FAMILIES:  PAST AND PRESENT

            This fascinating kit was created to introduce second grade students to some of the different ways people lived in the past.  Students can play with simple toys as their ancestors might have done.  They can practice hooking buttons and view an actual antique button shoe. Students are encouraged to compare past and present photographs, three-dimensional objects and pages from a 1902 Sears Catalog to evaluate how life in the past has influenced present and future generations.

            Dorothy Hutchens of the Fontana Unified School District has created thorough lesson plans for eight separate activities.  Each lesson includes the goals and objectives and standards pertinent to the activity.  A detailed list of referenced California State Standards associated with this two-week course is included, containing both the History-Social Science framework and the English-Language Arts Content Standards.

            The kit also includes black-line masters, transparencies, wall-sized wilderness maps, slates and slate pencils, cup & ball toys, tops, buttonhooks, ankle bands, authentic child’s shoe of late 1800s, gloves, and copies of several Laura Ingalls Wilder episode books.  Home participation is encouraged through an interview lesson.

LEARNING STYLES ADDRESSED IN FAMILIES:  PAST & PRESENT INCLUDE:

Visual-spatial – The kit contains many visual features including facet images (photographs and photocopies). The Wilder books are heavily illustrated.
Verbal-linguistic – Shared orally or in written format, background information provides much detail.  Students learn when interviewing family members. 
Physical-kinesthetic – Handling the representative toys will allow students to correlate written history with kinesthetic learning.
Logical-mathematical – These students will enjoy the 100 year price comparisons.
Auditory-musical – The original Wilder books have lyrics for songs Pa Ingalls played on his fiddle.  Perhaps these can be obtained from an outside source.
Interpersonal – Students will share interview highlights.  Some may have history-based dolls, books or other items to share.  The American Girl® series is appropriate.
Solitary-intrapersonal – The intrapersonal learner can gain knowledge through self-study; reading the included books, working alone with samples, etc.

STANDARDS-BASED ANALYSIS SKILLS accessible in this kit
Historical and Social Sciences
Chronological and Spatial Thinking – placement of key events and people in chronological sequence and interpretation time lines; time-oriented terms applied correctly; connection of present with past; map skills including absolute and relative locations
Research, Evidence and Point of View – differentiation between primary and secondary sources, relevant questioning of sourced events; distinguish fact from fiction by comparison of sources
Historical Interpretation – summarization of key events of an era, identification of human and physical characteristics of places; cause and effects of historical events; cost-benefit analyses of historical and current events

CALIFORNIA CONTENT STANDARDS covered by this kit