Length
of time – 2 periods (100 minutes)
Eighth
Grade – Social Studies and/or Language Arts
Objectives: To acquaint students with the geography of
Student
Understandings: Students will learn where their
home is in relation to other geographic areas of
Students will determine the present
existence and use of factories and mills in their own neighborhoods.
Materials: Drawing paper, rulers, crayons, markers,
colored pencils.
Close up transparencies of neighborhood
sections of
Computer with internet
access.
Assignment: Students will use drawing paper to create an
aerial view of the neighborhood surrounding their home. In particular, they should note factories,
mills, and any other points of interest. As a culminating activity they will
play an interactive map game about
Assessment: Teacher will assess the student’s maps for
accuracy and completeness.
Lesson 2 – Introduce and
develop concept of factories and mills
Length
of time – 2 periods (100 minutes)
Eighth
Grade – Social Studies and/or Language Arts
Objectives: To familiarize students with the pervasive
role played by factories and mills in the economy and neighborhoods of
Student
Understandings: Students will learn the
important role played by factories and mills in the industrial growth of
Students will determine the present
existence and use of factories and mills in their own neighborhoods.
Materials: Students will spend one period visiting
various web sites on the internet containing information about
On a subsequent class period, students will
take a walking field trip to the Fall River Historical Society on
Assignment: Students will write a brief essay describing
two new facts they learned about
Lesson 3- Friendly Letter Introduction
Length of Time- 1 Period (50 minutes)
Eighth Grade- Social Studies and/or Language Arts
Objectives: To acquaint students with the mechanics
involved in the writing of a friendly letter.
Student
Understandings: Students will learn each part of the friendly letter and its placement
within the letter.
Students will learn letters are written in the
first person narrative style.
Materials: Friendly letters from
various time periods.
Friendly
letter template and overhead of same.
Lesson: Students will read and
discuss friendly letters written by various people(
both famous and common). In small groups they will look for thoughts and
descriptions of the various time periods. They will try to determine why they
are indicative to their historical time period. They will try to find
descriptions of landmarks or geographical references within the letter.
Students will return to whole group and report out on their
observations. They will inform the class of the time period of their letters
only after reporting to the class.
Class discussion of dialogue and narrative style will follow. Teacher
will model an example of a friendly letter on the overhead. Students and
teacher will compose the letter as a group.
Assignment:
Small group brainstorming session of correct
closings for friendly letter. Each group will have a recorder to write the
closings on chart paper (to be posted in their workspace).
Length
of Time- 5 periods (50 minutes each)
Eighth
Grade Social Studies and/or Language Arts
Objectives:
To have students gain an awareness of time,
place, and happenings in a specific time period (1880’s-1890’s)
To make students aware of
sequential happenings in a series of letters.
Student
Understandings: Students will master the letter writing from a perspective, persona,
and historical time period other than their own present day surroundings.
Prior
Knowledge: Students will have become familiar with their city and neighborhoods
through work in social studies class. They will already have had the
opportunity to research neighborhoods using maps, websites, photos, and text.
Lesson: Students will break up into
the same small groups that they were in for the introduction lesson. In their
small groups, their first task will be to come up with the name they will use
for their letter assignment. They will be allowed to choose their country of
origin and specific time period within the parameters they have been given.
Students will then be given a scoring
rubric to study and then there will be a class discussion (to ask questions
concerning scoring).
Assignment:
Each
student will complete a minimum of 5 letters, written by an immigrant living in
Each student will use the writing
process (brainstorming, graphic organizer, rough draft, peer and/or teacher
edit, and published copy).
Assessment: Teacher scores and grades
using the rubric given to students at the beginning of the assignment.
FRIENDLY
LETTER RUBRIC
4
Correct letter form used throughout
Formal, correct grammar used throughout
Good description and sophisticated vocabulary – no
misspellings
All elements of the assignment are present and
correct
Creative, original approach
3
Correct letter form is used for a majority of the letter
Good grammar and adequate descriptions and
vocabulary – 1 or 2 misspellings
All required elements are present with minor
omissions or errors
2
Letter form is loosely used
Fair use of English grammar, but
mistakes take away from the understanding of product
Several misspellings
One or two major elements are missing or
incorrect
1 Attempt at letter format
Many required
elements missing
Poor use of
grammar and vocabulary
Many
misspellings
FRIENDLY LETTER TEMPLATE
(Heading)____________________
__________________________,
(Greeting or Salutation)
(Body)_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________(Body)
(Closing)______________________,
(Signature)_______________________
Length
of Time-4-6 periods (50 minutes each)
Eighth
Grade- Social Studies and/or Language Arts
Objectives:
To
incorporate technological programs (brochure program in MS Works) into the
language arts curriculum.
To have students use
different forms of media (drawings, photos) within a writing project.
Student
Understandings: To have students become familiar with their surrounding neighborhood
and how it fits into their city.
To have students understand
how and why technology enhances their work.
Materials
or Resources: Photos of
Brochure program in MS Works
Maps of
Brochure template from the book,
“Ready-to-
Go Genre Book Reports”
Rubric for project
Lesson: Students will be introduced
to the computer program in MS Works. They will be shown a model of a brochure
created with this program. The teacher will also model a brochure done without
a computer using a template.
Assignment: Students will design a
brochure advertising their neighborhood either in the present day or during the
1880’s or 1890’s. They have the option of using the computer program or drawing
one themselves. The brochure must incorporate
landmarks and historical buildings (if any) found within their
neighborhood. Businesses, factories, and
schools should be advertised.
Assessment: Students will be assessed
in two ways. The first assessment will be teacher assessment using the rubric
provided before the project was assigned. The second will be a grade for
presentation of their brochure; this will be a peer assessment. Students will
receive a rubric and scoring sheet prior to project presentations.
Oral
Presentation Peer Assessment
Rubric
4 - Presenter well prepared, little or no
use of note cards
Good eye contact and excellent vocal expression
Presenter relaxed and confident; spoke clearly and slowly
Graphic aids well constructed, neat and colorful
3 - Presenter adequately
prepared, some use of note cards
Some eye contact adequate vocal expression
Presenter seemed a little ill at ease; speech
somewhat hurried
Graphic aids lacking in one or more elements
2 - Presenter dependence on
note cards obvious
Eye contact unfocused; little vocal expression
Presenter very nervous and speech confusing
Graphic aids lacking in at least two of the elements
1 - Presenter completely
dependent on note cards
Little or no eye contact
Speech confusing and no vocal expression
Graphic aids of little or no help in understanding
Each
student will be responsible for grading his or her peers using this rubric. The
presenters will be responsible for a five to ten minute presentation of his or
her neighborhood’s brochure. The grading will be done anonymously (no student
will be required to put their name on the scoring paper. Each student must sit
quietly and attentively while they are listening to the presentations or their
score will be discounted. In order to preserve anonymity each scoring paper
will be numbered and only the teacher will know the student’s number.
TRAVEL
BROCHURE RUBRIC
TITLE:
POSSIBLE POINTS
POINTS
EARNED
(1) Was your project approved on time? 5
(2) Did you hand in your project on time?
15
(3) Each part
of the brochure is complete.
25
(4) The
brochure contains thoughtful and convincing information. 35
(5) The
spelling, punctuation, and grammar are correct. 10
(6) The brochure is neat colorful and
attractive. 10
Comments:____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
UNIT RESOURCES
1)
Hesse, Karen, Letters from Rifka
(historical novel for young adults), Puffin Books, paperback.
2) http://pages.prodigy.net/pckevin/right.html
3) http://ccbit.cs.umass.edu/lizzie/k12/activities/borden1/cottonmill.html
4) http://www.rootsweb.com/~ussnei/FallRiver.htm
5) http://www.massstats.com/demographics/map.asp
6) http://www.terraserver.com/
7) http://www.albany.edu/faculty/gz580/His316/ELarcomLetters.html
8) http://www.albany.edu/faculty/gz580/His316/MaryPaulLetters.html