Integrating Archeological Methods in Exploring Needs and Wants of Communities

A third Grade S.S. Unit Lucie Willeman In third grade, students begin to explore more complex concepts and ideas. They begin to look at issues and events from another viewpoint other than their own. For the first time, they have the ability to interact with another person's point of view. In this unit, the students will explore the building blocks of successful communities through the lens of how people balance needs and wants. Activities will be structured to build students' understanding of historical needs and wants through the students' own experiences.

Social Studies CBA: Humans and the Environment

The key component this lesson plan will address is EALR2: Economics: The student applies understanding of economic concepts and systems to analyze decision making and the interaction between individuals, households, businesses, and societies.

2,2,1 Understands how the economic systems of groups are influenced by laws, values, and customs. 1.1 2.4 Examines the economic issues and problems that all 1.2 societies face.

Other key EALR components include:

1.1.1 Understands the key ideals of unity and diversity Explains the benefits of diversity for a community, including increased choices available.

3.2.1 Understands that learning about the geography of North America helps us understand the global issue of culture.

Understands the cultural universals of place, time, family life, economics, etc.  Explains ways that people in one's community use money or trade to meet their needs and wants.   Understands and applies how maps are used to display the regions of North America in the past and present.  Uses a graphic organizer to organize ideas and supporting details from visuals, literary, narrative, informational and expository texts.

Vocabulary and concepts that I teach prior to this unit. Including units on Native Americans and Immigration to the United States.

Concepts: Culture. That a culture is how different groups of people live their lives. Including: clothing, traditions, beliefs, favorite foods, language, etc.

Historical. Activities and events that happened in years past.

Immigration. That people moved around the country and the globe depending on what they need to make a better life for themselves and their families. Vocabulary:

Era: A period of years with common attributes. Artifact: Objects made, modified, used, and deposited in the past Archeology: The study of past societies - primarily through their material remains Archeologist: Archeologists are people who rebuild the lifeways of past societies through the analysis of material remains that people from the past have left behind Layers of Sediment: Solid, inorganic particles accumulated by natural or human processes Stratigraphy: The study of sequence and correlation of sediments and soils. Lesson 1 Learning Target: To help students build a framework of understanding that people living within a community need certain goods and services to be successful, but that they also want certain goods and services to make people's lives easier.

Time Frame: 45 minutes. Materials: large chart board paper Needs vs. wants chart paper (enough for each student, and each group)

1) At this age range, students are still developing ability to empathize with others, let alone historical persons. Introduce the idea of needs vs. wants within the constraints of modern day. Read aloud Polchenka's Egg by Patricia Polancco. Talk about how the children in the story needed some things, but that they also just wanted some things.

2) Teacher models thinking about some things he/she wants vs. some things he/she needs. For example; I need food to eat and a place to live... I want TV to watch, books to read. Also, that Needs and Wants will be different for different people. Teacher models filling in his/her own needs vs. wants chart. Then, builds another needs and wants chart for a Plains Native American, who we studied right before this unit.

3) Ask Children to come up with their own needs and wants chart. (10 minutes.) It's a way to get them reflecting and making connections to this concept. They do this together as a team. Get them to discuss what makes a need and what makes a want?

4) Have each team share with the class their charts. Teacher keeps track and builds a classroom needs vs. wants chart on the large chart paper. Chart is posted up in the room for future reference. Lesson 2 Learning Target: Building a bridge between their own experiences and the life of historical peoples. Leading them to the understanding that people haven't always lived as they do today, and that people's needs and wants change over time because as environment changes, so too, are the materials available to people.

Time Frame: 45 - 50 minutes Materials: large chart board paper needs and wants charts, enough for each team to have one. Book: 1) Sears Roebuck catalogue, 1897 available from Amazon.com Computer hooked up to the internet

1) Before you begin the lesson, go through the Sears Roebuck catalogue and highlight some items the children would find familiar, then highlight some items that they would be unfamiliar with.

2) Go through your findings with the students, lead a discussion that focuses on how early Vancouverites often had to order items through catalogues because manufacturing capabilities weren't in place in the West yet because there were less people in the west at that time to make/build/manufacture goods.

3) Log onto your computer. Go to http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/03/10/us/20090310

This is an interactive map that shows where people settled after immigrating to the United States. You can pull the slider over to highlight different years and watch as the population centers change and shift over time. This is a great way to introduce the students to the idea that people move around as their needs and wants change. Pay special attention to the changes from 1880's to 1920's.

4) Build a needs and wants chart for the catalogue. Model how different information can provide new or different results for your charts. Lesson 3 learning target: Now it's time for the students to build a narrative understanding of evolving needs and wants through a historical framework. Stress that history is people and that the best way to make a connection with people from the past is to understand their surroundings.

Time frame: 30 - 40 minutes Materials: Needs and wants charts. Books 1) "The Day Dirk Yeller Came To town" by Mary Casanova. Set in the late 1800's, follows a cowboy as he goes through a town looking for what he wants. He finally finds it in a library. 2) The Victorian Home" by Bobbie Kalman. A non-fiction pictorial of items households in the victorian era (1837 - 1901) would have seen as most desirable. 3) "The Bravest of Us All" by Marsha Diane Arnold. Set in the early 1900's (probably 1910 - 1920), a member of a family proves her valor during a tornado.

1) Read book 1& 2. Take time to point out the different items in the books that someone may have needed in the late 1800's versus what they may have only wanted.

2) Read book 2. Point out that this story is based on true story of the author's family, so many of the items in the book may have been based on real materials they actually used. Again, point out needs and wants. But this time, compare and contrast with items found in the first books. Point out that this family lived later than the time period first book was set in.

3) Have the student teams build Venn diagrams that compare/contrast the books. They will make a presentation to the class about their findings. Teacher to create atmosphere conducive to lively discussion about what makes a need and what makes a want. Stress that it's often an independent decision depending on someone's likes/dislikes and culture. Lesson 1, 2 & 3 assessment: Have the students brainstorm new ideas and concepts they hadn't known before. Teacher collects the papers.

Lesson 4 learning target: Exploring how goods traveled and why.

Time frame: two, 30 - 40 minute sessions Materials: *You will need to sketch out a basic general store shelving unit on an 81/2 by 11 paper. I couldn't figure out how to make one on the computer. It's basic purpose is to allow the students' places to draw their items. *Computer *Book: The General Store, by Bobbie Kalman *Period pictures from the Clark County Historical Museum

1) In order for the students to explore how the environment influenced what goods people had access to in the West, go to the book "The General Store" Starting on page 18 is a section on how shopkeepers had to travel to get the goods his community needed.

2) Now, explain that the students are going to take a little trip back in time to look at how Vancouver used to be in 1880's. First, go to Clark Country Historical website - www.cchmuseum.org

- Photo tour. As you go through the pictures, remember your learning target is to examine the environment of the photos, what kinds of resources may have been available, needed, wanted at the time. What do the pictures say about how goods were moved from place to place? As you go, ask the children to think about what the photos are saying?

Follow this procedure to get to the photos you'll be analyzing www.cchmuseum.org archives tab electronic resources Clark county historical museum photograph collection visit site search by decade

#1) 1880-1889

# 19 Downtown Vancouver early street scene # 28 First train (follow-up discussion on how goods need to be either brought from somewhere else or made on location. Trains now mean more items can be made further away and brought to places like Vancouver to be bought and sold by the people in the community.) #36 Storefront (special attention - general stores were the center of the community because everyone needed or wanted items/post/news at one time or another and this was the central location people could get it) #38 Hockinson school house. #60 View of Mount Hood from downtown Vancouver. (Note how empty land from downtown toward the East. Tie in with how places/people change over time.) #89 Vancouver map circa 1889 Tied in with places changing over time.

2) go back to the year designation tab. Choose: 1900 - 1909

#11 Arline Anderson Parlor (lit with oil lamps) 1900 #5 Albright & Marshes butcher shop #9 Archer family members in wagon (great one for looking in the background. You can see everyone else is in wagons, too. Shows familiar spot (Vancouver Main st.) so the students can really see changes over time.) #17 Barber shop, now with electricity (1905)

3) go back to the year designation tab. Choose:1910 - 1919

#7 AIRMAIL stamp seller (1912) #13 American express. (Electricity. Also, women's styles have really changed.) #18 INSIDE of Andresen Grocery. Stop and consider what inside of the large store that's in the very same spot looks like. I believe it's a Safeway. #136 Firefighters in a parade (CARS!) #202 Great National Rail Road Depot being built. (Needed even more transportation for goods because area growing. You can see cars and wagons sharing the road. Talk about how change was usually gradual... not changing so quickly as today. )

3) Now have the students fill in the store shelves in a general store diagram by drawing pictures of items people of the time may have needed. Have them label these with an "N". Items that were a want are to be labeled with a "W". This will serve as a lesson assessment. (Extension: some students may enjoy making a floor plan of a general store)

Additional assignment: Have the children choose a favorite picture/or new piece of information. The student explains in writing how it helped them see differences between the way people lived back in the 1880's vs. how people live today. You can have the students do this individually, or as members of a team. INTRODUCING THE STUDENTS TO ARCHEOLOGY

Lesson 5 learning target: Students will understand that archeology is a way to learn about people, and that artifacts are items people use that can give us evidence about how people in historic communities lived.

Time frame: Materials: Archeology journal Artifact How was it used? Who would have Draw it Need used it? (label measure- or ments) Want?

Archeology box: - a clear, flat bottomed box. - clean dirt - large sheets of tissue paper, colors (red, dark blue, light brown, and yellow) - Chart paper and markers to match colors

Archeology box activity:

1) Gather items whose function has stayed the same, but whose shape and/or manufacture has changed over time. Examples include; mixer vs. potato masher, jar with lid vs. plastic container, or old-fashioned potato peeler vs. modern designed one.

2) Place a layer of clean dirt on the bottom of the box. Place one or two items of the older design in it, cover with layer of colored tissue. Make sure the tissue paper layers show on the side of the clear plastic container so students see that there are layers. Place another layer of dirt on top of tissue paper with another slightly newer designed item. Place another layer of dirt and tissue paper. Continue until all your items have been placed with the newer one on top.

3) Introduce "Archeology Journals". Explain that journals are great ways to record information because you write AND draw about what you learned. 3) Tell the class to think "What are artifacts?" Have them write their response down on slips of paper. The slips of paper are to go into their Social Studies folders. Don't give them the answer, yet.

4) Gather the class together and draw names from a cup to decide who will go in and gently pull aside the first layer of dirt. Keep track of what items are on top by marking it on your chart paper you have posted at the front of the class. Lead the students in a discussion that helps them understand that the oldest items were found near the bottom of the box, and the more recent items were found near the top of the box. Explain that these artifacts were found in the same way that artifacts are found by archeologists in the real world. i.e., that the oldest items were found down in the lowest layer of "sediment" and the more recent were found in the higher layers of soil and sediment. As you get to the next layer, introduce idea of stratification and explain that the lower the item is in the ground, the longer it's been there.

5) When you're done with the box, lead a discussion on why people would carefully keep track of not only where an item had been found on a single level, but also why it's important to keep track of how deep you had to go to find it.

7) Model for the students how to record information in their archeology journal.

Assessment: The finished journal entries pertaining to this activity.

Activity stretch: You could even use this as a jumping-off point for creating student time-lines to start writing personal biographies during your writing period. Convention Center Artifacts

Activity One

Learning Target: Students will clean, sort and analyze Convention Center Artifacts. They will attempt to guess how and whom would have used the artifact, what it was used for and propose whether it was a need or want for the people of the time. Students will use a modified New Brunswick Method of Analysis. They will also learn about tools archeologists use when processing artifacts.

Professional Help: Jessica Hale - Archeologist will come to model and explain the reason for cleaning and cataloging items.

Materials: Archeology journals Artifact Kit Convention Center Artifacts Supply Bag from Artifact Kit Field Guide Reference from Kit New Brunswick Method of Analysis from the Kit.

Procedure:

1) Review what an artifact is.

2) Introduce each tool at a time (sieve, toothbrush, wire brush, cm/mm ruler (clear if possible), rubber gloves, masking tape, and water basin.

Have a group discussion about what the tools may be used for. Use turn & talk techniques so everyone gets a chance to share their thoughts.

Safety check: Make sure the students know the importance of practicing safety precautions because some of the artifacts are glass and rusty. Introduce safety tools such as gloves and goggles. Introduce Jessica Hale. Explain that people can make a living by exploring history as an archeologist. She will lead the students through the steps of the cleaning process and analysis procedures.

2) The students will clean artifacts. They will work together as members of a team to follow their chosen artifacts through the different stations of cleaning and cataloging. 1) Water basin and cleaning tools station 2) Drying rack for cleaned artifacts nearby Schedule a large working block for this activity. Your goal is to have a large number of artifacts cleaned and dried.

Activity Two Before beginning this activity. Purchase two plates from a discount store. Make sure the plates are both breakable. They should have similar coloring and patterns, but be made from different materials. (Goodwill has a lot) .

The field guide references from the kit will help the children with this activity.

1) Demonstrate how the broken plates can be put back together by using masking tape on the back and fitting the pieces together. "On Purpose" try putting one plate piece with another of a similar shape. Have an "Oops" moment when you "suddenly recognize" that the plates can't go together because the materials they're made from are different. Explain that lots of pieces from the artifact box may look similar, but that they need to consider all sorts of attributes to decide whether a piece goes with another.

2) Teach the New Brunswick Method of Analysis that has been modified for use by third graders. Model the method using an already cleaned artifact. 3) Give each group of students a sample of artifacts to independently go through the process of mending it.

4) Have the students start sorting the artifacts into categories such as tools, dishes, food waste, metal, and medicine bottles in order to get ready for cross-mending. Cross-mending needs to be done before culminating activities can be implemented.

5) Children begin cross-mending different artifacts.

6) Once the item has been mended, or if it didn't need to be mended, have the students discuss whether it is something the people of the time wanted or needed. Stress that these items would have been used by whoever owned it, and would have probably come from a general store. The students will bag it and insert a sorting tag with it. The sorting tag will mirror the type of information being added to the archeology journal.

7) The children will sort the filled bags into one of two genres: "wanted" vs. "needed". Also, what archeological category would the item be classified into? Possible categories include:

Activities - items people spent leisure time with.

Could include items such as; coins, scale & weights, telephone parts, opera glasses, parts of board games, musical instruments, dice, parts of old guns, hobby making materials, pet items, tools, car/wagon/bicycle parts, horse shoes, trunks, traveling cases, pens (writing materials).

Domestic - items for the home environs.

Could include items such as: cleaning machines (brooms, buckets, etc.) cleaning supply containers; clothing maintenance materials (sewing implements, cleaning items); child care (bottles, diaper pin, rattle); Food (containers, animal bones, fruit seeds); food preparation (dishes, utensils, pots/pans, etc.); furnishings; lighting tools and materials (candle holders/lamps)

Indefinite Use - it's unclear what these items were.

Could include items such as: Unknown use ceramics, glass, metal.

Personal - items that were put on or in someone's body.

Could include items such as: jewelry, fabric fasteners, footware, grooming implements, medicine dietrius, alcohol bottles/glasses, tobacco paraphanelia, toys.

Structural - items that were used to maintain or build residences.

Could include items such as nails, door knobs/handles, water pipes, sinks, toilets, wash basins.

Undefined - Items that it is totally unclear what it might once have been. Usually tranformed into an unknown shape.

Could include melted glass, rusted or melted metal clumps.

4) The students need to document their find by recording the information into their archeology journal.

Category? used it? (label measure- Need or ments) Want? Artifact assessment: Have the students choose one or two items. They need to explain what it tells them about they lifestyle of the person or family that owned it and whether it was something they needed or wanted. They need to be able to build an argument for their choice.

Culminating Activity:

Trading card "Artifact Swap" Before beginning the activity, put up large signs around the room designating different departments of a general store. Possibilities include: - Display counter - Housewares - Hardware - Grocery - Apothecary

1) Each student in a team chooses 3 of their favorite artifacts from their Archeology Journal. It is best if the students each make different cards. That way they'll have more to trade later on. Make sure students are choosing from the full array of general store departments.

2) They make trading cards for each one. Drawing on the front. (as colorful and authentic as possible). Identifying characteristics on the back (how used, which general store category it fits into, who would have owned/used it. Would it have been manufactured in Vancouver, or purchased through a catalogue?, which archeological category does it fit into?) 3) Have the students post their trading cards around the room, matching their artifact with the corresponding general store department sign.

4) After everyone has posted their trading cards, lead a class discussion on how the artifacts helped the students explore people's stories.

Culminating activity #2

Economic forces are an important aspect of balancing needs vs. wants. This activity will lead the students into active discussions about what is REALLY needed vs. what is wanted.

Before beginning, use sticky notes to assign money values to each of the trading cards. Make the items the class decided must have been imported more value.

1) Ask for a "volunteer" team to act as shopkeepers. They'll have to check each team's budget balance, so choose one with competent mathematicians.

2) Have each team form a "Household". They need to come up with shopping list to outfit their home. Provide them with budgets that will cause them to really have to balance their wants and needs.

4) They visit the walls to "shop". As they choose items, they pull trading cards off the walls. They bring their cards up to the shopkeepers who total their order and provide 'scrip' for any money they've got left over.

5) Each team gets a budget of $50 in play money. They can barter for other trading cards they need by exchanging trading cards, or they can try to buy needed trading cards. They're going to have to decide what they need verses what they want and choose wisely! They'll have to decide what they want to spend/trade and what they may have to give up. 6) The team with the most complete "kit" and the most money wins!

Assessment: Did the team make a reasonable presentation? Did they have a complete list of items they needed? Were they able to differentiate between a need and a want?

Extension activity for teams that finished early.

Using arts causes students to build alternate knowledge pathways, not just paying attention to the facts, but interpreting it through a personal lens to create a knowledge framework with a connection to the student and adding to their understanding through critical thinking.

Materials: pop-up materials large pieces of papers for pictures crayons paint colored pencils miscellaneous art materials

1) Students choose their favorite "Aha" moment from the unit. They express that "Aha" moment any way they like. possibilities: pop-up picture 1-scene play poem song etc.