Theme: Community
Grade: Kindergarten
Day 9: Our Community “Then and Now”
Lesson Description:
With a firm grasp of the elements within communities today and how they function, the children will be challenged to analyze how communities functioned long ago. Through the examination of primary photographic artifacts, the children will be able visually see the dominant differences. It will be their job to compare the aspects of today’s communities to communities long ago, by looking at historical photos in comparison to present day photos. The broad theme of community will hit home, while they reexamine their own community, Winona, Minnesota.
Materials Needed:
• A Little Prairie House by Laura Ingalls Wilder
• “Now and Then” Poster
• Photos from Winona Historical Society
Goals:
1. The students will learn about what Winona looked like long ago.
2. The students will increase their understanding of how communities
change over time.
Objectives:
1. The students will examine photos of their downtown long ago and today.
2. The students will categorize different photos from long ago and the present.
3. The students will see how places such as: stores and offices have played major roles in the community long ago and still do today.
Procedure:
a. Read A Little Prairie House (10 min.)
Remind the children that Laura and her family lived many years ago, so they should notice how life was different for her family. Show the children a map of Pepin, Wisconsin in relation to Winona, Minnesota. Discuss how the Winona community has changed over time. Explain to them how many people have lived in Winona before us. Ask the children what they might think would be different about communities long ago, compared to existing communities today. Describe to them how people living in communities did not have cars and grocery stores like we do.
b. Winona Then and Now (20 min.)
1. Ask the children where they go to buy their food, clothing, and toys. As they mention places, place photos of those places on the board. Remind the students that two hundred years ago, people didn’t have big toy stores and grocery stores. Stick the picture of Winona’s General Store from the 1800s on the board (4 min.)
2. Talk about other places that are in a community, besides the ones depicted on the chalkboard. Suggest how dentist offices and pharmacies might appear different long ago. Pass around photos of Winona’s old dentist office and pharmacy. Encourage the children to point out different aspects of the pictures they may notice right away that are different form community life today (4 min).
3. Ask the children about how they travel from place to place throughout their community. Encourage them to think about how they get to and from school. Children may bring-up cars, trucks, vans, and buses. Stick a picture of an old fashion horse drawn school bus next to the photo of a present day school bus. Ask the children what they think it would be like to ride in that to school. (4 min.)
4. Scramble all the photos on the board. Have the students come up, one at a time, and place the photo they choose in either the “Now” side of the poster or the “Then” side of the poster (8 min.)
c. Learning About Long Ago (5 min)
1. Have the children draw what they have learned from their exploration of the past. Encourage them to use their imagination, as they may want to draw themselves in a scene from community life in the 1800s. They may want to illustrate their family riding in a carriage or themselves on an old fashion school bus.
Assessments:
1. Make sure the children are able to distinguish the difference between the photos of the past and the photos of the present.
2. When viewing the children’s drawings of the past, have them identify and explain the different objects in their drawing that pertain to community life in the past.
