Using the Yellow Pages As a Teaching Resource

News for Schools from the, Smithsonian Institution, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Washington, D.C. 20560 April 1988 c~ock, stove, tire, chair, uriiform, gem, keyboard, sink.... Let the Phone Book Get It's possible to fmd these pictures by flipping through the Yellow Pages at random. However, the children should quickly realize that they can search much more Them Talking! efficiently if they ask themselves in what kinds of ads these objects are likely to appear. It's clear that a clock is likely to appear in ads for clock companies; but Using the Yellow Pages as a they will have to think harder about items that don't correspond to a Yellow Pages heading-for example, to figure out that dogs might be found under Kennels, Teaching Resource or a bouquet under Florists. (You can make the list easier or harder depending on which kinds of items What book was used over three-and-a-half-billion times Emphasize that the list they make should be as you include.) last year? inclusive as possible. The children should write down • Hey, I Know Them! The Yellow Pages! any goods and services involved in any stage of mak To begin, have the children discuss what kinds of As a consumer, you use them. As a teacher, you ing, equipping, orservicing the items in their category. businesses they and their families patronize regularly. can too. The Yellow Pages can be a source ofactivities For example homes can include such headings as Write their answers on the board: supermarket, drug in subjects as diverse as history, math, writing, con Apartment Rental Agencies, Contractors, Demolition store, hardware store, carryout, clothing store, shoe sumer education, art, career awareness, library skills, Contractors, Furniture, Home Improvements, Insu store, bookstore, record store, video club, contractor, map reading.... lation, Insurance, Landscape Contractors, Painters, plumber, doctor, dentist, mechanic, shoe repair store, As they use the Yellow Pages, your students will Ranges and Ovens, Real Estate Developers, etc. etc. have fun coming across places they actually go in their Have the children compile their lists individually, Once the children have created a fairly full list, daily lives. And they will be reminded that there are and then pool them in class. connections between "real life' , and what they learn have them choose at least ten kinds ofbusinesses from the list and write down their choices. in school. • Yellow Pages Pictures Here's an easy-to-set-up, easy-to-participate~in~(m Then, at home, have them record the name of the This issue of ART TO ZOo...is..dif£erentfrom the test that can be adapted even for quite young children. usual, because it is about a resource rather than a actual company their family uses in each of the cat subject. Instead of a single lesson plan designed to Give the kids a list of items, and challenge them egories they have chosen. (An adult at home will be teach one particular point, this ART TO ZOO suggests to fmd a Yellow Pages picture of as many of them as able to help out with this.) a number ofactivities that vary widely in length, con possible within a time limit that you set. Once the children have the ten company names, tent, and difficulty. Each can be done on its own. Or Following are some items that often appear in Yel they should find the Yellow Pages listing (or display several can be carried out in a series (over weeks or low Pages ads: dog, painter, truck, doctor, nurse, ad) for each one, and cut it out (being careful to months). photocopying machine, computer, scissors, globe, roof, damage the phone directory as little as possible). If How you use these activities will depend on your tile floor, glass, bouquet, helicopter, bus, dump truck, continued on page 2 curriculum needs, the size of your community and Yellow Pages, the number of students in your class, their ages, and the feasibility' of their going out in person into the community as part of their assignments.... And the activities suggested here are just samples no doubt you will develop your own ways of using this resource to meet your particular teaching needs. Getting Hold of Copies If possible, the children should each have their own copy of the Yellow Pages: when the time for a new edition approaches (your local phone company can tell you the date), send a note home asking your students' parents to give their children the discarded edition to use in school. (If the new edition comes out late in the school year, ask the teacher of the class you will have next year to make this request. In either case, it's wise to also ask other teachers and friends to save their old Yellow Pages for you, so you will have extra copies for children whose families can't provide one.) Introducing the Yellow Pages First, you will need to make sure that your students understand what the Yellow Pages are, how they are organized, and why they are organized this way (by heading, rather than in simple alphabetical order~ as the White Pages are.) After a brief explanation, you can use activities in this section to give the kids prac tice in these basics. • Categories This simple activity will familiarize your students with how the Yellow Pages are organized and sharpen their awareness of how many goods and services are in volved in even the most commonplace aspects oftheir lives. Provide a list of categories, for example: homes, clothing, animals, travel, health, communication, food, leisure.... Ask each child to choose one category and then make a list of Yellow Page headings (not individual businesses' names) related to their chosen categories. A woman using the Yellow Pages around sixty years ago. continued from page 1 l the business has both a standard listing and a larger OCTOBE~, 1897 display ad, the students should use the larger ad. Finally, have each child make a "Family Yellow Pages" by mounting the ads they have cut out onto sheets of paper, in the order, and under the headings, in which they appear in the real Yellow Pages. They t should staple their pages together to make a little booklet, and create a cover for it. Then they can take their "Family Yellow Pages" home to keep near the phone. •A Yellow Pages Treasure Hunt Divide the class into teams. Give each team a copy of the same list of items and tell them that their task is to use the Yellow Pages to find places to buy the items on the list. The winning team is the one that finds an appro priate source for the most items (you be the judge of which sources are appropriate). Use the following list-or make up your own: -a personalized -an armored truck Front of 1897 telephone directory. Courtesy AT&T T-shirt -a private eye -a video fIlm -a rental tuxedo -industrial safety -a ticket to Tokyo Phone booth of the type that was standard goggles -repairs on an iron in the 1890s. This booth would probably -a rototiller gate have been decorated with rugs, lace , -a Chinese dinner --campaign buttons curtains, and fancy woodwork to impress -a rented violin for a school election users. -a trophy (inscribed -a rental dump truck to one of your -a bridal bouquet friends) -a filing cabinet -a visit from a -business cards chimney-cleaning -a saddle service -a hot-air balloon --rental crutches ride -a fish tank fIlter -a unicycle Publishers Railroads the children to work together until they all understand -bubble film for -a bulletproof vest Radio Stations and Telegraph Service how the map should look.) The final version of the packaging -Roman coins Broadcasting Travel Agencies map on the chalkboard can be the model for the wall Companies Trucking map the class will soon be making. The Yellow Pages and Your Community Tell the class that each ofthese kinds of businesses Step 3: Cutting Out Yellow Pages Ads. There is Another purpose for which you can use the Yellow is involved in moving stuff into and out of the com one more step before dIawing the wall map. Someone Pages is to help your students become more familiar munity. should cut out the Yellow Pages ads for these busi with their community. * But which kind of business is moving which kind nesses (one copy ofeach is enough). Use large display of item? ads whenever possible. • Bringing Things In, Sending Things Out Have the kids answer this for each of the Yellow These ads are going to be pasted up in the space Begin with a discussion: communities don't exist in Pages headings on the list, like this: Aircraft (people); occupied by each business on the finished wall map. isolation, especially not in late-twentieth-century Antennas (information); Chimneys (pollutants).... Step 4: Making the Wall Map. Once the kids America. They depend on the surrounding region, the Then have the kids compare their answers; often, rest of the country, and the rest ofthe world for many have all the Yellow Pages ads in hand, they can figure more than one is possible. Finally, have them discuss out the minimum size the wall map will have to be of the things they use. Conversely, they send things what would happen ifthese !hiings couldn't be brought they want to sell or get rid of to other places. so even the- latgestads fit. (There will probably be in or sent out. Does this ever hapPen? (Certainly: blank space around the smaller ads.) Guide the class in establishing a list of categories during wars, floods, strikes, etc.) What are some pos of items that communities bring in or send out This activity is most fun if the map is REALLY sible consequences? BIG.

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