Teaching to the Benchmark
Read students Old Home Day, the story of the growth of a fictional village from prehistory to the bicentennial celebration of its founding. Guide students in summarizing key events in the history of the village including the building of the first cabin, the arrival of more families, the building of the railroad depot, the expansion of the town, the movement of families away from the town, the disappearance of farms, the building of summer cottages, etc. Using stories from your local historical society, community websites, museums, etc., explore the past of your own local community .Compare and contrast key events in the history of your local community with those of the community in the book.
REFERENCES
Hall, Donald. (1996). Old Home Day. Orlando, Florida: Harcourt Brace.
Nash, Gary B. and Crabtree, Charlotte, Project Co-Directors. (1996). National Standards for History. (pp. 1-6). Los Angeles: National Center for History in Schools.
ASSESSMENT TASK
Students individually create a short book summarizing in words and illustrations five key events in the history of their local community.
SCORING RUBRIC
|Benchmark |Apprentice |Basic |Meets |Exceeds |
|(I.2.LE.1) | | | | |
|Summarize the sequence of |Accurately summarizes in |Accurately summarizes in |Accurately summarizes in |Accurately summarizes in |
|key events in stories |words and illustrations one|words and illustrations two|words and illustrations |words and illustrations |
|describing life from the |key event in the history of|to four key events in the |five key events in the |five key events in the |
|past in their local |their local community. |history of their local |history of their local |history of their local |
|community, the state of | |community. |community. |community. Accurately |
|Michigan, and other parts | | | |summarizes additional key |
|of the United States. | | | |events. |
THE BIG HISTORY LESSON
Talking to historians, dressing up in period clothes, reenacting the life of a miner, sketching with museum artists are all a part of the week-long learning experience called The Big History Lesson. Students use the Michigan Historical Museum as their classroom for an extended, in-depth research experience.
In The Big History Lesson, students spend full school days at the Michigan Historical Museum, engaged in studying Michigan history. The design is an interdisciplinary study of Michigan history including a behind-the-scenes tour of the museum, speakers, and groups of students working cooperatively on research. Children participate in presentations, discussions, drama, writing, sketching, and a variety of other activities as they use the museum as their classroom.
Skills of observation, descriptive writing, note taking, storytelling and sketching are taught before the students go to the museum. By using the museum as their classroom, students become keen observers using all their senses, and are writing or dramatizing history from a personal perspective. Journal writing, including descriptive paragraphs, illustrations, and play writing are some of the ways that children interpret what they are learning.
Teacher and students engage in a long range plan—using the week at the museum as a catalyst. The week is part of a whole picture of a year of learning, rather than thinking of activities as pre-visit and post-visit. The Big History Lesson is NOT being a glorified field trip--it's an interdisciplinary, in-depth, object-based approach to teaching and learning. Activities in the classroom and at the museum are teacher-led and student-centered, and engage all participants in authentic tasks of learning history.
First, teachers choose the curriculum topics that are possible to explore at the museum, and they pick a theme that the students will explore at throughout the year and at the museum. Themes can center around content such as chronology, inventions, movement of people, etc., or can move into more conceptual themes such as courage, creativity, or struggle.
Teachers prepare by developing a web, including activities, resources, and museum support needed in order for students to explore the topic. Topics are correlated with state standards, and assessment tools are used throughout the experience.
ACTIVITIES BEFORE THE MUSEUM VISIT
Teachers also design lessons in the classroom and at the museum that encourage close observation and analysis. Listed below are some activities that can be used:
Quick Notes
Students learn to take notes during presentations—one or two words at a time to remember main ideas. Also formulate questions for later discussion. Then teacher gives time for students to review their notes and write a narrative that uses the key words.
Three Questions Activity
Teacher displays painting from an earlier era (Grandma Moses, an Impressionist painting, etc.), or uses a painting on display at the museum. Students take time to examine the painting. Students respond to the following questions:
If this had been painted today, how many things can you think of that would or could be different?
If you were to paint a scene of contemporary life, what type of scene would you paint?
List all the details that might be in the contemporary painting you said you would paint in the answer to the previous question. Be sure to list all the details you can think of.
The YOU Museum
Ask students to think about who they are—their individual attributes, (their likes, dislikes, where they live, who they are related to, etc.). Have then make a list of at least 20 words or phrases they would use to describe themselves.
Next, talk about the museum visit to the Michigan Historical Museum. Discuss how this museum is different from other museums that the children have visited (science, art, etc.) and how this museum focuses on Michigan’s history. Talk about the things the children will be seeing there.
Now talk about how the children are going to plan their own museums—a museum all about them. Using the list of words or phrases that describe themselves, have them think of objects or artifacts that represent their traits or attributes. Children can make a list of these objects, or if there is time, draw the objects.
Next, put students in pairs, and have students exchange list of objects only. Students can guess the meaning of the objects as related to their partner’s attributes.
Conclusion: Discuss how ideas are developed based on a single object, and how an object can be interpreted in different ways. Refer to museum visit in which students will be viewing artifacts and how the artifacts will represent big ideas (i.e. boot in the logging display, etc.).
Contemporary History
If we were to make an exhibit of TODAY, what items would you put in it?
Students make list, then repeat the task as a homework assignment and write down what parents say.
Sounds of the Gallery
After viewing a gallery, have students write down the sounds that would be heard if they were seeing the exhibit or artifacts in their original time of history. For instance, in the Henry Ford exhibit, students might list the sounds of workers assembling the cars, the machinery, etc.
Sights of the Gallery
After viewing a gallery, ask students to list every artifact they can remember from an exhibit.
Connections
Teacher selects two items that have no apparent connection to each other. Ask students to make up a story about how the two items work together to accomplish a single task or activity.
Student chooses two items from an exhibit. Students make up a story using the items in their time of history.
Time Capsule
Have the children make a list of objects that they would put in a time capsule to tell the future about the present. This can be a cooperative group activity beginning with individual lists, and then using skill of how to reach a consensus in order to put only 20 objects in the capsule.
Next, use jigsaw method so that each group hears from other groups about what they chose for the time capsule. Listen for compare/contrast statements from the jigsaw groups.
Examples of student work
The Paleo Indians used tools like the atlatl, spears, ax, and hammer heads. They were important because they were the weapons. These weapons were not for killing people, but for hunting animals like fish, deer, rabbits or bears. Ax heads were used to crack nuts open, and to crush berries and corn. Spearheads were used to kill animals. Spearheads could go on spears and atlatls. Indians put poison on the arrow so it would kill the animal faster. The Paleo Indians made these tools. --Danielle
STATEHOOD GALLERY
by Jack
When you walk into the Statehood Room at the Michigan Historical Museum, you will probably notice the scene of the youngest governor for Michigan, Stevens T. Mason. You will also see maps of the Michigan Territory, and artifacts of the Toledo War.
Does anyone know how much land Michigan could have had? Michigan could have been the size of Alaska, but Michigan turned all of that land down. Back then, you had to have 2,000 men that owned land to become a state. Michigan was looking for some more people to come to Michigan so they could become a state. This happened one day when Andrew Jackson asked Michigan if they wanted two cities. One was Green Bay and the other was a city on the border of Canada and the United States. Both cities were very big. This would have over 2,000 men in Michigan. The deal also came with all of the land between the two cities. That would be the land that is now Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa. That is a lot of land. At the time, Michigan thought the land wasn’t suitable for Michigan. Michigan said that they would take the two cities but not the land in between. Letters went back and forth. Andrew Jackson was known for his temper, but finally he said, "Fine. I’m giving you a great offer and you aren’t taking it. You won’t get anything now." That is how Michigan could have been the size of Alaska.
The Toledo War all started when Ohio said that Toledo strip belonged to them. The Toledo strip is a small strip of land that is above Ohio and below Michigan. When Michigan found out about this, they argued back and forth until Ohio sent out some mappers. At that time Ohio was already a state. When Michigan found out that Ohio sent out a few mappers, they sent out an army of people to follow the mappers. When the mappers found out that an army of Michigan people were following them, they let an army of Ohio people know about it. The Ohio army was following the Michigan army. When each group found out about the other army following, the war started. The Toledo War was a fist war, not a gun war. Nobody got seriously hurt but some people got black eyes and bruises.
Please remember how much land Michigan could have had. Imagine being the size of Alaska! Remember that the Toledo War was a not a gun war, but a fist war. This is my exhibit, the Statehood Gallery. --Jack
ASSESSMENT
After each day at the museum, students complete a "Two Minute Survey" in which they answer two or three of the following questions:
I used to think _______ but now I know_________.
I think the big idea about today’s event was ___________ because __________.
One interesting thing I learned today was ____________.
I really liked hearing about ______ because ___________.
A question I still have about _______ is _______.
I wonder _________.
The most important thing I learned was ________.
I’d like to know more about _________.
I was surprised about ________ because __________.
I’d like to talk to _______ about _______ because ________.
I wonder what it was like when ________.
If I was a ___________, then ____________.
Of all the things I did today, the best was _________.
Tomorrow I would like to ________ because ________.
I’d like to go back to this gallery because _____________.
I was confused by ________ because ___________.
This information is important because ____________.
EXPLORING LIFE IN JAMESTOWN SETTLEMENT
General Topic(s) or Theme(s)
• Jamestown settlement
• Early American settlers
• Biography
• Foods in early colonies
Objectives
Students will locate Jamestown settlement on a historical timeline.
Students will explore life in the colonies.
Students will become familiar with several important settlers.
Students will investigate what the settlers ate while in the colony.
Students will name a restaurant and prepare a menu of foods you would serve in your fictitious restaurant.
MATERIALS
• Third Grade Social Studies Text - Houghton Mifflin
• Nonfiction books about Jamestown from library.
• Map of Eastern United States.
• Worksheet with questions for this cite.
• Blank form for a menu.
• Sample menu generated by the teacher to have the students model.
Introductory questions to stimulate discussion
1. When the Jamestown settlers arrived, what did they find?
2. When they arrived, where did they live? How did they get food?
3. How many people came over on the original ship?
4. What other people were already there in the new world?
5. What do you know about the famous people who were in the Jamestown settlement?
Introduction Activity
Students will read and discuss the section in the 3rd grade social studies text on Jamestown. Students will discuss why people left Europe to come to a new world and what they were looking for. Students will also discuss what they found and what life was like. Talk about notable people and what made them important.
BODY
Students will visit the library to use the internet to enrich what they already know about the Jamestown settlement. Students will share computers and will work as a teacher directed group to complete the questions of the teacher. When the research is complete, students will create a menu for a fictitious restaurant in historical Jamestown.
1. Enter the Jamestown Rediscovery cite
open Jamestown Fort and draw a map of the settlement.
2. At the bottom of the web page - click on timeline and list 3 events and the dates they happened - between 1553-1616.
3. Click Back - Open People and collect 3 facts about each of the people mentioned.
4. Click Back - Open Things - Open Food - Make a list of what the Jamestown settlers ate.
5. Click Back- Open Exhibits - Open Dale House Exhibits - Continue your list of the foods eaten by colonists.
6. At the bottom of your paper, make a list of facts you felt were interesting.
Conclusion Activity
Using the information gathered in your research and using the blank menu, prepare a menu for a restaurant from your imagination that would be found in historic Jamestown. Name your Restaurant using vocabulary from your research and prepare appetizers, entrees and desserts using foods they would have eaten.
Any additional information may be contained in one of the other sites
listed below.
VOCABULARY TERMS
• Sturgeon, colony, survival, hone, archeologist,
• colonist, timeline, schooner, rustic, primitive,
• agriculture,
EVALUATION ACTIVITY
Students will share their information with other students and the menus will be posted for all to see.
Internet Resources Referenced in this Lesson
•
•
•
Social Studies
Activity Worksheet
|GRADE LEVEL: |Third |
|Course Title: |Comparing Communities |
|Strand: |Comprehending the Past |
|Topic: |I. History |
|Grade Level Standard: |3-2 Comprehend the past in your community. |
| |
|Grade Level Benchmark: |2. Use narratives and graphic data to compare the past |
|parts of their local community, the state of Michigan, and the United States with |
|present day life in those places. (I.2.LE.2) |
|Learning Activity(s)/Facts/Information |Resources |
| | |
|1. Communities of the Past (activity attached) | |
| | |
|2. Understanding Culture (activity attached) | |
|New Vocabulary: |
Communities of the Past
OBJECTIVES
The children will be able to:
• enhance listening skills during a read-a-loud.
• enhance writing skills by completing two journal entries in unit journal and a community questionnaire handout.
• participate in a class discussion about how communities have changed using a relative literature source and unit journal.
• enhance cooperative learning and research skills by working with a partner to complete community questionnaire
MATERIALS
Book: Home Place
Unit Journals & Unit Journal Response #2 (see attached)
Community Questionnaire
Research Materials (students will use school library)
Paper & Pencil
PROCEDURE
Into/Motivation:
1. Activate prior knowledge by having the children share their response to question #4 from Unit Journal Response #1 (refer to lesson #1).
2. Read Home Place.
3. Ask children how they think their community has changed over the years just like the narrator of Home Place, and have them answer question #1 on Unit Journal Response #2 (see attached).
Developmental Activities:
1. Divide the children into pairs.
2. Hand out Community Questionnaire. Explain that the class will be going to the school library to research and answer the questions on the questionnaire.
3. When in library, along with school librarian, explain how to use books, the Internet, magazines to research material for their questionnaire.
4. Tell students that they can use any source in the library to complete Community Questionnaire but they must use at least one book, one website, and one magazine. Explain that they must write down the name and author of the source they used for each question.
5. Have the children research their questions.
Closure:
1. Have the children share their responses to the questionnaire in small groups.
2. Have the children answer question #2 from Unit Journal Response #2.
EVALUATION
Student:
Note student's responses to discussion. Did the children understand the questions?
Review Unit journals. Did the students answer all questions completely?
Review student's questionnaire using rubric. (See attached)
Teacher:
Through observation:
Did all children participate in the discussion of communities?
Did all children understand how to research material in the library?
With use of rubric:
Did all children understand the assignment?
Did all children complete the assignment?
FOLLOW-UP
Community Interview
Name(s):
Community Questionnaire
Directions: With your partner, answer the following questions (on a separate piece of paper) about what your community was like in the past. You must use at least one book, one website, and one magazine to answer your questions. Write the name and author (if there is one, if not leave blank) of the source that you used for each question. Have fun!
1. What community do you live in? What state is it in?
2. What buildings were in your community in 1979 (20 years ago), but aren't in you community today? List at least 3.
3. What buildings in your community were in your community in 1979 (20 years ago), and are still there?
4. What did the houses look like in your community in 1979 (20 years ago)? Are they same houses that are in community today?
5. List three things that have changed in your community (something that you haven't already written!)
Community Questionnaire Rubric:
Name:
Content / Question
Yes
No
Did they work well together, displaying cooperative learning skills?
Did they answer all the questions completely and thoroughly?
Were at least one book, website, and magazine used and cited?
Comments: Grade
Unit Journal Response #2
Directions: Answer the following questions in you Unit Response Journal. Don't forget to date your entry!
1. Remember how the Narrator of Home Place discovered that his community has changed over the years? What do you think your community was like in the past?
2. After completing your Community Questionnaire, write one thing that you learned about your community's past.
UNDERSTANDING CULTURE
Clarifying the Benchmark
Narratives are articles or essays written by people to explain what happened in a certain time and location. They can be written by people who experienced them or people who have researched the event or time period. Graphic data comes from pictures, charts, graphs, or other pictures which represent the facts. Students are asked to use these documents to compare life in a place at another time to life today in those places.
An Example of Teaching to the Benchmark
As a basis for achieving this benchmark, students need to demonstrate an understanding that human beings organize their lives to accomplish similar goals. This is how culture is defined – things people do to make life safe and pleasant. Begin a brainstorming session to identify some of these common goals. The list might include food, religion, and government. Have students work in small groups to continue brainstorming and record their ideas. After a short time, have students share some of the ideas they devised and record them in categories using a concept web. You might use categories such as basic needs (use of the environment), organization/government (civics), things that are valued and how they are obtained (economics), attitudes, thoughts, ideas and ethics (human characteristics). If students need help coming up with items for categories, have them think about our own lives and how we do things.
Divide students into pairs or small groups to research a specific category of life in a colonial settlement using the ‘Colonial Kids’ web site. This site focuses on colonies in southeastern Pennsylvania. Spend time with atlases identifying the physical characteristics of this area. Have other pairs of students (or same student pairs if you wish) research the same categories for that area today.
Have each pair of students share their findings and record the information in two lists so students can observe the differences.
As students are sharing, ask probing questions to deepen their understanding. Areas of focus for questions might include: how people used their environment, why they chose this method for meeting needs, how colonial behavior is similar to what we do today. As students who have researched today’s characteristics share their findings, continue questioning to include what might have caused these changes as well as strengths and weaknesses of colonial and modern methods. The fact that the Pennsylvania colony was unusual in its acceptance of diverse peoples including Africans and many religious groups who were persecuted in other colonies should be included in your discussion. The current diversity of Pennsylvania might also be included to broaden discussions — especially if problems or benefits can be readily identified.
ASSESSMENT TASK
DIRECTIONS TO STUDENTS: Think about the daily life of a person who lived in colonial America. Write about the experiences this person might have while visiting in our time and compare our lives to his, In your essay, include:
1. What s/he would find most interesting
2. How our lives would be different from his
3. A comparison of at least three ways we do things to the way the same kind of thing may have been done in this person's time.
4. The person's reaction to at least three activities from our time and a comparison to something in their time. You may select from the following areas or think of some of your own:
• An appliance we have today
• One thing we do for entertainment
• One game we play
• One food we eat
• One chore we do
SCORING RUBRIC
|Benchmark |Apprentice |Basic |Meets |Exceeds |
|(I.2.LE.2) | | | | |
|Use narratives and graphic |The student writes an essay|The student writes an essay|The student writes an essay|The student writes an essay|
|data to compare the past of|including at least one |including at least 2 from |including elements 1-4. |including elements 1-4. |
|their local community, the |element and part of #4. |elements 1-3 and some part | |Creativity is demonstrated |
|state of Michigan, and | |of element 4. | |by thinking of his own |
|other parts of the United | | | |reaction topics for #4. |
|States with present day | | | |The essay may be humorous |
|life in those places. | | | |or includes unusual |
| | | | |comparisons. |
Social Studies
Activity Worksheet
|GRADE LEVEL: |Third |
|Course Title: |Comparing Communities |
|Strand: |Comprehending the Past |
|Topic: |I. History |
|Grade Level Standard: |3-2 Comprehend the past in your community. |
| |
|Grade Level Benchmark: |3. Recount the lives and characters of a variety of |
|individuals from the past representing their local community, the state of Michigan, |
|and the United States. (I.2.LE.3) |
|Learning Activity(s)/Facts/Information |Resources |
| | |
|1. Who Am I? (activity attached) | |
| | |
|2. Black History 101 (activity attached) | |
| | |
|3. Centennial: A Day in the Life of Children – Then and Now (activity attached) | |
|New Vocabulary: Community, values, personality traits |
WHO AM I?
Clarifying the Benchmark
For later elementary students, being able to tell life stories of individuals from the past involves not only sequencing events in their lives and identifying contributions to society but also describing their character traits through examples. Character is what makes a person unique, his/her traits, abilities, values, ethics, and intentions. Understanding historical narratives also includes making a connection to the location and context in which the people lived and avoiding judgments based only on current life styles and values.
An Example of Teaching to the Benchmark
With teacher and/or media specialist guidance, each student chooses from the classroom or school collection a biography of a person important to the history of the community, state or country, previews the book, and shares with the class what he/she already knows about the person. Explain to the class that after reading the book, each student will assume the role of that person, introduce him/herself to the class, describe the time and place(s) he/she has lived, and recount memories, goals and achievements. With this goal in mind, pre-reading focus questions such as the following are established:
• How would this person describe the place he/she lived?
• How would this person describe what was going on in the community (state, nation) when he/she lived?
• What events did this person consider to be important during his/her life?
• What personality traits did this person possess?
• What did this person value?
• What did this person accomplish and contribute to other people?
After reading, students record answers to pre-reading focus questions and observe as the teacher assumes the role of an historic person. With the criteria for effective oral presentations, answers to their focus questions and the teacher's modeling in mind, students prepare, practice and present themselves as an individual from the past to the class.
Assessment Task
After reading a book about an individual representing the past in his/her community, state, or country, each student assumes the role of that person and does the following: introduces him/herself to the class; describes the time and place(s) he/she has lived; recounts memories, goals, and achievements; and reveals his/her character through specific examples drawn from the text or other available print and electronic resources
Scoring Rubric
|Benchmark |Apprentice |Basic |Meets |Exceeds |
|(I.2.LE.3) | | | | |
|Recount the lives and |Tells birth information and|Includes some but not all |Describe the time and place|Describe the time and place|
|characters of a variety of |several events during the |of the following |the person lived, sequences|the person lived, sequences|
|individuals from the past |person’s life. |information: time and |significant events during |significant events during |
|representing their local | |place person lived, |his/her life, identifies |his/her life, identifies |
|community, the state of | |significant events in |his/her goals and |his/her goals and |
|Michigan, and other parts | |his/her life, his/her goals|achievements, and reveals |achievements, and reveals |
|of the United States. | |and achievements, and |his/her character through |his/her character through |
| | |his/her character through |examples. |examples. Takes on the |
| | |examples. | |persona of the character |
| | | | |and reflects the context in|
| | | | |which the person lived. |
Black History 101
DIRECTIONS: Read each clue. Each clue tells about a famous black American on the list below. Use the list to connect to a short biography of each person. On the line next to each clue, write the name of the person that the clue tells about.
1. _____________________ This person started a school in Alabama where black children could learn skills such as shoemaking and farming.
2. _____________________ This person visited President Abraham Lincoln in the White House in 1864.
3. _____________________ This person refused to give up a seat on the bus. That led to a 382-day bus boycott by black people in Montgomery, Alabama.
4. _____________________ When this person was just a few weeks old, he and his mother were kidnapped. His mother was sold into slavery.
5. _____________________ This person rescued a sister and her two children -- and many, many others -- from slavery.
6. _____________________ This person was a doctor who spent two years working with poor people in Africa before she went on to become famous.
7. _____________________ This person started a newspaper called "North Star," that helped fight slavery.
8. _____________________ The president named this person to be the first black to hold a seat on the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land.
9. _____________________ In 1962, this person became the first black player inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
10. _____________________ This person's performance at the 1936 Summer Olympic Games made him famous.
|Jackie Robinson | |
|Mae Jemison | |
|Harriet Tubman | |
|Sojourner Truth | |
|Booker T. Washington | |
|Rosa Parks | |
|Jesse Owens | |
|Thurgood Marshall | |
|George Washington Carver | |
|Frederick Douglass | |
© 2004 by Education World. Permission is granted to teachers to reproduce this skill page for classroom use.
CENTENNIAL: A DAY IN THE LIFE OF CHILDREN – THEN AND NOW
SUMMARY
The daily activities of children show the culture of the time.
MAIN CURRICULUM TIE
Students will understand the contributions of Native American Indians, explorers, and Utah’s pioneers.
MATERIALS
• Uptime, Downtime by John Peel. This story tells how things have changed and may change. The experiences are revealed through time travel.
• A field trip to historical sites with children's perspective on life. The school house in Fruita, This Is The Place State Park, and the like would make good choices.
• Any Utah history textbook lessons on childhood in historic Utah. 'Schools: Then and Now.'
BACKGROUND FOR TEACHERS
Children today believe that their life is difficult and that much is expected of them. Many today, youngsters and adults, expect to get something if they give or do something. Rights and responsibilities need to be revisited in daily life of the past and in the present.
INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES
• Students will compare and contrast a day in their lives with a day in a child's life in history.
• Students will identify the responsibilities of their counterparts in history.
• Students will identify their present responsibilities.
• Students will determine the rights that their historic counterparts and they should have based on their responsibilities.
INSTRUCTIONAL PROCEDURES
See preface material for the Utah Centennial Lesson Plans book. Have students write out a day in their life, a bed-to-bed list. Work with the students to make detailed lists.
This is the time for the field trip or other presentations to make the past 'alive' for the students.
Work to make a second list of the day in the life of a child in Utah's past. Maybe interview grandparents about their lives. Try for details.
Compare the two lists that have been created. Setting them up in parallel format will help the students to more easily make comparisons:
• I wake up at 6:30 to a radio alarm clock.
• I woke up at 4:30 on my own. The cows need to be milked.
Have students share their lists.
Discuss what responsibilities current children have in common. Make a list of those the class can agree to.
Discuss what responsibilities historic children had in common. After agreement is reached list these.
Decide who had greater responsibility. Be able to give good reasons for your decision.
Talk with the class about the relationship of rights and responsibilities. The right to vote and the responsibility to be informed, the right to drive and the responsibility to do so safely, the right to go to school and the responsibility to learn, etc.
In light of the preceding discussions, which group of children should have more rights?
EXTENSIONS
Have the student draw comic strips or story boards of their routines and the routines of historical Michigan children.
Hold a debate on the rights and responsibilities of modern children vs. children from Michigan’s past.
Interview grandparents to compare their childhood lives with that of the students.
Perhaps a local citizen who can remember the local community would be a good class alternative. Create a display showing childhood lives then and now.
Create a pioneer day from the child's point of view. Include games, tasks, school, chores, food and the like.
Social Studies
Activity Worksheet
|GRADE LEVEL: |Third |
|Course Title: |Comparing Communities |
|Strand: |I. History |
|Topic: |Comprehending the Past |
|Grade Level Standard: |3-2 Comprehend the past in your community. |
| |
|Grade Level Benchmark: |4. Identify and explain how individuals in history |
|demonstrated good character and personal virtue. (I.2.LE.4) |
|Learning Activity(s)/Facts/Information |Resources |
| | |
|1. This Land is Your Land…This Land is My Land | |
|(activity attached) | |
| | |
|2. Women of Hope (activity attached) | |
|New Vocabulary: Primary sources |
This Land Is Your Land...This Land Is My Land
OBJECTIVES
• To read for information and understanding and discover relationships, concepts by
• utilizing a variety of written and electronic resources.
To identify contributions made by African Americans to the Western expansion
• To enhance the ability to use maps and diagrams to enhance the knowledge of the
growth of our country.
• To make the history of our country more inclusive.
STANDARDS
Take notes to record and organize data, facts and ideas
Produce clear, well-organized reports
MATERIALS
Books or websites pertaining to African American explorers and cowboys
ANTICIPATORY SET
Who are some famous explorers or cowboys that students are familiar with? There were many significant contributions to the growth of our country that are
relatively unknown.
PROCEDURES
Teacher selects or has find names of Black explorers or cowboys. Students can work in
teams or pairs to research and identify the areas that they were involved in and how
they were beneficial to the history of early America. Their notes would include the
time frame that they lived, their specific role and other historical data or individuals from that time period.
ASSESSMENT
a - The information can be utilized to do a comparative timeline of events in history to show when they lived and well-known events.
b - Make a map of the exploration and expansion trails and show where they traveled or migrated.
c - Share written reports with documented information of the life and contributions of these individuals.
Women of Hope
Clarifying the Benchmark
Character refers to an individual’s moral or ethical principles. Personal virtue means moral excellence or goodness: one’s conformity in life and conduct to moral and ethical principles. An individual of good charter and person virtue not only espouses a belief in values such as honesty, responsibility, respect, charity, but he/she also exemplifies those principles through action, leadership, and personal interaction. Martin Luther King, Jr. demonstrated good character and personal virtue.
An Example of Teaching to the Benchmark
Utilizing a dictionary and prior knowledge, collaboratively-develop definitions for character and personal virtue to be displayed as a point of reference. Read aloud a short biography of Dr. Alexa Canady, the first African American woman neurosurgeon, in Women of Hope: African Americans Who Made a Difference. As students brainstorm, record the most significant events in her life and example of her character and personal virtue. Collaboratively organize this information, generate a topic sentence, and write and edit a summary paragraph. Have students identify criteria for an informative and engaging oral report.
Tell students that the class is going to make a documentary video to be viewed by other classes during Black History Month titled “African Americans who Demonstrated Character and Personal Virtue.” Each student will be the researcher, writer, editor, and commentator for a segment about one individual. The teacher and/or media specialist will assist students by identifying print and electronic resources.
Possible subjects: Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Mary McLeod Bethune, George Washington Carver, Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Dubois, Marcus Garvey, Dr. Martin Luther King, Mae Jemison, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Book T. Washington, Malcolm X
REFERENCES
Bolden, T. (1998). And Not Afraid to Dare. New York: Scholastic.
Hansen, J. (1998). Women of Hope: African Americans Who Made A Difference. New York: Scholastic Press.
Lobb, N. (1995). 16 Extraordinary African Americans. Portland, ME: J. Weston Walch.
Encarta. . (August, 2000).
World Book Online. . (August, 2000).
ASSESSMENT TASK
Tell students that the class is going to make a documentary video to be viewed by other classes during Black History Month titled “African Americans Who Demonstrated Character and Personal Virtue.” Each student will be the researcher, writer, editor, and commentator for a segment about one individual. Each report is to include a chronological description of the most significant events in the individual’s life and an adequate number of examples to demonstrate his/her character and personal virtue. The oral presentation is to be prepared with the intended audience in mind and rehearsed so that reference to notes is minimal. Memorization and use of a visual aid, such as a photograph or drawing of the individual, are recommended but not required.
SCORING RUBRIC
|Benchmark |Apprentice |Basic |Meets |Exceeds |
|(I.2.LE.4) | | | | |
|Identify and explain how |Paragraph summarizing some |Oral report includes a |Oral report includes a |Oral report includes a |
|individuals in history |events in the individual’s |chronological description |chronological description |chronological description |
|demonstrated good character|life and an example of |of some significant events |of the most significant |of the most significant |
|and personal virtue. |his/her character and |in the individual’s life |events in the individual’s |events in the individual’s |
| |personal virtue is read |and some examples of |life and an adequate number|life, an adequate number of|
| |aloud. |his/her character and |of examples to demonstrate |examples to demonstrate |
| | |personal virtue. The |his/her character and |his/her character and |
| | |presentation is focused on |personal virtue. The |personal virtue, and |
| | |the intended audience but |presentation focused on the|additional explanation to |
| | |dependent on notes. |intended audience and |clarify the significance of|
| | | |rehearsed. |each example. The |
| | | | |presentation is focused on |
| | | | |the intended audience, |
| | | | |memorized, rehearsed, and |
| | | | |accompanied by a visual |
| | | | |aid. |
Social Studies
Activity Worksheet
|GRADE LEVEL: |Third |
|Course Title: |Comparing Communities |
|Strand: |I. History |
|Topic: |Analyzing and Interpreting the Past |
|Grade Level Standard: |3-3 Analyze and interpret the past. |
| |
|Grade Level Benchmark: |1. Use primary sources to reconstruct past events in their |
|local community. (I.3.LE.1) |
|Learning Activity(s)/Facts/Information |Resources |
| | |
|1. Remember the Time (activity attached) | |
|New Vocabulary: Primary sources |
Remember the Time
Clarifying the Benchmark
Historians use a variety of sources to reconstruct past events. Many of these are primary sources which are the actual records that have survived such as letters, photograph, diaries, articles of clothing, newspapers, maps, etc. Primary sources useful in interpreting the past of a local community are often available through a local historical society or museum. These give students a first-hand view of what life in their community was like in the past.
An Example of Teaching to the Benchmark
Define primary sources for students (e.g. the actual records that have survived from the past) and list examples such as diaries, letters and photographs. Ask students to brainstorm a list of objects that could be useful as primary sources in the future to help people reconstruct the history of your school. (E.g. newsletters, a school year book, photographs, a lunch ticket). Expand students' thinking by exploring primary sources relating to the history of their local community obtained from local historical societies, museums, etc. Useful resources include copies of photos, diaries, business records, etc.
Assessment Task
Given a primary source such as a photo, students individually utilize it to write a short paragraph describing a past event in their local community.
SCORING RUBRIC
|Benchmark |Apprentice |Basic |Meets |Exceeds |
|(I.3.LE.1) | | | | |
|Use primary sources to |Recognizes the relationship|Utilizes a primary source |Utilizes a primary source |Utilizes a primary source |
|reconstruct past events in |between a primary source |to write a sentence |to write a short paragraph |to write a short paragraph |
|their local community. |and a past event in their |accurately describing a |accurately describing a |accurately describing a |
| |local community. |past event in their local |past event in their local |past event in their local |
| | |community. |community. |community. Adds |
| | | | |information from another |
| | | | |primary source or a |
| | | | |secondary source. |
Social Studies
Activity Worksheet
|GRADE LEVEL: |Third |
|Course Title: |Comparing Communities |
|Strand: |I. History |
|Topic: |Analyzing and Interpreting the Past |
|Grade Level Standard: |3-3 Analyze and interpret the past. |
| |
|Grade Level Benchmark: |2. Interpret conflicting accounts of events both in Michigan |
| history and United States history and analyze the viewpoints of the authors. |
|(I.3.LE.2) |
|Learning Activity(s)/Facts/Information |Resources |
| | |
|1. Bering Land Bridge (activity attached) | |
|New Vocabulary: Graphic organizer, scientists, and anthropologists |
Bering Land Bridge
Clarifying the Benchmark
After students read two accounts, which disagree in their description of one historical event, they should be able to identify the two opposing views and explain the difference. They can use what they know or can learn about the history of the time to figure out why the two writers have different opinions about what happened.
An Example of Teaching to the Benchmark
Use the listed web sites or other resources to read the “Bering Land Bridge” theory of Native American presence in North and South America. Help students summarize the facts of this theory. It is important that students put this theory into context and gain some background as to how scientists and anthropologists use evidence to make decisions about human existence. It would be beneficial for them to use a graphic organizer to record facts of the theory and information, which justify the position of the scientists. The graphic organizer could include topics such as the following:
|THEORY NAME |What was the evidence |What is the theory? |How does this theory conflict with|
| |found? | |other theories? |
|Bering Land Bridge |North Atlantic between |People living in Siberia crossed into what is now |Conflicts with Monte Verde theory |
| |Alaska and Siberia |North America during the ice age when ocean was not so|because there was not enough time |
| | |deep and land could be seen. These people are |for people to have crossed the |
| | |believed to have been of Northern Asia decent and to |land bridge and made it to Monte |
| | |have populated the rest of the two continents as they |Verde area. |
| | |followed food animals. | |
Using the same internet sites read about theories that bring into question the validity of the "Bering Land Bridge" theory. The Monte Verde theory is one example. Researchers have found sites which seem to have existed 1000 years after Asians are believed to have crossed the land bridge. This information begins to raise question as to how people crossing the bridge could have come to Chile in 1000 years when other investigations estimate a much longer time for migration. Students should complete a graphic organizer similar to the land bridge organizer to facilitate discussions.
There are numerous other theories included on these sites which could be added to the discussion. The Cabrillo site includes links to:
Beringa; Atlantic route, boat, Monte Verde are highlighted within the text of the article
There are also other theories of Native American presence discussed in this article including:
• Tocca do Boquierao da Peda Firada (40,00 years ago)
• Pendejo Cave, New Mexico (14,000 years ago)
• Meadowcroft Rock Shelter, PA (12,000 years ago )
The National Geographic site includes the best information about the Monte Verde theory.
Encourage students to raise questions about the validity of both theories as well as the implications of other research regarding Paleo-Americans. This research indicate that the ethnic history of the people whose remains have been found in other areas is not the same as the traditionally identified Clovis people whose origins are more closely related to northern Asia.
REFERENCES
Smith, Chuck, (2000) Native peoples of North America: History and Culture. . (August, 2000).
National Geographic Society, (2000). . (August, 2000).
DIRECTIONS TO STUDENTS: We have discussed several theories about when Native American presence in North and South America is believed to have begun. We have also looked at some research scientists believe supports the theories. Select two of these theories and write a position paper comparing them and explaining which you think is more accurate. Your paper should:
1. Clearly summarize each theory by including at least two background statements explaining when Native Americans were present in North and South America.
2. Clearly state which theory you think is more believable.
3. Support your position with at least two factors from reading and discussions.
4. Explain why each fact supports your position.
5. Summarize your position in concluding statement(s).
6. You may explain why scientists think this topic is so important to scientists.
SCORING RUBRIC
|Benchmark |Apprentice |Basic |Meets |Exceeds |
|(I.3.LE.2) | | | | |
|Interpret conflicting |Interprets conflicting |Interprets conflicting |Interprets conflicting |Completes the requirements for |
|accounts of events in |accounts of Native |accounts of Native |accounts of Native |‘meets,’ includes element #6, adds |
|both Michigan and United |American presence in |American presence in |American presence in |more than the required information |
|States history and |North and South America |North and South America |North and South America |on other elements, or includes |
|analyze the viewpoints of|by including elements 1-2|by including elements 1-4|by including elements |extensive background information. |
|the authors. |of the required element. |of the required elements.|1-5. | |
Social Studies
Activity Worksheet
|GRADE LEVEL: |Third |
|Course Title: |Comparing Communities |
|Strand: |I. History |
|Topic: |Analyzing and Interpreting the Past |
|Grade Level Standard: |3-3 Analyze and interpret the past. |
| |
|Grade Level Benchmark: |3. Compose simple narratives of events from the history of |
|the state of Michigan and the United States. (I.3.LE.3) |
|Learning Activity(s)/Facts/Information |Resources |
| | |
|1. Underground Railroad (activity attached) | |
|New Vocabulary: |
Underground Railroad
Clarifying the Benchmark
A narrative is a written or spoken story of events or experiences. Before composing a narrative of an event from history, students need to access, analyze and interpret historical narratives written by others, such as informational texts, biographies, eyewitness accounts, journals, and letters, as well as other available resources, such as photos, documents, and historical sites. An example of a simple narrative of events from history would be a simulated journal entry describing a child's daily life in Jamestown.
An Example of Teaching to the Benchmark
Ask students what they already know about the Underground Railroad and the people who participated. Clarify background information as needed. Explain that the focus for this lesson will be on the personal experiences of people who participated in the Underground Railroad. Read to the class the personal account of runaway slave Linda Brent at socstud/railroad/BrentEsc.htm Ask: What was her goal? What conditions did she endure? What did she fear? What made her account realistic?
Have small groups of students go through "The Journey" at the National Geographic Underground Railroad web site, focusing on the people, locations, form(s) of transportation, obstacles, conditions and emotions that the escaping slaves experienced. Also, have each group read the personal accounts of five other participants at the University of California Davis or PBS Africans in America web site with the same focus. Discuss, as a class, what they have learned about the Underground Railroad and the personal experiences of participants and what information was included in the personal accounts.
REFERENCES
Public Broadcasting Service (African in America). ................
................
In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.
To fulfill the demand for quickly locating and searching documents.
It is intelligent file search solution for home and business.
Related searches
- importance of social studies pdf
- importance of social studies education
- social studies is important why
- why does social studies matter
- social studies ged practice test
- heritage social studies zimbabwe
- why social studies is important
- free online social studies lessons
- why social studies is boring
- social studies education websites
- social studies fair topics list
- social studies articles