Grades 1 and 2: What’s For Dinner?
program Overview
What did it take to put a meal on the table 100 years ago? What did families eat? Where did their food come from, and how did they prepare it? In this 45-minute program for grades 1 and 2, students will learn about the farms, general stores, and kitchens of the past. Students will have the opportunity to explore photos and artifacts and participate in hands-on sensory activities including churning and tasting butter, shopping in a general store, and investigating antique kitchen gadgets. This program is part of the Scott County Historical Society’s “Collections in the Classroom” initiative, which uses museum artifacts to teach students about local history. This program also meets Minnesota state academic standards and benchmarks in social studies, English language arts, mathematics, and science.
Audience
This program is for 1st and 2nd grade students. It can also be presented in community settings to children in the 1st and 2nd grade age range.
Program Format
This program is available in two formats: as an in-classroom outreach program taught by a SCHS educator or as a trunk program for teachers to use independently. Teachers may select the format that best meets their needs. The program is 45 minutes long. It includes pre- and post-visit activities that align with Minnesota state academic standards.
program goals
To help students recognize that where we get our food and how we prepare it has changed over time.
To help students gain knowledge about the farms and general stores that existed in Scott County 100 years ago.
To give students the opportunity to connect with history in a fun, hands-on manner and to make history relevant to students by exploring it through the lens of something familiar (food).
To support teachers and to help the Scott County Historical Society further its mission to share Scott County history.
additional information
If an SCHS educator is coming into the classroom, please provide your students with nametags and please ensure that there is a flat surface that the educator can use to display artifacts. Additionally, this program involves three hands-on activity centers that students will rotate through. Please arrange space for the activity centers prior to the program. Note: one activity center involves churning butter and tasting butter on a gluten- free cracker. Please inform the educator if you would prefer not to have students eat the butter and crackers. The SCHS educator will need a few minutes before and after the program for set-up and clean-up.
If possible, teacher should arrange to have a parent volunteer or additional adult in the classroom during this program to help facilitate activity centers.
Minnesota State Academic Standards and Benchmarks
This program (including pre- and post-visit activities) meets the following Minnesota state academic standards and benchmarks.
1st Grade: Social Studies
1.2.3.3.1: Define scarcity as not having enough of something to satisfy everyone’s wants.
1.4.1.2.1: Ask basic historical questions about a past event in one’s family, school, or local community.
1.4.1.2.2: Describe how people lived in the past, based on information found in historical records and artifacts.
1.4.2.4.1: Compare and contrast family life from earlier times and today.
1st Grade: english language arts
1.1.1.1: Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
1.6.3.3: Write narratives and other creative texts in which they recount two or more appropriately sequenced events, include some details regarding what happened, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide some sense of closure.
1st Grade: Mathematics
1.3.2.3: Identify pennies, nickels and dimes; find the value of a group of these coins, up to one dollar.
1st Grade: Science
1.1.3.2.1: Recognize that tools are used by people to gather information and solve problems.
2nd Grade: Social Studies
2.4.1.2.1: Use historical records and artifacts to describe how people’s lives have changed over time.
2.4.2.4.2: Describe how the culture of a community reflects the history, daily life, or beliefs of its people.
2nd Grade: english language arts
2.1.1.1: Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.
2.6.3.3: Write narratives and other creative texts in which they recount a well- elaborated event or sequence of events, include details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide a sense of closure.
2nd Grade: mathematics
2.1.2.5: Solve real-world and mathematical addition and subtraction problems involving whole numbers with up to 2 digits.
2.3.3.2: Identify pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. Find the value of a group of coins and determine combinations of coins that equal a given amount.
2nd Grade: science
2.1.2.2.3: Explain how engineered or designed items from everyday life benefit people.
2.2.1.1.1: Describe objects in terms of color, size, shape, weight, texture, flexibility, strength and the types of materials in the object.
“What’s For Dinner?” overview
Objective
Students will be able to identify where families got their food from 100 years ago and draw comparisons to today. Specifically, students will be able to describe food found in a general store and food produced on a farm. Students will be able to identify gadgets and appliances found in kitchens 100 years ago (such as iceboxes and wood cook stoves).
Assessment
Students will demonstrate their understanding of general stores, farms, and kitchens of the past by answering discussion questions posed by the SCHS educator or teacher, successfully participating in activities, and completing activity sheets. *Note: Teachers will be asked to complete a post-survey to help assess this program.
Program Set Up
Set aside photos and presentation artifacts. Set up centers with materials not used in presentation (for the materials that are used in both the presentation and at the centers, it works best to place those materials at the centers as you are explaining the centers to the students). For larger classes (26-30 students), it is helpful to add additional center space (i.e. divide the kitchen gadgets in half and create two kitchen gadget centers—students will still visit this center only once, but there will be less crowding. Can do the same with the general store). The butter churning center can be in the same spot as the presentation (since the SCHS educator will need to facilitate that station).
Materials included in trunk
Presentation Materials
Program script
Teacher surveys and manila envelope
Enlarged photographs of Scott County farms and general stores; Stans house kitchen; historical kitchens; butter churn; meal (carrots, bread, chicken)
General store foods (coffee, spices, flour, etc.)
Scale
Canned foods (can use canned food props from Stans house)
Glass butter churn (can also bring plunger-type churn to show students)
Kitchen Tools Activity Center Materials
10-12 kitchen gadgets (can use props from Stans house)
Basket to put gadgets in
Pencils
Kitchen tools worksheet
Laminated photographs of historical kitchens/gadgets in use
1-2 children’s books about cooking 100 years ago
Butter Churning Activity Center Materials
Glass butter churn (can also bring plunger-type churn to show students)
Cream
Gluten-free crackers
Plastic knives
Napkins
Spices/coffee beans (optional)
Grinder (optional)
Laminated photographs of Scott County farms
1-2 books about farm history
General Store Activity Center Materials
Food tins/containers: spices, salt, tea, coffee, cracker, etc.
Flour sack
Play food (food that could have been purchased in a general store)
Ribbon
Fabric
Thread
Gloves
Frying pan
Tin cup
Doll
Jacob’s Ladder
Playing cards
Beaded necklace
Soap
Candles
Laminated general store advertisements from Scott County newspapers
Basket with laminated shopping list cards
Price list (2-3 copies)
Pretend money/coins and coin pouches (divide money into coin purses ahead of time)
Laminated photographs of Scott County general stores
1-2 children’s books about general stores