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Transportation Social Studies Lesson

Caitlin Byttner, 4th Grade

Standards:
Standard 4: Societies experience continuity and change over time.
Benchmark 4.1 The student will recognize and evaluate continuity and change over time and its
impact on individuals, institutions, communities, states, and nations.

MU:Re8.1.2a Demonstrate knowledge of music concepts and how they support crea-
tors/performers expressive intent.

Objectives:
The student will look at seven pictures of different vehicles of transportation and complete the
Transportation Worksheet based off of the observations they see in the pictures and what
they already know about vehicles.
The student will work in pairs and choose one of the seven vehicles of transportation from the
first activity to research. The student will complete a worksheet to help guide them in their re-
search before completing a poster to be shared with the class.
The student will listen to three songs and will complete a worksheet analyzing the songs.

Materials:
Transportation worksheet
Vehicle Worksheet
Song worksheet
Poster paper
Markers
Computers/iPads
Erie Canal Song http://app.rhapsody.com/search?query=erie+canal+song
Wait for the Wagon http://app.rhapsody.com/artist/big-stone/album/wait-for-the-wagon
Wabash Cannonball https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZiQ89_s67Q
Powerpoint with pictures of 7 different types of vehicles

Background:
Over the years the worlds transportation has changed . It has become more efficient and a lot
more common to transport larger amounts of goods to farther places. The reason it has become
more common to trade with countries further away from you is because it is a lot easier than it
used to be. When two countries wanted to exchange goods a while ago it would be a big process
to do it. The process would be even bigger if the two countries were far away. These days two
countries can exchange large amounts of goods without ease. The way that technology has
changed our transportation has made a task that could have been very hard and time consuming
an easy and quick process. Nowadays, people have many different ways to travel & get goods to
other places.
1) Wagon: 3000BC in Europe
2) Steam locomotive: 1784 by William Murdoch
3) Steamboat: 1789 by John Fitch
4) Bike 1817 by Baron Karl von Drais
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5) Car: 1886 by Karl Benz
6) Airplane: 1903 by the Wright brothers

Songs:
Erie Canal Song - written in 1905 by Thomas S. Allen. Around 1905 mule powered barge traffic
had converted to steam power and diesel power was about to take over. The Erie Canal Song was
written to commemorate the history of nearly 100 years of life along the Erie Canal. It is a folk
song. Travelers would typically ride on the roof of boats when the conditions allowed, but the
low bridges along the route would require that they either duck down or get off the roof to fit un-
der bridges.

Wabash Cannon Ball - is an American folk song about a fictional train, thought to have originat-
ed in the late nineteenth century. Its first documented appearance was on sheet music published
in 1882, titled "The Great Rock Island Route" and credited to J. A. Roff. There are many theo-
ries of the origin of "The Wabash Cannonball". Utah Phillips states that hobos imagined a mythi-
cal train called the "Wabash Cannonball" which was a "death coach" that appeared at the death
of a hobo to carry his soul to its reward. The song was then created, with the lyrics and music
telling the story of the train. In the wake of the song's popularity, the Wabash Railroad renamed
its daytime express run between Detroit and St. Louis as the Wabash Cannon Ball in 1949, the
only actual train to bear the name. It is considered country.

Wait for the Wagon - is an American folk song, first popularized in the early 1850s.

Folk music: music that originates in traditional popular culture or that is written in such a style.
Folk music is typically of unknown authorship and is transmitted orally from generation to gen-
eration.
Country Music: a form of popular music originating in the rural southern US. It is traditionally a
mixture of ballads and dance tunes played characteristically on fiddle, guitar, steel guitar, drums,
and keyboard.

Introduction:
Each student will be handed the Transportation Worksheet. The students can work in pairs or
individually to complete this worksheet. This worksheet will be used as an indicator to see how
much the students know about the evolution of transportation. The students will be shown seven
pictures of different vehicles and will be asked to identify is the vehicle is from the past or used
today. The students will also have to explain how they know the vehicle is old or new or what
clues they used to determine their answer. The students will then share their answers with the
class. The teacher can ask What other types of transportation is there? (rockets, ect.)

Body: 1-2 lessons
1. The students will work in pairs to choose one of the seven vehicles to research from the first
activity.
2. The students will use a search engine to visit various website to find information about their
vehicle to complete the Vehicle Worksheet.
3. Once the students have finished their worksheets they will make a poster to present to the
class about their vehicle including written information and pictures they have drawn.
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4. The students will present their posters to the class.
5. The class will then be given one final worksheet which they will complete by listening to
three different songs.
6. The students will not be told what the title of the song is but will have to listen to the instru-
ments and lyrics (if there are any) to determine what type of transportation the song is focus-
ing on.
7. The students will listen to the song Wait for the Wagon and will complete the first row on the
worksheet answering the questions What type of transportation is the music portraying?
How do you know or what clues does the music give you? Do any instruments in the
song sound like the vehicle?
8. The students will listen to the second song Erie Canal Song and will complete the second
row on the worksheet.
9. The students will listen to the third Wabash Cannonball and will complete the third row of
the worksheet.
10. After each song the class will discuss their observations of the song and will add in any more
notes that they wish.

Closure:
After listening to all three songs the students will return to the first worksheet and draw what
they think transportation will look like in the future and their posters will be hung up around the
classroom.

Assessment:
The student fully completes the Transportation Worksheet and answers all the questions in
complete sentences.
The student fully completes the Vehicle Worksheet with accurate information. The poster
they make is organizes and easily read. They included all the information form the worksheet
on to their poster and included a drawing of their vehicle. Each person takes part in presenting
their poster to the class.
The student fully completes the song worksheet writing at least once comment or idea in each
box.

Adaptations:
For students would have trouble with sitting and listening to music I would have then get up and
move to the music in anyway they choose. For studies that have a hard time understanding the
words of the song I would have a hard copy for them to read while following along to the song.


Rationale:
It is important for students to learn about how transportation has changed over time because
transportation continues to make travel easier and faster.

Connections:
This lesson can be used to teach science concepts like float and sink, motion and direction, and
push and pull. The lesson can also be used in math the learn about speed and distance. Teachers
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could also use transportation in Language Arts and have students compare and contrasts and/or
write about the different form of transportation.


































Transportation PowerPoint Slide:

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Music Worksheet:

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