Learning About History Through Primary Sources

Standards
Michigan First Grade Social Studies Grade Level Content Expectations
H2.0.5 Use historical records and artifacts (e.g. photos, diaries, oral histories, and videos) to
draw possible conclusions about family or school life in the past.
H2.0.6 Compare life today with life in the past using the criteria of family, school, jobs, or
communication.
Rationale
This unit plan introduces students to the idea of the past, present and future. It helps students
think critically about how information from the past is gathered and allows them to become
historians. They will look at a variety of primary sources to gather the information necessary to
start a comparison between the past and present regarding home and school life.
Grade Level
First Grade
Time Span
5- 45 minute class periods and one whole day field trip
Learning Objectives
Students will learn how to interpret primary sources.
Students will learn how to draw conclusions about people and places from the past by looking at
primary sources.
Students will learn how to find and interpret differences and similarities between life today and
life in the past.
Students will develop some familiarity with the concept of the past and the present.
Students will learn how to explore their family history through primary sources.
Students will be able to draw conclusions about family and school life in the past in order to
compare it to life today.
Students will be able to complete an interview and record its results.
Students will recognize that oral stories are one way of passing on history.
Students will be able to recognize similarities and differences between themselves and their
classmates.
Students will learn how developments in technology have changed family life.
Students will learn how to describe their family, school and means of communication.
Technology
The Internet
Computer
Overhead projector or smart board
Printer

LESSON ONE- NOW AND THEN

I.

Standard:
H2.0.5 Use historical records and artifacts (e.g. photos, diaries, oral histories, and videos) to
draw possible conclusions about family or school life in the past.\
H2.0.6 Compare life today with life in the past using the criteria of family, school, jobs, or
communication.

II.

Objective/Benchmark:
Students will learn how to interpret photographs.
Students will learn how to draw conclusions about people and places from the past by
looking at primary sources.

III.

Anticipatory Set:
Have a large box at the front of the classroom. At the beginning of class announce that the
items you are about to pull out are clues as to what they will be learning about next. Pull out
one item at a time and when you are done ask the students to share with their elbow partners
what they think they are going to be learning about. Have items such as antique cameras, old
pictures, and old technology such as a phone etc. Pull the entire class back together and ask
them to share what they spoke about. Ask why they think they are going to learn about what
they guessed?

IV.

Input:
Tell the students they are going to learn how to find out about people from a long time ago.
Ask them how they think they can learn about the past? Write the answers on a sheet of paper
that can be posted in the class. Explain that the past is the things that happened before today.
Write Past on a piece of paper and have it posted in the room for reference throughout this
unit. Explain the present is the time that we are living in now. Write the present on a piece of
paper as well. Explain the future is the things that have not yet happened so tomorrow, the
next day, next week and next year. Write the future on a piece of paper to post.
Instructional methods- guided discussion, discussion, independent work
Engagement strategies- having them guess what the lesson will be about, discussion with
elbow partners, independent work
Materials- Mystery box with clues to the lesson, markers, paper, textbook, overhead
projector, poster, tape or glue
Preparation- have two different pictures cut out for each student. Have copies made of the
Comparing the past and present worksheet for each student. Have your mystery box ready
to show the class.

V.

Modeling:
Pull up page 42 from the class textbook on the overhead. Show students the picture of people
washing their clothing by hand. Ask them what they see?
3

What does this photo show? (What type of an event is this? What is happening?)
Who is in the photo? (Children? Adults?)
What are they wearing?
When did this take place? (If there is no date, ask students when they think it took place?)
Where is this? (In a school? Outside?)
What other information can you gather from this photo?
What other questions would you like to ask about this photo?
Ask them how they know? Ask how they wash their clothing now? What is different? What
is the same? Talk to the class about how technology has changed and it has allowed us to
wash more clothes in less time. Ask what we need to have this technology? Explain we need
electricity, factories to make washing machines, water pipes etc. Show them page 43 as a
comparison. As them to compare and contrast the pictures. Create a timeline on the
chalkboard and have print outs of both pictures. Place the print outs on the timeline and
explain to the class that the older photo happened in the past and came before the new photo
which is happening in the present.

VI.

Checking for Understanding:

The teacher will be able to check for understanding during the lesson by listening to the
students answering the questions during the modeling and guided practice. Looking at the
timelines created by the students will give the teacher a clue as to if they understand the idea
of progression in technology. Listening to the group presentations will show the teacher what
main ideas the group took away from the lesson. The final assessment will be the picture
drawn and sentence written by the students when they are working on their own.

VII.

Guided Practice:
Hand each child a picture printed from the attached Past and Present Pictures document.
Each picture will represent an event from the past such as a birthday party, wedding, school
room, or family. Ask the students to look at the photograph ask the same questions as above.
Then have them get up from their desks and find other people who have pictures from the
same type of event but a different time period.
When the children find their group have them compare and contrast the pictures. Leave the
above questions written on the overhead for the children to reference. After they have done
this for five minutes provide them with a poster and have them make a time line and tape the
pictures on it in the order that they think they go. Have each group share their poster and say
a few things about it.

VIII. Independent Practice:

Hand the students out a new copy of a picture they did not have before with it on the
following Comparing the Past to the Present worksheet. Next to the photograph have them
draw a picture of what their experience is with that certain event. Ask them to write a line
about what is happening in the past.

IX.

Closure
Explain to the class that today we used photographs to find out about events and people from
the past. We learned that we can compare and contrast the past and present using these tools.
Technology has changed the way we live.

X.

Assessment
The final assessment in this lesson is the sentence and drawing the student will make about
the photograph they are provided. It will be evident that the learning objectives were met if
the student writes an insightful conclusion about the photograph provided to them and then
draws a picture that demonstrates their own experiences.

PAST AND PRESENT PICTURES

Birthday Parties

Birthday Party (1951)

Birthday Party (October 3, 2004)

Art Classes

Students doing watercolor painting (around 1899)

Summer school painting class (2006)

Weddings

Wedding (Cameroon; West Africa; About. 1912)

Wedding (Chicago, Illinois; 1925)

Ice Skating

Ice Skating (Toronto, Canada; January 10, 1910)

Ice skating (Toronto, Canada; February 16, 2009)

10

Family Picnics

Family Picnic (England, around 1913)

Family Picnic

11

Baseball Games

World Series, Game 7 (1955)

Baseball Game (Spring Training-March 21, 2009)

Name______________________________________________
12

Comparing the Past and the Present

The Past

The Present

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

Lesson Two-PASSING IT ON
13

I.

Standard
H2.0.5 Use historical records and artifacts (e.g. photos, diaries, oral histories, and videos) to
draw possible conclusions about family or school life in the past.
H2.0.6 Compare life today with life in the past using the criteria of family, school, jobs, or
communication.

II.

Objective/Benchmark:
Students will learn how to draw conclusions about people and places from the past by
looking at primary sources.
Students will learn how to find and interpret differences and similarities between life today
and life in the past.
Students will develop some familiarity with the concept of the past and the present.
Students will learn how to explore their family history through primary sources.

III.

Anticipatory Set:

IV.

Have a family heirloom in the front of the class. In my example I will have a chair my greatgrandparents made which was passed down to me.
Ask your class the following questions:
Who are the members of your family?
What other people make up your family?
Tell the students that each person has their own unique family and explain some examples
such as some people have a mom and dad, others just a mom, others live with their
grandparents or aunts and uncles. Everyone has a different amount of siblings. Some people
have aunts and uncles that live with them etc. Then ask students
Has an older family member ever given you something special? What?
Did an older family member ever tell you a story about when they were young? What was it
about?
Explain that sometimes we say these things are passed down from one family member to
another. Ask if there is anything else that has been passed down.
Show students the chair that has been brought it (or any other heirloom) Explain that my
great-grandma stitched the bottom of it and that my great-grandpa built it and painted it. My
great-grandparents gave it to my grandmother, who gave it to my mom who gave it to me.
We can say this chair is passed down to me from my mom.
Input
Get out the big book Passing It On by Jennifer Prescott and show it to the class. Start off by
pointing out the two people on the cover of the book. Ask the class who they think the people
are? Ask what they are doing? Is there something one family member is passing to another?
Turn the book over and read the class the blurb on the back. Point out and explain the
different parts of a book to the class including the table of contents, captions on pictures,
glossary and index.

14

Read the book to the class. Ask the class to partner share something the book made them
think about. Ask a few students to share.
Instructional methods- discussion, lecture
Engagement strategies- discussion,
Materials- computer, projector, Passing It On, internet or downloaded videos
Preparation- either have the videos downloaded on the computer or have the website pulled
up
V.

Modeling:
Explain to the class that they are going to watch a video of Kristi Yamaguchi a famous ice
skater finding out about her family by looking at a photograph. Ask them to find something
that Kristi learns by looking at the photograph. Play the video on the overhead.
http://wgvu.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/foa10.soc.k6.histus.yamaphoto/yamaguchiphotos/
End the video on the screen so the photograph is showing. Ask the class what Kristi learned
about her grandparents by looking at the photos. Look for the answers: Kristi saw that her
grandfather was handsome and that he wore a suit; Kristi saw what her grandfathers farm
looked like and also saw her father as a young boy with his siblings and mother. She could
see that there werent any tall buildings around. Ask if there was anything else they noticed
about the photograph or the people in it.

VI.

Checking for Understanding:

Formative assessment during this lesson will be by listening to student discussions and their
contributions to class discussions.

VII.

Guided Practice:
Ask the class how people were able to learn about their ancestors before people were able to
take photographs? Explain to the class that other ways to learn about your family are books,
old objects, documents and stories. Let them know that each culture has their own way of
passing down information. In the Chinese culture people often time make books with
photographs, stories, poems and information about their family. Many of these books are
destroyed because paper is so fragile that when one does survive it is very exciting. Tell them
you are going to watch a video and see what people learned about their ancestors when they
did find one.
Before playing them the following video ask them to pay close attention to how Yo-Yo-Mas
family book was kept safe.
http://wgvu.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/foa10.soc.k-6.histus.mafamhis/ma-familyhistory/
Have the children pair and share the following questions: What did they think of the clip?
How the book was kept safe? What did they find out from the book? How did Yo-Yo-Ma feel
to find the book?

VIII.

Independent Practice:
15

Ask the students how we pass on our cultures and stories today? Point to the word the present
Explain to the class they are going to start documenting their days. Provide each student with
the Documenting Your Day handout. Explain that they are going to pick something that
happened to them each day to draw and write a sentence about. Give them time to create their
first entry. Explain to the students that the man they just saw on the video Yo-Yo-Ma is a
famous musician who plays the cello. Play his music while they work.
IX.

Closure
Ask why they think people in a family like to pass on stories and memories?
What can we learn from a familys stories?

X.

Assessment/Reflection
The teacher will be able to tell if the students have met the objective of this lesson if the
student completes their Documenting their Day handout each day with something that
really has happened to them. To determine if the students have made progress towards the
objective of learning about the past through primary sources and comparing and contrasting
primary sources they will have to listen to student discussion.

Name_______________________________________
16

Documenting your day

Monday

Thursday

Tuesday

Friday

Wednesday

Saturday

LESSON THREE- MAKING A BIOGRAPHY

17

Standard:

Social Studies Content Expectations

1 H2.0.3 Investigate a family history for at least two generations, identifying various
members and their connections in order to tell a narrative about family life.
1 H2.0.4 Retell in sequence important ideas and details from stories about families or
schools.
1 H2.0.5 Use historical records and artifacts (e.g., photos, diaries, oral histories, and
videos) to draw possible conclusions about family or school life in the past.
1 H2.0.6 Compare life today with life in the past using the criteria of family, school, jobs,
or communication
II

Objective/Benchmark:

Students will be able to draw conclusions about family and school life in the past in order to
compare it to life today.
Students will be able to complete an interview and record its results.
Students will recognize that oral stories are one way of passing on history.
Students will be able to recognize similarities and differences between themselves and their
classmates.
III

Anticipatory Set:

A selection of picture book biographies will be set up at the head of the classroom and
students will be invited to come up and read the books during free reading time.
To start the lesson the teacher will create a Know, What I Wonder, What I Learned chart on
the overhead. They will ask the class what they know about biographies and fill it in based on
what they say. The teacher will then ask what the students want to know about biographies
and write that as well.
IV

Input

The teacher will gather the students onto the reading rug and read the book The Watcher by
Jeannette Winter. Afterwards they will be asked what they learned about a biography from
listening to the story. Explain to the class that a biography is a true story of someone life.
They will then be asked how the author got the information needed to write this story. They
will be asked if they were going to write a biography where would they get their information.
Ask the class if they have any questions.
Explain to the class that one way to get information for biographies is to ask people about
their own experiences. Ask if anyone has ever heard a story from an adult in their life about
things when they were kids. Give an example from your life. For example, my grandpa
always told me he spent his summers at Burt Lake swimming. Ask two students to share
their examples.
Materials:
The Watcher by Jeanette Winter
18

Enough copies of the following worksheets for each student: Interviewing My Classmate,
Making a Biography, and Letter home to parents.
Overhead projector or smart board
Internet connection or downloaded copies of videos
Blank paper
Crayons, markers or colored pencils
Instructional methods: video, discussion, writing, drawing, demonstration, tape recording
V

Modeling:

Tell the students that they are going to be creating their own biographies of their
grandparents, other family members or friends of a different age then them. They are going to
do this by interviewing this person about certain topics. Explain they will be responsible for
asking questions and recording the answers.
Explain that you are going to do some examples together so they understand what you mean.
Play the following videos for them:
OlBill
Before playing this tell the students to focus on what the childrens grandmother did for fun
when she was a kid.
http://wgvu.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/vtl07.la.ws.process.olbill/ol-bill/
Afterwards give time for the students to discuss this video with their elbow partner. Ask them
what it was the childrens grandmother did for fun when she was a kid? Ask them how that is
different from what they do for fun? How is it similar? Do they have pets they play with?
Would they play with a goat?
Pushmobile
Before playing this video ask the kids to focus on what the grandfather made for a toy
http://wgvu.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/vtl07.la.rv.genre.pushmobile/pushmobile/
Afterwards give time for the students to discuss this video by talking with their elbow
partners then asking a few students to share. Ask them what the childrens grandfather made
for a toy? How is it like their toys? How is it different? Would they want to play with a push
mobile?
Ask the students what they want to know about their grandparents. Write their answers on the
overhead. Why do they want to know these things?
VI

Checking for Understanding:

The teacher will be able to check for understanding during the lesson and verify students
understand the concept of a biography by the discussion after the videos, observing them
during the guided practice of interviewing their classmates, by listening to their discussion of
the results of the interviews both with their classmates and friends and then by their final
drawing.

19

VII

Guided Practice:

Tell the class before they go home and try to interview someone there they are going to
practice in class. Provide each child with a copy of the Interviewing my Classmate
worksheet. Place the worksheet on the overhead projector and read through the questions as
a class before dividing the class into previously decided upon partners. Decide on the
partners ahead of time making sure to pair people who usually do not spend time together. If
there is an English Language Learner pair them with a student who either also speaks their
language or who is sensitive to their needs or will be patient. Give them five minutes for each
partner to ask the questions on the worksheet and record the answers. Allow the students to
distribute themselves around the classroom. Use an electronic timer on the overhead so the
students have an idea of how much time they have left.
Instruct the students to go back to their desk walking like the chimpanzees from the book
they read earlier. Ask the class to answer the following questions based on what they learned
about their partner, call on a few students for each answer:
Who thinks their partners has the family with the most amount of kids? The least?
Whose partner speaks something other than English in their home?
What are some favorite foods of their partners? Anyone else have that?
What are some partners favorite activities?
Was anyone good as the same thing as their partner?
Whose partner has a favorite song?
Did any of your partners answers surprise you?
Compare your answers to your partners?
VIII

Independent Practice:

Take a break to allow for the teacher to create the take home graphic organizer using the
questions provided by the students. Copy this worksheet for each student. Ask the students to
take it home and go over it with their grandparent or another adult to bring back to class on
Monday. Explain that they will need to meet with them or talk to them on the phone, ask their
questions and record the answers. Include a coversheet on the front of the worksheet for
parents to explain the project.
After giving the class a few nights to get this finished have the students take out their graphic
organizer and share what they learned with their elbow partner. Next distribute art supplies
and paper for each student to create a drawing of what they learned. When they make their
drawing they are going to fold their paper in half and draw their experiences on the left and
then their grandparents experiences on the right. They will write a brief explanation of the
differences and choose an appropriate title for their drawing.
While the students are drawing invite each student to come to the teachers desk to do an
audio recording of something they learned from their adult. Ask them to say their name, who
they interviewed and something they learned.
Post the audio clips online in the class blog. Put together all the drawings and worksheets
into a class book so all the students can read about each others interviews.

20

IX

Closure

Ask the class:

Tell me about your interviews.
How did you feel recording the story?
What are some of the differences you noticed between your grandparents stories of their
childhood and yours?
What things are the same between what your grandparents experienced and your
experiences?
What about what you learned about your classmates, what was the same between you both?
What was different?
Ask the students why we have had different experiences than our classmates? Why different
experiences then our grandparents?
Wrap up the class by explaining to the students that we are all people but we have unique
experiences because of who is around us like our family, where we live, for example a city or
the country and the time period we live in.
Ask if anyone else has something they would like to add.
X

Assessment/Reflection

This is one of the first lessons in this unit so the assessment will be formative. The teacher
will be able to look at the two worksheets the student fills out, their drawing and then listen
to their audio recording to ensure that they are able to compare their lives to those of others.

Interviewing My Classmate
21

Name: _______________________________
I interviewed ___________________________

Questions
How many kids are in your family?
______________________________________________________________
What language do you speak at home?
______________________________________________________________
What is your favorite thing to do?
______________________________________________________________
What is your favorite food?
______________________________________________________________
What is your favorite song?
______________________________________________________________
What are you good at doing?
______________________________________________________________

22

July 13, 2015

Dear Parents,
Right now in Social Studies we are learning about history. We are
learning that the history of our family is often passed down
through artifacts such as photos and letters or through stories
that our relatives tell us or write down.
Today in class we were practicing our interviewing skills. If you
could please help your student find someone to interview such as
a grandparent, aunt or uncle, or older neighbor and fill out this
attached form it would be helpful for our next lesson. Please have
it returned by Monday. Do not hesitate to give me a call if you
have any questions.
Thank you,
Mrs. Roberts

23

Making a Biography
Name: _________________________________
Name of person you interviewed:
_______________________________________
Question 1: What did you do for fun when you were
growing up?
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
___________________________________
Question 2: What was schoolQuestion
like?
3: How did you communicate with your
_____________________________________________________
friends?
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
24

_____________________________________
_____________________________________________________

LESSON FOUR- NAPER SETTLEMENT FIELD TRIP

I.

Standard
H2.0.6 Compare life today with life in the past using the criteria of family, school, jobs, or
communication.

II.

Objective/Benchmark:
Students will learn how to find and interpret differences and similarities between life today
and life in the past.
Students will develop some familiarity with the concept of the past and the present.
Students will learn how developments in technology have changed family life.

III.

Anticipatory Set:
Bring a butter churn into the classroom and leave it in the front of the classroom all day
without saying anything about it. Invite the students to come up to the front of the class to
explore it. Ask that anyone who knows what it is not tell their classmates. Have all the
students go to their desks and write on a small piece of paper what they think it is. Have them
crumple up that paper and throw it across the room. Have each student go pick up a piece of
paper that is not theirs and take turns reading them out loud.
Ask one of the students who knew it was a butter churn to explain to the class what it is and
what it is used for. Ask them how they knew this information.
Tell the class that they are going to go visit Naper Settlement where they will see other things
like the butter churn. Explain that Naper Settlement is a place where they recreated a frontier
outpost from the 1800s.

IV.

Input
Have the students create a list of all the things in their home that they cannot live without.
Ask them to think beyond toys and TVs but the actual parts of the house. For example,
electricity, bathroom, beds, water, computer. Let your students know that you can live
without these things and that people two centuries ago did. When visiting Naper Settlement
they will see how these people lived.
Instructional methods- discussion
Engagement strategies- bringing in historical artifacts, discussion, field trip
Materials- butter churn or other historical artifact
Preparation- arrange field trip to Naper Settlement

V.

Modeling:
Explain to the students to prepare for the field trip they are going to gather information about
what they currently experience at home, school and their family at work. On the overhead
projector place an example that was already completed by the teacher, see attached Teachers
Work, Home, School worksheet. Explain the different pictures and what they show.
25

VI.

Checking for Understanding:

The major checking for understanding will be completed after the students return from their
field trip and compare their experiences posters with the experiences they had at Naper
Settlement. It will be evident they understood if they can compare and contrast their
experiences during the field trip to their shared experiences.

VII.

Guided Practice:
Divide the class into three group. Provide each group a poster and paper. One group will be
assigned home life (including chores), another school life and another work life. Each student
will create a drawing to put on the group poster of their experiences or someone they knows
experiences. For example the work group will create drawings of what their parents or
someone they know does for work. If they cant think of that they can draw another kind of
job they know about. Give the students 10 minutes to draw and post their pictures to their
posters and then ask each group to share with the class.
Go on the field trip and participate in the School for Tools program.
After the field trip bring the students back together into their three groups. Give them another
piece of poster and ask them to create a poster describing their experiences at Naper
Settlement regarding the same topic they looked at before. Have each group present their
posters to the class. Ask each group what they remembered from the log house/school
house/print shop or blacksmith? How is it different from their house/school/work? Which
time period would they rather live in? Why?

VIII.

Independent Practice: NA

IX.

Closure
Ask the class why it is that we live so differently now? Were there specific people or events
that happened that changed the past? When would they rather live? Why?
Ask the children to take the Keepsake List worksheet and fill it out at home. They also can
bring in photographs they would like to put in their keepsake box. Include the Keepsake List
Parent letter when you send home the list. Invite them to bring in a keepsake to share in class.

X.

Assessment/Reflection
It will be clear if the objectives are met if the students are able to talks about the similarities
and differences in their home, school and work life during the final presentations.

26

Teachers Work, Home, and School

Work

Home

School

27

July 30, 2015

Dear Parents,
In class we have been learning about how our history is passed
down to us through things like stories, pictures and keepsakes.
To conclude our lesson each student is going to create their own
keepsake box with information they would like to pass down to
future generations. Please help your child complete the
Keepsake List by having them write down either a thing or story
they would like to pass down. If there is a keepsake or photo
they would like to bring in to share with their classmates it
would be wonderful. Please do not send something that is
irreplaceable or valuable. All items will be returned to the
students. Please send a shoe box or other cardboard box that is
extra that you have one available.
Thank you,
Mrs. Roberts

28

Name___________________________________

My Keepsakes
A story I would like to pass down is.
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________

An item I would like to pass down is.

_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________

LESSON FIVE- MEMORY BOX

29

I.

Standard

H2.0.5 Use historical records and artifacts (e.g. photos, diaries, oral histories, and videos) to
draw possible conclusions about family or school life in the past.
H2.0.6 Compare life today with life in the past using the criteria of family, school, jobs, or
communication.
II.

Objective/Benchmark:

Students will learn how to interpret primary sources.

Students will learn how to find and interpret differences and similarities between life today
and life in the past.
Students will learn how to describe their family, school and means of communication.
III.

Anticipatory Set:

Invite each student to get out their keepsake and place it on their desk. Have each child write
a line about their keepsake and include their name on the page. Have them keep this piece of
paper by their keepsake. Remind the students not to touch their classmates keepsakes but
just to look at them. Have the children walk around and look at each others keepsakes. After
everyone has walked around for five minutes have them sit down. Ask if anyone saw any
similarities between their keepsake and someone elses? Any differences? Are any keepsakes
like the ones we saw or read about?
IV.

Input

Instructional methods-discussion, lecture, hands on crafts

Engagement strategies- students move around the classroom, crafts
Materials- construction paper, stickers, markers, colored pencils, crayons, glue
V.

Modeling:

Bring out the big book Children Past and Present by Matthew Frank. Point out the title and
ask what comes to mind when they think about children long ago? Toys? Clothes? Games?
Schools? Record their answers on the left side of a Venn diagram. Ask the same question
about children today, fill in the right side of the Venn diagram. Let the class know you will
revisit the chart after reading. Ask what they see in the photograph on the cover? Ask what
the book appears to be about? Is it fiction or nonfiction? How do you know? Point out it is
non-fiction.
Point out the table of contents, captions, glossary, index and biography connection. Ask
students where they would find out what the word tool means? Where would they find out
where in the book they talk about clothes?
Bring the students to the Words to Think About page and review it with them.
Read the book and after finishing a set of pages model how we can add to the Venn diagram.
Allow students to contribute to or correct the diagram after each two pages. Remind them
you can also write similarities.
VI.

Checking for Understanding:

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The teacher will conduct a formative assessment by listening to the students contributions to
the Venn diagram. Questions such as the ones that follow will also be used:
What kinds of things have you learned from older family members?
What kinds of things would you like to teach your children one day?
What sorts of things are part of your familys heritage?
VII.

Guided Practice:

Explain to the class that they are now going to create their own keepsake boxes. Pull up an
overhead slide that has the following items listed on it: title, drawing, worksheets and story.
Explain to the class they are going to put the Documenting Your Day, Comparing the Past
and Present, Interviewing my Classmate and My Keepsake worksheets in their box. They are
also going to have to decorate their box and incorporate a title and their name into the
decoration. Provide the example that you are going to label your box Mrs. Roberts Memory
Box. Ask for some ideas for title of their boxes. Let them know the last part of their box is
going to be a drawing of a memory of theirs. They can draw something about home, school,
things they did outside, trips they have done or anything else. They also need to provide a
title for this piece. Show the example box that you created a head of time. They will have
thirty minutes to do this exercise. Have an electronic timer on the board. Provide the children
with art supplies. Explain that if their box has writing on it they can cut out construction
paper to go over it and decorate the construction paper.
VIII. Independent Practice: NA
IX.

Closure

Ask the students what they learned about passing on history? Ask what they still want to
know? Ask what they know about looking at old photographs? Ask each student to write on a
piece of paper one way they can pass on history as an exit ticket.
X.

Assessment/Reflection
Looking at their exit tickets the teacher will be able to see if the student can identify one way
to pass on history. The memory box is another way to see if they understand the concept of
the past or memories.

References
Banks, J., Boehm, R., Colleary, K., Contreras, G., Goodwin, A., McFarland, M., & Parker, W.
(2003). People and places. New York: Macmillian/McGraw-Hill.
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Barabas, K. & Hughan, C. (2003). Passing it on teachers resource book. Marlborough, MA:
Sundance/Newbridge, LLC.
Czajka, C., Goldberg, S., Rubin, J. & Thorpe, R (Project Management). (2009). Yamaguchi
photos (Filmed interview). (Available from PBS Faces of America)
Czajka, C., Goldberg, S., Rubin, J. & Thorpe, R (Project Management). (2010). Ma family
history (Filmed interview). (Available from PBS Faces of America)
Goldberg, S. (Project Director). (2006). Donkeys into Racehorses (Television series episode). In
P. Parthenon Entertainment Limited (Producer), Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley
Winks. Woodland Hills, CA: Entara Limited.
Goldberg, S. (Project Director). (2006). Good Neighbor (Television series episode). In P.
Parthenon Entertainment Limited (Producer), Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks.
Woodland Hills, CA: Entara Limited.
Frank, Matthew. (2000). Children Past and Present. Pelham, NY: Benchmark Educational
Company.
Prescott, J. (2003). Passing it on. Marlborough, MA: Sundance Publishers.
Vital New York. Past through Pictures Game. Retrieved from
http://wgvu.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/foa10.soc.k-6.histus.lpexplorpast/exploringthe-past/
Winter, J. (2011). The watcher: Jane Goodalls life with the chimps. New York, NY: Swartz &
Wade Publishing.

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