Brief Summary of a lesson using our classroom texts and incorporating some of the things we did with the Museums at the Crossroads collections from last year. Our names: School: Booth Central in Wilmington, Illinois Grade Levels: Fourth and Fifth Our Museum title last year was Turn of the Century Living in Illinois. We are continuing with that, but we have adapted things to fit our curriculum. Our lesson is on Village Life in Rural Northeastern states. In fourth grade, one specific area we discuss is Old Sturbridge Village (which is introduced in our textbook). We read and discussed our selection in the book , then we discussed what types of clothing, furnishings, tools, and toys were used during that time period and how they have changed with the times. We observed and compared these changes. We then (right from our own classroom) went on the Internet to the Old Sturbridge Village site and actually took a virtual tour of this village. It is the largest history museum in the Northeast. The museum re-creates the daily work activities and community celebrations of a rural 19th century town. The students can actually see the past ---ex. a blacksmith hammering links in a chain, a farmer yoking oxen, etc. As we went through this site we watched how things have changed to our present time. After that tour, we also did the virtual tour of the Betsy Ross home. They were two wonderful sites. Then our fifth graders, who were involved as fourth graders last year with our Museum grant, came in and introduced and explained the pictures they had taken from the Early American Museum .We also had them show the panoramic views, pictures, and actual rooms they had taken when we visited the Wilbur Mansion, to the class. We then compared this to what we had seen on our virtual tours. Some of the students have also visited our local antique shops and added information from what they had seen there. The fourth graders were then encouraged to search at home and bring in and share any artifacts or pictures of artifacts that they had found at home that were similar to what we had been studying. The fourth graders then made little books depicting three artifacts they had enjoyed learning about and compare it to the present time. They drew or colored or cut pictures from magazines to show old vs. new. (Some of the examples used were irons, baby walkers, dolls, and saws.) Fourth graders then shared their little books with the Fifth graders who will be studying colonization of America. To begin their Fifth grade unit the Fifth graders who were involved last year with the Museums, showed their panoramic views of the Wilber Mansion and their pictures taken from the Early American Museum to their classmates. Internet sources we used were: Old Sturbridge Village- http://www.osv.org/ Betsy Ross Homepage- Take a virtual tour of Betsy's house at http://www.libertynet.org/iha/betsy/index.html We also used pictures from the Early American Trades coloring book by Peter F. Copeland; Dover Publications, Inc. New York 1980 This was a great learning experience. |