Children’s Lives 180 Years Ago

This lesson plan is designed for students in 2nd and 3rd grades; however, with modifications by the teacher, it can be used for lower & higher grades. Students will view an introductory video that introduces the term “artifact” & gives several examples. They will then study pictures individually or in groups and answer questions about particular artifacts. After viewing an additional video on the graveyard, students will compose a short explanatory essay on which artifact they think is the most important in their lives today, using examples from the videos and pictures to support their thesis.

Extensions:

  1. The teacher may have the students focus on one invention that they believe is the most significant & write a position piece on why they believe that invention brought about the most change.
  2. Following the writing of the essay, students can debate the importance of a particular invention to their lives.
  3. Students can divide the artifact pictures among themselves and do deeper research on one artifact: what ordinary lives were like with it, what invention and inventor made it no longer useful, and how ordinary lives were affected.
  4. At the end of the videos and activities, students write several journal entries as a child living in 1842, using the artifacts in their writing.
  5. While the videos in this lesson plan will be useful for Kindergarten and First Grade students, they may require more instruction and follow-up discussion. The artifacts activity could also be accomplished as an oral activity rather than a written one.           

Standards:
1.H.CH.1    Describe how innovations of the past affect our present lives, community & state
C.2.2           Compose explanatory text to establish a topic and provide information on a topic
3.H.CH.2    Identify contributions made by inventors in diverse world communities
Tech 1.16   Students use computers and other kinds of technology to collect, organize, and communicate information and ideas

Outcomes:  

  1. Students will utilize the internet or other research tools to find relevant information on inventions.
  2. Students will imagine the effect various inventions have on everyday life for children.
  3. Students will create a written explanatory text on how their lives are different from the lives of children in the 1840s, using supporting information they have collected from the videos and research contained in the lesson.

Activities:

  1. To introduce the meaning of artifact, have the students watch the 7-minute introductory video. In it they will see three examples of an artifact & have them explained. After watching the video, ask them to define the word artifact and see if they can think of examples not mentioned in the video. This discussion should also mention inventions as the reason we do not use artifacts anymore.
2.  Have children, individually or in groups, work on the “Artifacts” sheet. They will see four artifacts and use research tools available to discover what we have replaced the artifacts with (inventions), who the inventor was & how the inventions have changed our lives. They will be asked to imagine what life was like before the invention.
Artifacts Sheet

3. Students will watch the video of the graveyard tour (about 9 minutes), followed by a short discussion of how life and death were different from life today and how that might have affected children and adults living in the 1800s

4. Wrap-up. Discuss with students the various inventions they have looked at and discussed. Have students write an explanatory mini-essay stating what they believe has been the most important change between their lives today & the lives of children 180 years ago, supporting their answer with concrete reasons.

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