Download STEM Liberty Pole Activity

Sons Signal

Revolutionary Mind America ® TM Missions 150523 Thank you for downloading this Mind Missions lesson!

Each Mind Missions lesson has the following components: The Story

Each story contains a social studies lesson. Read the story in teams or as a class. The mission challenge will be related to the content of the story. Creative Problem Solving

The heart of the mission is a creative problem solving task. Using limited time and materials, students will devise a creative solution to an open-ended, historical problem. Use your own judgment regarding time limits needed for the task. You know your students better than anyone else! Reflection

Reflection questions are included in each lesson. These questions encourage students to evaluate their team and the ideas at work within class solutions.

Contents • Helpful Hints • Teacher Instructions • The Story • Reflection Questions • Background Information (“More About ...”) • Mission, Scoring, Assignments Handout • Mission/Scoring Cards (front and back) • Winner and Creativity Certificates • “How to Work as a Team” Poster • “How to Brainstorm” Poster • Assignment Posters (4)

Feel free to jump right in and try the lesson with your students. The instructions on the following pages are easy to follow. Suggestions for optimal use of the Mind Missions program are included below.

Teamwork and Brainstorming

Positive teamwork and brainstorming skills are essential elements in the Mind Missions program. In or- der to develop these habits, we offer introductory lessons on team building and brainstorming. Search for “Mind Missions Basic Training” on Teachers Pay Teachers. The team building lesson helps teams get to know each other, bond as a team, and learn teamwork skills. New teams participate in short team building activities to encourage cooperation, unity, and respect. The brainstorming lesson teaches students good brainstorming techniques. In each Mind Missions lesson, students learn about elements of successful teamwork. Teachers may group the students ahead of time or allow students to pick their own teams. Teams of four are advisable. We recommend keeping students with the same team for all missions throughout a semester or school year. This helps students learn how teams form and grow. A mixture of abilities and interests are ideal as students bring different ideas and skills to the group. Each Mind Missions lesson begins with a brainstorming exercise. Brainstorming encourages students to think divergently. Instead of focusing on a “correct” answer, the students will think of as many answers as they can. Encourage your students to find unusual ideas as they brainstorm. Stretch their minds!

Mission Preparation

The “Getting Ready” section of the teacher instructions includes a list of material each team can use for the mission. The items are common craft or office supplies. In general, markers, crayons, scissors, or any other tools you decide can be used during the mission, but cannot be part of the final solution. Some teachers prepare the materials for each team before the lesson. One team’s amount of material can fit in a large ziplock bag. Do not show the teams the materials until the mission begins. This allows the students to focus on the story and the historical problem before jumping into problem solving with the materials. Another way to distribute the materials is to have one member of each team, the “Materials Manager,” gather the materials for their team. The bottom line is that it’s not important how the teams get their materials. Just do what works best for your classroom. This file contains two forms of mission and scoring information: • The pages with six Mission and Scoring blocks can be printed double-sided (flipped on the long edge of the paper) and then cut into six cards - one for each team. The cards can be passed out when the mission begins after reading The Story. • The page with Mission, Scoring, and Assignments can be reproduced for each team or projected for the entire class to see. You can choose whatever way works best to communicate the mission and scoring information in your classroom.

Assignments and Teamwork

Rotating assignments on teams is a good way to ensure quieter students get involved and assertive students do not dominate every mission. Four suggested assignments are Leader, Materials Manager, Time

Mind Missions: Revolutionary America 2 Sons Signal

Keeper, and Recorder/Presenter. Each lesson includes suggested activities and “Sound Bites” for each assignment on posters and on the Missions/Scoring/Assignment sheet. Our Back to School Kit includes a set of reusable Assignment Cards that have space to record team member assignments for multiple lessons. During the problem solving time, students will solicit ideas from you. Try not to help them. The best response is, “I don’t know, what do YOU think?” Be enthusiastic about different approaches.

Recognition

We believe teams with the best and most creative solutions to the mission should be recognized in some manner. Each Mind Missions lesson includes scoring criteria to help judge the best solution, which can be recognized with the “Winner” certificate if desired. Use your judgment to acknowledge the most interesting solutions and risk takers even if their solution was less than successful. You can use the “Creativity” certificate to recognize those teams. Please don’t grade teams on the activity. Attaching a grade stifles their willingness to explore unique solutions.

Back to School Kit

We offer a “Back to School Kit” that includes some items that may be helpful to get started with Mind Missions. The kit includes six opaque ziplock bags for holding team materials, six sets of four assignment cards (Leader, Materials Manager, Time Keeper, and Recorder/Presenter) to track assignments over year, and Team Triumph Poster with “Winner” and “Creativity” stickers to recognize teams for 24 lessons.

Mind Missions: Revolutionary America 3 Sons Signal A lesson about: The Stamp Act and the Sons of Liberty TEACHER INSTRUCTIONS

Prepare the following materials for each team: Review the mission, time limits, and scoring criteria (listed below) with the class. 5 Craft Sticks 6 Mailing Labels MISSION: The Liberty Pole has been cut down by 2 Note Cards the British, and the Sons of Liberty need to sig- 1 Paper Cup nal a meeting for tonight. Can your team create a 4 Rubber Bands Liberty Pole to announce the meeting? Don’t forget 4 Sheets of Paper the red flag! 6 Straws Students may also use markers and scissors for the mission, but not as part of the final presentation. If desired, make copies of The Story, Mission/Scor- Set a timer for 5 minutes, and let teams plan with- ing Sheet, and Reflection Questions in this lesson out touching the materials. for use during class. Set a timer for 15 minutes and let teams work. Familiarize yourself with the Background Informa- tion (“More About ...”) at the end of this lesson. When the time is up, teams must cease working and present and measure their Liberty Pole.

Group students into their teams. • 2 points for each inch of height of the flagpole Remind the teams about effective teamwork strate- • 20 points if the flagpole is free-standing gies from the HOW TO WORK AS A TEAM poster or a • Up to 10 points for the liberty flag previous mission reflection session. • Up to 20 points for positive teamwork Assign a Leader, Materials Manager, Time Keeper, Tally the score for each team and recognize the and Recorder/Presenter. winning team. If there was an exceptionally creative design, acknowledge that team as well.

Review the HOW TO BRAINSTORM poster, and have the teams brainstorm the following topic. In teams or as a class, review the Reflection Ques- TOPIC: List things that you think are unfair. tions included in this lesson.

Pass out The Story to the students and read it together. This will set up the mission for the class.

Mind Missions: Revolutionary America 4 Sons Signal THE STORY

In 1765, the British government passed the Stamp Act. As a result, a tax was placed on printed materials sold to American colonists. The colonists even had to pay a tax on playing cards. The tax was created to pay British debts resulting from the Seven Years War and to pay for British troops left in America to protect and defend the colonists. Though the tax was small, many colonists believed the tax was unfair because they were not represented in the British Parliament. Their cry became, “No Taxation without Representation!” The Sons of Liberty started to protest the Stamp Act. Small groups of businessmen and craftsmen in New York and Boston met to organize resistance to the new tax. They used a variety of methods to bring change. Nonimportation agreements were passed that kept American merchants from selling taxed goods. The Sons of Liberty humiliated the merchants that continued to sell the taxed goods. The Sons of Liberty also pressured British officials that distributed stamps and collected taxes. Homes and private property of representatives of the king were destroyed. In extreme cases, the Sons of Liberty tarred and feathered those loyal to the king and his policies. Because the Sons of Liberty were committing treason by plotting against their own government, they had to meet secretly to plan their protests. In Boston, a flagpole was raised in a tree known as the Liberty Tree. When a meeting was to be held, a red flag was flown to signal the nighttime meeting. In New York, a liberty pole was erected to announce Raising the Liberty Pole upcoming planning sessions of the Sons of Liberty. Many other towns copied the method and raised liberty poles in their town squares. Before and during the Revolutionary War, liberty poles announced meetings of Sons of Liberty. The leaders of the Sons of Liberty included Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, and John Adams. In these meetings, they planned famous protests such as the Boston Tea Party. When the British authorities realized that the poles were helping the Sons of Liberty to meet, they destroyed the liberty poles.

1. Which team’s liberty pole was most successful/tallest? Why?

2. Which team’s liberty pole was the most creative solution?

3. What are secret signals that people use today to arrange meetings? How do we send secret signals today?

4. Do you think the colonists should have protested the Stamp Act? Why or why not?

5. Which team worked well together? How did they show good teamwork?

6. How can your teamwork improve? How can you be a better team member?

The Sons of Liberty used a variety of methods to protest the Stamp Act. Non-importation agreements made taxes on British goods irrelevant. If taxed goods were not sold in the colonies, no taxes could be collected. Taxes were also difficult to collect because British officials were terrorized for fulfilling their duties. In August of 1865, an effigy of the new stamp distributor of Boston (Andrew Oliver) was found hanging in a tree. A mob burned Oliver’s property and ransacked his house. In New York, the Royal Governor became so frightened of the Sons of Liberty that he locked himself inside Fort George immediately after he received a ship- ment of stamped paper. A few hours after receiv- ing the official papers, a raucous mob captured the governor’s coach and burned it. By 1766, many royal officials (including royal governors) were in hiding. Sons of Liberty chapters spread. Eventually, Sons of Liberty groups were formed in each of the colonies. The various chapters of the Sons of Liberty began to correspond and develop a larger organi- zation. Many printers and newspapers joined the Sons in their struggle against the Stamp Act. The efforts of the Sons of Liberty were widely reported in the colonial press. Ultimately, the reports served as propaganda for the colonial cause and inspired the American patriots. The activities of the Sons of Liberty in response to the Stamp Act were successful. In 1766, the British government repealed the Stamp Act. Celebrations began across the colonies and lanterns were hung in the Liberty Tree. But their victory was short-lived. On the same day that the Stamp Act was repealed, the British government passed the Declaratory Act. It stated that the British government had total power to legislate any laws governing the Ameri- can colonies. They exercised that authority in June when they passed the Townshend Acts which placed a tax on English manufactured items. The Sons of Liberty organized new protests against the Townshend Acts. They intimidated customs of- ficers, vandalized their homes, and hung their effi- gies in the Liberty Tree. Britain eventually repealed all the taxes except the one on tea. In response to violent protests by the American colonists, Great Stamps from the Stamp Act Britain sent more troops to the colonies. In 1773, the British Parliament passed the Tea Act to redefine the existing tax on tea and eliminate

Mind Missions: Revolutionary America 7 Sons Signal

several tons of tea into the Boston Harbor in protest of the Tea Act. The act came to be known as the Boston Tea Party. Similar incidents occurred in Maryland, New York, and New Jersey in the next few months, and tea was eventually boycotted throughout the colonies. Tensions continued to rise between the British government and the Amer- ican colonies. The Parliament passed the Coercive Acts and Quartering Acts to establish control over the colonies. In response, many American leaders, including prominent members of the Sons of Liberty, met at the First Con- Satire of Repeal of Stamp Act tinental Congress. The rights of the colonists including the rights to “life, liberty and property” were clearly any colonial profit from tea sales. The Sons of Lib- stated. On October 20, the Congress adopted the erty issued and distributed a declaration in New Continental Association in which delegates agree York City formally stating their opposition to the to a boycott of English imports, an embargo of Tea Act. They warned that anyone assisting in the exports to Britain, and the discontinuation of the Tea Act policies would be viewed as an enemy of slave trade. Heightened tensions continued until American liberty. Three British ships loaded with the colonists and the British were at war. Through- tea sailed into Boston Harbor. The ships refused out the conflicts between the colonists and their to leave until colonists paid import taxes on the colonial parent, the Sons of Liberty played a prom- tea. Instead of paying the taxes, the Boston Sons inent role. of Liberty, disguised as Native Americans, poured

IMAGE CREDITS Raising the Liberty Pole: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-USZ62-807. Stamps from the Stamp Act: (top) Smithsonian National Postal Museum; (bottom) “Tax stamp, 1765”, National Archives and Records Administration. Satire of Repeal of Stamp Act: Library of Congress, Prints & Pho- tographs Division, LC-USZ62-21264.

Mind Missions: Revolutionary America 8 Sons Signal

The Liberty Pole has been cut down • 2 points for each inch of height of the by the British, and the Sons of Liberty flagpole need to signal a meeting for tonight. • 20 points if the flagpole is free- Can your team create a Liberty Pole to standing announce the meeting? Don’t forget the • Up to 10 points for the liberty flag red flag! • Up to 20 points for positive teamwork

Materials Recorder / Leader Time Keeper Manager Presenter • Read the Mission • Collect and return • Keep the team on task • Record team ideas Card supplies • Announce when time • Write down notes for • Make sure everyone’s • Manage the use of the is halfway through presentations voice is heard supplies and almost up • Present the team’s • Focus work on the • Remind the team how • Encourage team finished work to the learning task the mission will be members class • Divide tasks scored

Sound Sound Sound Sound Bites Bites Bites Bites • “Let’s hear from • “Are we using the • “We have five min- • “Is there another ______next.” materials in the best utes left.” idea?” • “That’s interesting, way possible?” • “Great idea, • “How do we want but let’s get back to • “Are we including ev- ______!” this to sound?” our task.” erything on the score card?” © 2015 Elementary Mind Missions, LLC. This page may be duplicated for use during classroom instruction. Mind Missions: Revolutionary America 9 Sons Signal Sons Signal Sons Signal

The Liberty Pole has been cut The Liberty Pole has been cut The Liberty Pole has been cut down by the British, and the Sons down by the British, and the Sons down by the British, and the Sons of Liberty need to signal a meeting of Liberty need to signal a meeting of Liberty need to signal a meeting for tonight. Can your team create for tonight. Can your team create for tonight. Can your team create a Liberty Pole to announce the a Liberty Pole to announce the a Liberty Pole to announce the meeting? Don’t forget the red flag! meeting? Don’t forget the red flag! meeting? Don’t forget the red flag!

Sons Signal Sons Signal Sons Signal

• 2 points for each inch of height of the • 2 points for each inch of height of the • 2 points for each inch of height of the flagpole flagpole flagpole • 20 points if the flagpole is free- • 20 points if the flagpole is free- • 20 points if the flagpole is free- standing standing standing • Up to 10 points for the liberty flag • Up to 10 points for the liberty flag • Up to 10 points for the liberty flag • Up to 20 points for positive • Up to 20 points for positive • Up to 20 points for positive teamwork teamwork teamwork

Sons Signal Sons Signal Sons Signal

Team Name

Creativity Sons Signal

Team Name HOW TO WORK AS A TEAM

Team Players Do:

1. Use encouraging words such as “Good idea” or “I like that one.” 2. Contribute ideas. 3. Offer to help saying “How can we make that work together?” or “How can I help you?” 4. Remind others to be positive. 5. Listen to all ideas offered. 6. Work toward a solution TOGETHER.

Team Players Don’t:

1. Ridicule teammates or their ideas. 2. Grab materials from teammates’ hands. 3. Insist on their own solution. 4. Use judging statements such as “That’s silly,” or “That will never work.” 5. Place blame on others when something goes wrong.

Good Brainstormers Do:

1. Write all of the ideas down.

2. Build on each other’s ideas.

3. Have silly, far-out ideas. They get the brain stretched and ready to solve problems.

Good Brainstormers Don’t:

1. Worry if their ideas are good or bad. All ideas are welcome!

2. Criticize other brainstormers’ ideas. They don’t even groan or frown. All ideas are welcome - the goal is to have a lot of them.

3. Talk about ideas during brainstorming.

© 2015 Elementary Mind Missions, LLC. This page may be duplicated for use during classroom instruction. Leader • Read the Mission Card • Make sure everyone’s voice is heard • Focus work on the learning task • Divide tasks

Sound Bites • “Let’s hear from ______next.” • “That’s interesting, but let’s get back to our task.”

© 2015 Elementary Mind Missions, LLC. This page may be duplicated for use during classroom instruction. Materials Manager • Collect and return supplies • Manage the use of the supplies • Remind the team how the mission will be scored

Sound Bites • “Are we using the materials in the best way possible?” • “Are we including everything on the score card?”

© 2015 Elementary Mind Missions, LLC. This page may be duplicated for use during classroom instruction. Time Keeper • Keep the team on task • Announce when time is halfway through and almost up • Encourage team members

Sound Bites • “We have five minutes left.” • “Great idea, ______!”

© 2015 Elementary Mind Missions, LLC. This page may be duplicated for use during classroom instruction. Recorder / Presenter • Record team ideas • Write down notes for presentations • Present the team’s finished work to the class

Sound Bites • “Is there another idea?” • “How do we want this to sound?”