EDEL453 Spring2014 JanisGommeCampbell Unit Plan Thursday

Unit Plan: 4How Have We Changed Over Time?

Lesson Plan for ThursdayGrade: 4thSocial Studies Strand: History

Submitted By: Janis Gomme-Campbell

EDEL 453: Teaching Elementary School Social ScienceNevada State College – Spring 2014Instructor: Karen Powell

B. Summary of the Lesson Plan :

Lesson Plan for Thursday Strand: History submitted by: Janis Gomme-Campbell

SW understand what life was like for a child in the late 1880s and early 1900s. Class will discuss how life has changed for children since the turn of the century.

C. Basic Information: Grade Level: 4th grade Time to Complete this Lesson: 50 min Groupings: individual, small groups.

D. Materials: Video: "Life as a Child in the 18th Century", http://youtu.be/gVxad8R4Nig (Running Time: 5:31 min) Pioneer clothing (most brought by students) Compare & contrast Venn diagram worksheet. One large button Pioneer iron grist mill

E. Objectives: o NV State Social Studies Standards

H3.4.1 Compare and contrast the daily lives of children with children in Nevada's past.o Student-Friendly Standards

H3.4.1 I can compare and contrast the daily lives of children with children in Nevada's past.

F. Vocabulary churn- a vessel in which milk or cream is stirred to make butter. whittle- to cut up or shape a piece of wood with a small knife smokehouse - a small building that is used for smoking, drying and preserving meat.

G. Procedure: 1. SW have brought pioneer clothing items to wear for the day. 2. SW watch video: "Life as a Child in the 18th Century" http://youtu.be/gVxad8R4Nig (Running Time: 5:31 min).3. TW read-a-loud to the class: "The Good Old Days" story. (20 min)4. TW divide class into four groups. SW sit in a circle and play a pioneer game called: "Who's got the Button." One

student will have a button in their hand and will put their hands behind their backs. All the other children will do the same. A student is chosen to begin- they will ask questions to try to figure out who has the button. (20 min) TW explain how children in the pioneer days didn't have many materials to be able to play games as we do today.

5. SW complete compare / contrast worksheet (see attachment) Instruct students to think about the difference between pioneer children and themselves in today's world. Have them write what is the same and what is different in the circles provided.

H. Assessment: What will you use to measure student understanding? I will ask questions of the group as an informal assessment. Explain how you will know students understand the concepts from the lesson.

Nevada State College EDEL 453 - Spring 2014 Karen Powell- Instructor page 2

http://youtu.be/gVxad8R4Nig



I will know students understand the concept by evaluating their Venn diagrams and the closure writing prompt.

I. Closure: TW write on the white-board: "Would you want to live in the pioneer days? Why or why not?" SW write a paragraph no less than 6 sentences.



THE GOOD OLD DAYS“The good old days.” How many times we hear the expression. To different people it means many

different things.

How many would like to really go back to the days of their grandparents and great-grandparents? These are generally the days referred to.

In the “good old days” there were no bathrooms as most homes know today. A walk of several feet to the "out-house" was generally was necessary before nature’s demands could be answered. Little folks required company and this wasn’t always at a convenient time. "Why does the author

say that it's not always a convenient time?" A Montgomery Ward Catalogue or one of Sears Roebuck’s was the customary toilet paper. Some of the older generations used corn cobs. How about that for the “good old days?”

A Saturday night bath was an event. If the family was large the “wash-boiler” was placed on the kitchen range and filled with water as there was no hot water tank ready and no stationary bath tub so the wash tub was brought into the kitchen and the family was banished while each one in turn took his or her bath. Father rose from his warm feather bed to start the fire, fill the wash boiler, bring in the tubs, rub-board, and pound barrel, so that mother could be the first woman in the neighborhood to have her wash on the clothes-line?

No automatic washers and electric irons in those days. No matter what the temperature a fire had to be kept burning to heat the flatirons and no TV to watch while ironing or radio to listen to. (Show

what an iron looked like in those days)

In those good old days candles had to be hand dipped from suet or mutton tallow and each inch was precious. When oil lamps became common it was one of the morning duties to wash the chimneys and fill the lamps.

So much of the family’s clothing was hand sewed and when one sees some of the clothing that has been kept (like baby dresses) it is a marvel of little stitches and one wonders how it could be done with only the light from a candle or kerosene lamp. Few women thought they could take time to sew during the daylight hours. "Why didn't they sew during the day?"


http://www.kellscraft.com/Wells1/TimesHaveChanged.html



Every little girl was taught to sew and her first lessons after learning to thread a needle and tie a knot were how to sew quilt blocks and no girl could marry until she had pieced at least one quilt. How proud was a new bride if she could make up their first bed with her own hand woven sheets and pillow cases and a quilt of her own making. There were no bridal showers in those days. Nearly every girl had her “hope chest.” "What do you think a hope-chest is?"

In those “good old days” one had to plan time and work if one wanted to leave home for any length of time as it took hours to “go to the store.” One couldn’t go to the garage and start the car, then do their shopping and be back home in an hour. The horse had to be harnessed, hitched to the wagon, and even if the store was only a mile away, it took considerable time to travel that distance.

And no refrigerator! Our early people had a “springhouse” if they were lucky, and the cellar was always the coolest place in the house, but that meant many trips down stairs and back up which wasn’t always easy, especially when the housewife was elderly and suffering from “rhumatiz.” "What

do you suppose "rhumatiz" is? (arthritis)

Most of the homes had a “safe” in the cellar for storing foods. This was a kind of cupboard with shelves and the door was of screen so the air could enter.

Later on ice boxes came into use and nearly everyone had an ice house in which ice was stored covered with sawdust. Those who didn’t store their own ice could buy it from the “ice man” for a cent or two a pound and he would put it into the ice box as an accommodation.

In those good old days there were no detergents for washing dishes and clothes. A can of soft soap sat in an old saucer in the sink, handy for such needs.

Can you imagine a five year old girl or boy who had never eaten an orange? My first orange was at a Sunday School picnic and the next was from the Christmas tree in the church when I was five years old. I was quite grown up when I saw oranges and bananas in a grocery store.

Peddlers were frequent visitors and were always welcomed as they not only brought many necessities, tin ware, dry goods, and fresh meat, but the community news. My mother used to buy an ox heart from the meat peddler for ten cents and he always had some liver or a kidney for the cat and



a bone for the dog. These cost money at the shopping centers today. All liver was generally given away as it wasn’t considered of any value except for the pet cat or dog.

Who remembers salt salmon and cod fish? Pink canned salmon was called “cat” salmon as it was a favorite cat food and not considered fit for the family. And salt cod fish could be purchased for four cents a pound. It didn’t have an appetizing smell but freshened and added to good milk gravy it tasted delicious, especially on baked potatoes.

There was a grist mill near my home where buckwheat could be ground into flour and also corn made into corn meal.

Who of this present generation has slept on feather beds or a husk or straw tick? Autumn was the time for renewal of the husks and straw and how good they smelled as one snuggled down into them under one of grandmother’s quilts.

How proud mother was when the old cord bed stead was taken down and the new bed with slats and coiled springs was installed with its fresh filled tick. At corn-husking time mother selected the cleanest and whitest husks from the stalks after father had finished husking. It was some years later when flat springs and hair mattresses came into the homes. Then the feather beds were made into pillows.

It was some art each morning to smooth out the humps and hollows in both the under tick and the feather bed to make a nice looking bed.

“Have some ice cream.” How often we hear that phrase today but never in the “good old days.” Ice cream was a real treat in those days. One couldn’t go into a shopping center and get a quart of it to take home on the spur of the moment. It meant planning and work. First one had to assemble the ingredients and then the “freezer” had to be brought from storage and washed. Then the ice was brought from the ice house, washed and chipped and mixed with coarse salt and packed around the can of cream (a rich custard made with eggs, rich milk, and sugar) and the crank adjusted. The one who turned the crank was generally rewarded by being allowed to “lick the paddles” when they were removed from the freezer.



One of the first ice creams was made by stirring coarse snow into flavored whipped cream. Of course this ice cream could be had only in the winter time.

In those “good old days” there were no TV’s, no radios, no over stuffed furniture, no vacuum cleaners, no cars and buses, no telephones, and many other things that are considered necessities today.

Did you ever “go to the well for a pail of water?” In the days of yore that was the one necessary chore of whoever went to the water pail and found it empty. In the winter time one needed to don all outside wraps even mittens and overshoes as the well was usually some distance from the house so as to be convenient to the barn as well.

Before pumps were invented, the pail was let down into the well on a rope and drawn up, hand over hand, or sometimes the rope was wound around a roller by a hand crank. In either case the pail had to be lifted over a curb. It was no chore for a child.

The usual fuel was wood and as soon as a child was four or five years old he was expected to keep the wood box filled. As there were no electric or gas ranges all cooking was done on a wood burning stove.

Cutting wood, and preparing it for the stove was the man’s winter job. A woodshed filled with ranks of firewood was the mark of a provident home owner and generally indicated a happy home.

In those good old days we didn’t have rural delivery of mail. There were no mail boxes along the roadsides.

Even when one lived in a village the mail came to the post office once a day, seldom more than twice a day.

Farmers generally got their mail once a week when they “went to the store.” There was one good thing about it though – we could send a letter anywhere in the United States for two cents and a postal card for one.

Sanitation didn’t trouble the teacher or the pupils. “Passing the water” was a privilege. The water was brought in a pail from the nearest farm, home or brook by two boys or two girls. A tin dipper was Nevada State College EDEL 453 - Spring 2014 Karen Powell- Instructor page 7


the only drinking vessel and was passed around, each drinking in turn until it was empty. Then a refill and another start.

When one reads about the teachers striking for higher pay and remembers back when a teacher taught for less than five dollars a week and “boarded around,” one wonders. Of course the requirements were not so high but in many districts the teacher was expected to teach everything from the beginners ABC’s to Latin and Algebra to the “big boys.” Discipline was one of the things most insisted upon so only men teachers were hired for the winter term when the “big boys” attended and often gave the teacher a hard time.

FAMILY ENJOYMENTS

A straw ride was lots of fun. The farm team was hitched to the heavy sleighs, the box filled with straw, bells fastened to the harness, and everything was ready for the young people of the neighborhood to enjoy the pleasure that only such an evening could give.



The young people settled into the deep straw, adjusted the buffalo robes, and they were off – usually singing some popular song, exchanging jokes. The destination might be miles away or just to some nearby farm where they would spend a few pleasant hours dancing, playing games, or just talking.

BEDS

Did you ever hear someone say, “As she made her bed she has to lie in it?”

The first beds usually were what our grandmothers called a “shake down” – just something thrown down on the floor with a fur or blanket for cover.

“Bunks” built against the wall with tree branches or grass across the bottom poles or boards came next and when harvest time came, the straw from the fields replaced the branches which by that time had lost what little spring they had before. Soon someone discovered that a “bag or tick” of cloth would keep the straw from scattering and would make a softer bed.

Soon after this “feather beds” came into use and were placed on top of the straw ticks. It was no easy job to “make a bed” each morning in those days. If it were just the straw tick one could level off the humps and hollows. It was a little harder to smooth a feather bed.

Most girls took pride in a nice smooth-looking bed, and always tried to own a “feather bed” before she married so as to have one in her dowry.

Rope or cord beds came next as the cord lacings were more yielding than the “slats” and made a softer bed if there were no feather bed.

Then came the “coiled springs” which brought back the slat bed steads. By now some thrifty housewife had found that “corn husks” made a better filling for the ticks than straw as they were less apt to fall to the floor while being stirred and leveled in “making the bed” each morning.

With the invention of “woven springs” came mattresses, “horsehair” and excelsior which were a long way from the mattresses and inner springs of today.



I must not forget the “trundle bed.” This was a smaller, lower bed that could be pushed under the larger “cord bed” during the day time and pulled out at night for the smaller children. It was what we would call a “crib” though it had no side rails. If a little one “fell out of bed” he didn’t have far to fall as the bed was only six or eight inches from the floor.

Some of the old high poster beds were so high that they needed a set of steps so that one could literally “climb” into bed, especially if they had a husk tick and a goose feather bed on top of the tick. These high poster beds often had canopies and side curtains.



Unit Plan 4: Reflection Page

1. Where did you get the ideas and materials for this unit plan? Include website names, URLs, book titles and authors.

Video: "Life as a Child in the 18th Century" http://youtu.be/gVxad8R4Nig (Running Time: 5:31 min)

Venn diagram worksheet: http://www.classtools.net/education-games-php/venn_intro

Story about How Times Have Changed: http://www.kellscraft.com/Wells1/TimesHaveChanged.html

2. What were the easiest and most challenging parts of writing this unit plan?I enjoyed this particular unit plan because I love to see the looks on the faces of the students as they try to imagine all the work that went into everyday life back in the "Old Days." I think reading-a-loud would be the easiest part of the plan because I love to read to kids and still read to my 9-year-olds before bed.The challenging part might be trying to explain how a certain tool worked in the old days. It's difficult to explain how a grist mill works unless you have one to show them.





3. What suggestions do you have for yourself for the next time you write unit plans?

Just that some of the videos and reading material I am sure to put under my "favorites" on the computer.


Documents

EDEL453 Spring2014 JanisGommeCampbell Unit Plan Thursday