School Then and Now
Activity #1: School Days: Photo Analysis
Materials
- Access to a computer or Internet OR
- Print out of select one-room school photographs
- Worksheet
- Pencils
Curriculum Objectives
4th grade - Kansas History Standard, Benchmark 4, Indicator 1: The student identifies and compares information from primary and secondary sources (e.g. photographs, diaries/journals, newspapers, historical maps)
4th grade - National Standards for History, Standard 1A: The student is able to examine and formulate questions about early records, diaries, family photographs, artifacts, and architectural drawings obtained through a local newspaper or historical society in order to describe family life in their local community or state long ago. (Source: National Center for History in the Schools)
Note: For an introduction to one-room schools, have the children read the background information, or read it to the class.
Instructions:
- Refer to the Primary and Secondary Sources page and review the types of primary and secondary sources with the students.
- Have the students choose one of the pre-selected one-room school photographs on www.jocohistory.net or have them do a search for one-room school photographs on www.jocohistory.net. Refer to the Search Instruction page for help conducting a photograph search. If the students do not have computer access, print out the photographs for them and allow them to choose a photograph to use. Another option is to use an LCD projector and show the images, or a select image, on a slide screen.
- Assign the worksheet to your students. Go over the worksheet with them before giving them time to work.
- After completion of the assignment, go over the students’ discoveries as a class. Use the background information to confirm or correct their assumptions about one-room schools.
