Elementary School – Everyday Americans, Exceptional Americans

The Buffalo Hunt

bhurwit3 — Mon, 18 Nov 2013 23:01:06 +0000

The topic of this lesson is the Buffalo Hunt. The students will be investigating the importance of the buffalo in the Midwest to the Native American tribe. They will also be looking at the decline of buffalo due to buffalo hunting and how the white man pushed Native Americans westward due to the high value of the buffaloes. This lesson fits into our content because the students are currently learning about the Midwest region. We have previously learned about how the Native Americans were pushed westward from the Southeastern region because of the white man taking over the land because of its rich, fertile soil which they used for farming.

Bridging the Mississippi

bhurwit3 — Thu, 14 Nov 2013 16:55:30 +0000

In this lesson, students will investigate the need for development of railroad transportation across the Mississippi River to facilitate westward expansion. It will conclude with the construction of Eads Bridge at St. Louis Missouri. The students will analyze the importance of rivers (specifically the Mississippi) when it comes to transportation and trade. They will also describe the drawbacks rivers created for westward expansion.

The Virginia Declaration of Rights

bhurwit3 — Wed, 09 Oct 2013 19:06:47 +0000

Students will analyze George Mason’s Virginia Declaration of Rights and compare it to the United States Bill of Rights. Students will discover that many rights in George Mason’s documents are also included in the Bill of Rights.…

Road Building and the Growth of Cities

bhurwit3 — Wed, 09 Oct 2013 17:54:58 +0000

Students will analyze four different photographs to understand what road conditions were like in the early parts of the 20th century. They will discuss the difficulties of travel and why these difficulties might have prompted the building of better roads. I will guide the discussion to help the students figure out how improving road conditions affected the growth of cities.

The Perfect Storm

Jessica Kilday — Wed, 28 Aug 2013 17:04:39 +0000

The topic of the lesson is the Dust Bowl and what caused the devastation to the southern Great Plains. Students will use prior knowledge of the Middle West region, science, math (data analysis) and reading skills to try to figure out the causes of the Dust Bowl. This lesson is being used to bridge the gap between our study of the Middle West region and the Southwest region. Major themes include agriculture and the effects of drought and over farming.

The Dust Bowl

Jessica Kilday — Wed, 28 Aug 2013 15:30:11 +0000

The students will learn about the Dust Bowl, which took place in the 1930’s in parts of the Midwest and Southwest. As we are finishing the LCPS unit on the Midwest, this lesson fits into this unit. The students will consider the location, the natural fertile soil, over farming practices, economics, and the Dust Bowl itself. In a previous lesson, they learned how farming practices changed over the centuries. This will help them see that change is not always for the best. They will also learn that despite the Dust Bowl, this region is once again the Bread Basket of America.

Effects of Segregation and “Jim Crow” laws on life in Virginia for African Americans

Jessica Kilday — Tue, 27 Aug 2013 17:06:15 +0000

After a brief introduction and/or review of the Reconstruction time period, students will be given copies of photographs, drawings or political cartoons from the period of Jim Crow laws. The students will investigate how the photographs and drawings provide evidence that the Jim Crow laws had a negative effect on African Americans in the post-Civil War south. This lesson will be a part of our next unit on Reconstruction.

Comparing and Contrasting Soviet and American Space Craft

Jessica Kilday — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 19:44:02 +0000

Students will identify similarities and differences between the Soviet and American spacecraft and discover why the designs impacted the success of the United States in landing a human on the moon. Students will analyze photos of Soviet and American spacecraft and complete a “What do you notice? What do you know? And What questions do you have” graphic organizer on both spacecraft photos. Students will work with a partner and share their observations with the whole class. The lesson’s discussion would hinge on a group activity using a Venn Diagram and index cards as the students make observations about what the spacecraft’s similarities and differences were. The final assessment piece would be that the students would design a newspaper article or cartoon and have the option to either 1) draw and label (cartoon) or 2) write a few sentences about (newspaper article) the Soviet and American spacecraft and include in the drawing or paragraph at least 3 differences.

Founding Documents

Jessica Kilday — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 15:37:26 +0000

The students will compare and contrast George Mason’s Virginia Declaration of Rights and Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence and recognize the purpose of each document, the author of each document, the date of each document, and how the two documents are related.

Reward: Valuable Slaves

Jessica Kilday — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 14:44:25 +0000

In this lesson students will examine run-away slave advertisements and slave auction broadsides to get an understanding of how enslaved African Americans were viewed during the time of slavery. Students will be put in small groups and using the documents will answer primary source activities. Each group will present and discuss their documents with the whole class. Then students will write “I Am” poems from the perspective of the slaves in their document.