History Standard Three - Grades 4-5

Sample Activities

After reading several accounts of the Battle of Trenton ((a diary entry from a participant, a newspaper account, a textbook description, or others), students could be asked to look for similarities and differences. Then the student could be asked to give an explanation for differences noted, based on point of view or access to information [Interpretation; content].

Parent Partnership Project: Students might pick a single historical event or person and interview their parents, grandparents, and other family members to determine their opinions on the subject. Then in class the students could examine the different responses and suggest how different personal perspectives might have led to different interpretations [Interpretation].

Using drawings, paintings, oral histories, and literary sources which illustrate the experiences of African-Americans in the 18th and 19th centuries, students might write an essay about their struggle to retain cultural cohesion within the confines of slavery [Interpretation; content].

This activity could be extended to a similar consideration of Asians working in the American west, Native-Americans finding themselves restricted to reservations, or immigrants from rural sections of Europe who found themselves living in cities, and would permit a greater understanding of diverse cultural contexts.

to History Standard Three.