Kindergarten Fall History — Family, School, Community Helpers, and the First Sense of Past, Present, and Future
Lesson 13 25 min hist.gK.f.lesson_13

School long ago — what was different?

Skills targeted
Objectives
  • Students can identify at least 3 differences between school long ago and school now.
  • Students can place 'long ago' on the past band of the chronology chart.
Vocabulary
long agopastdifferentsameone-room schoolhouseslatechalkboard

Lesson plan

Warm-up

3 min

Daily YTT chant; introduce 'long ago' as 'many many yesterdays ago' on the past band.

Teacher moves
  • Anchor 'long ago' physically on the past band by placing a moon icon labeled 'long long ago'

Direct instruction

9 min

Schools didn't always look like ours. Long ago, many children went to ONE-ROOM schoolhouses — every grade in one room, one teacher. Let's NOTICE and WONDER about an old photo. Then we'll compare it to OUR room.

Key examples
  • Same: a teacher, students, learning. Different: tools, building, number of rooms.
    model I notice: wooden desks, slate boards, no electric lights, one stove for heat. NOW: tables, whiteboards, lights, heat from vents.
    prompt Display side-by-side old/new classroom photos
Checks for understanding
  • Name one thing that's DIFFERENT about school long ago.
  • Name one thing that's the SAME.
Sourcework
Source type
historical photograph
Routine
NOTICE/WONDER applied to a HISTORICAL photo (first time in the unit — earlier lessons used recent family photos)
Details
Late-19th-century one-room schoolhouse photograph (US public domain).
Media
M-K-F-CHR-13-A Photograph
Public-domain late-19th-century photograph: a one-room schoolhouse with 15-20 children of varied ages, one teacher, wood

Public-domain late-19th-century photograph: a one-room schoolhouse with 15-20 children of varied ages, one teacher, wooden benches, slate boards, a single wood stove, a single lamp. Sepia tone or black-and-white. Source citation: US Library of Congress or state historical archive (cite by accession number).

M-K-F-CHR-13-B Photograph
Current-day color photograph of a kindergarten classroom (same age range as the old photo for fair comparison): tables,

Current-day color photograph of a kindergarten classroom (same age range as the old photo for fair comparison): tables, soft chairs, carpet area, whiteboard, electric lighting, computers, art supplies, plants. Diverse children visible. Brightly lit.

Guided practice

8 min
Tasks
  • In partners, sort 6 image cards onto a Same / Different T-chart
    scaffold Image cards: slate vs. iPad, wooden bench vs. carpet, lunch pail vs. cafeteria tray, etc.
  • Add 'school long ago' photo to the PAST band of the chronology chart
    scaffold Teacher models placement first
Media
M-K-F-CHR-13-C Manipulative Physical / non-image

11x17-inch T-chart with two columns ('LONG AGO' left, 'NOW' right). 6 image cards (2.5x2.5 inches each) showing artifacts that pair across the two columns: slate/iPad, wooden bench/carpet, lunch pail/cafeteria tray, kerosene lamp/electric light, chalk/marker, wood stove/heat vent. Cards have Velcro backs.

Formative assessment

2 min
Exit ticket
  • Tell me one thing about school long ago that was different from school now. Use the word DIFFERENT.
scoring Correct difference with 'different' = mastery; difference without word = practicing

Closure

Moves
  • Add 'long ago' to the Word Wall
  • Preview: tomorrow, family life long ago

Homework

5 min
Tasks
  • Ask a grandparent or older family member: 'What was your school like when you were little?' Bring an answer tomorrow.

Exercises in this lesson

hist.gK.f.chr.past_present_future.ex_01
Look at the historical photo of the one-room schoolhouse and a modern classroom. Place each on the chronology chart: which is PAST?...
 classify photo to band · diff 3

Differentiation

Scaffolds
  • Pre-sorted half of the T-chart
  • Picture-only same/different cards
  • Sentence frame 'I see ___'
Extensions
  • Find a 4th difference
  • Predict: what might school be like in the FUTURE?
English Learners
  • Bilingual same/different card
  • Picture-only response
Ieps 504s
  • Smaller card set
  • Pre-paired same/different examples
  • Extended time

Teacher notes

First historical-photograph encounter in the unit — children have only seen RECENT family photos as sources up to this point. The leap to 'photo of a place I've never been' is significant. Pre-load a vocabulary mini-lesson: slate, schoolhouse, kerosene. Be mindful that some children may have grandparents who attended one-room schoolhouses — affirm those direct connections.