Children: Past and Present  The purpose of this lesson is to compare the lives of children today to the lives of children of a different time period.

The Little House  Students will actively listen to the story, The Little House, and determine the sequence of events.  this lesson will be used to help students differentiate between natural changes and man-made changes in environments over time...

Cultural Changes  The purpose of this lesson is to develop an understanding that cultural changes have an impact on communities.

Changes - Now and Long Ago
In this unit students compare and contrast everyday life in different times and places around the world and recognize that some aspects of people, places, and things change over time and others stay the same.

Then and Now: Life in Early America, 1740 - 1840
Using archival materials, re-creations, and classroom activities, students will explore which aspects of everyday life have changed and which have stayed the same in the last 200 years.

Geography Skills and Your Town
Students will focus on the five themes of geography by creating books, Web sites, or multimedia presentations showcasing the unique features of their town.

Transportation in Everyday Life
The student will learn the importance of transportation in everyday life by discussion and by building a mobile.  (Adaptable for K-1, written for 2-3)

Neighborhood Services
Students will acquire data from primary and secondary sources related to the location of community services, identify common and different factors present in the location of each service, and make generalizations about the locations of community services.

Communities of the Past
Students will enhance listening skills during a read-a-loud, enhance writing skills by completing two journal entries in unit journal and a community questionnaire handout, participate in a class discussion about how communities have changed using a relative literature source and unit journal, and enhance cooperative learning and research skills by working with a partner to complete community questionnaire.

Going to Town
Students will compare a trip to the store with a trip they might make with their family and decide how life has changed and how it has stayed the same in the last 150 years.

Cultural Symbols and the Characteristics of Place
Students will prepare an oral presentation to describe the changes in a neighborhood over a period of years.

Children of the Western Frontier
Students will be able to recognize some of the lifestyles of the pioneer children who settled in the west, understand some of the hardships of living in the new frontier, describe some of the major differences between the life of a pioneer and their own.

Story Quilts  The purpose of this lesson is to help students understand that in the past a quilt was sometimes used as a diary to record important events in a person's life.

Now and Then and Back Again: A Study of Transportation  By using a slideshow presentation and a Conestoga wagon project, students will experience different ways people have conquered the human and social need for transportation in America.  Students will begin by studying ancient and Native American cultures and progress to the pioneers' use of land vehicles for exportation of goods...

Everybody Needs Clothing:  Learn about the materials that make clothing, how cloth was made in the past with a spinning wheel and loom, and how it is made today in automated cloth mills.  Short video from United Streaming.

Understanding Good Citizenship:  Explore the responsibilities of citizens in a democracy and the factors to consider in selecting leaders.  Suggested for use to support standard 1.5 (primary documents past and present).  Short video from United Streaming.

Suggestions for English Language Learners: 
(E/B=Entering/Beginning, D=Developing, E=Expanding)

(E/B) Students point and label forms of transportation.
(E/B) Students build models of forms of transportation using disposable materials.
(E/B) Students build a model of two forms of transportation - one from the past and one from the present.
(D) Students compare forms of transportation from the past and the present using a Venn diagram.
(E) Students write descriptions of transportation needs that match different forms of transportation on a chart.
(E) Students devise and complete a survey about transportation.
(E/B, D, E) Students compare and contrast communities, transportation and schools, now and long ago.

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