Kindergarten: Pieces of the Past

Program Overview

During this 40-minute program, kindergarten students will experience a day in the life of a European-American child in Scott County the late 1800s. They will explore photographs and artifacts, as well as try their hand at a pioneer child’s chores, lessons, and toys. This program is part of the Scott County Historical Society “Collections in the Classroom” initiative which uses museum artifacts to teach students about local history. This program also meets Minnesota academic standards and benchmarks in social studies and English language arts. This program includes pre- and post-visit activities that align with Minnesota academic standards and benchmarks.

 Audience

This program is for kindergarten students. It can also be presented in community settings to children in the kindergarten 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 approximately 40 minutes long. This program includes a pre- and post-activities that align with Minnesota state academic standards.

Program Goals

  • To help students compare their lives to the lives of children who lived 125 years ago.

  • To introduce students to the concept of history and how we learn about it.

  • To give students the opportunity to connect with history in a fun, hands-on manner.

  • 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 in to the classroom, teachers should provide students with nametags so that the SCHS educator can address students by name. Teachers should ensure that there is a flat surface that the educator can use to display artifacts. This program involves three hands-on activity centers that students will rotate through; teachers should arrange space for the activity centers prior to the program (and should be prepared to divide class into three groups for that portion of the program). The SCHS educator will need a few minutes before and after the program for set-up and clean-up.

 

MINNESOTA STATE ACADEMIC STANDARDS AND BENCHMARKS

This program (including pre- and post-visit activities) meets the following Minnesota state academic standards.

KinDErgarten: Social Studies

  • 0.3.1.1.2: Describe a map as a representation of a space.

  • 0.3.2.3.1: Identify the physical and human characteristics of places.

  • 0.4.1.1.1: Use a variety of words to reference time in the past, present, and future.

  • 0.4.1.2.1: Describe ways people learn about the past.

Kindergarten: English Language Arts

  • 0.1.1.1: Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

  • 0.6.2.2: Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing about and supply some information about the topic.

“Pieces of the Past” overview

Objective

Students will be able to identify and describe the chores, lessons, and toys that were a part of the daily lives of colonial settler children. Students will be able to describe how we learn about life in the past.

Assessment

Students will demonstrate their understanding of the concept of history and of colonial settler children’s lives by answering discussion questions posed by the SCHS educator or teacher, participating in activities, and by writing a related story after the program.

Time

The lesson (minus the pre and post activities) should take about 40 minutes.

Materials included in trunk

Presentation

  • Program script and/or program outline

  • Photo of your town or a nearby community to pass around

  • Washboard

  • Shirt to use with washboard

  • Rug

  • Rug beater

  • Butter churn

  • Historical school photo

  • Slate board/chalk

  • Quill and ink bottle

  • Old school books

  • Lunch pail

  • Corn husk doll

  • Yarn doll

  • Jacob’s ladder

  • Buzz saw

  • General store doll

  • Graces (optional)

Chores Activity Center

  • Washboard

  • Shirt

  • Rug

  • Rug beater

  • Historic Butter churn

  • Dress up clothes (wash after each school visit)

  • 1-2 children’s books about farming

  • Iron

  • Historical Scott County pictures (laminated)

  • OPTIONAL: Modern butter churn. See directions in binder if you want to make butter.

School Activity Center

  • Slate boards

  • Chalk (and basket to hold chalk)

  • Cotton rags or paper towels (for cleaning slate boards)

  • Old schoolbooks

  • Lunch pail with plastic food

  • 1-2 children’s books about one-room school houses

  • Historical Scott County school pictures (laminated)

Toy Activity Center

  • Basket with a variety of pioneer-era toys (ball and cup, Jacob’s ladder, buzz saw, corn husk dolls, yarn dolls, etc.)

  • 1-2 children’s books about historical toys and games

  • Historical Scott County photos of children (laminated)