|
StANDARDS SPOTLIGHT: The INDUSTRIAL ERA
How will you bring Minnesota's Industrial Era to life in your classroom? Telling James J. Hill's story is an attention-grabbing way to spark a variety of lessons. Not only did the "Empire Builder" have a profound effect on the national economy, but his Great Northern Railway affected the politics, landscape, and culture of 1890s Minnesota.
Hill's story can be told from many perspectives--of a laborer working for one of Hill's businesses, an immigrant seeking new opportunity, a citizen from a bypassed town, or possibly a farmer whose prices the railroads dominated.
Minnesota students have easy access to information about this influential figure. They can explore history right where it happened, here in their home state. Check out these sources:
 Tour the Hill House. Built by 400 workers, this magnificent mansion gives glimpses of what life was like for the Hill family and the home's servants. For field trips, call 651-297-2555.
Visit the James. J. Hill Reference Library. View online photos or see Hill's personal business papers at the library. History Day students are welcome. Call 651-265-5442 for more information.
Do research at the Minnesota History Center library. Read about Hill or peruse these 400 photos in the Society's collections.
Sign up for "James J. Hill and the Gilded Age" on Dec. 9. Lively sessions explore both sides of Hill's power--the glitz and the grit. Questions? Call 651-296-4975 or write aleah.vinick@mnhs.org
RamSey House FIELD TRIP MATERIALS NOW ONLINE
Any field trip is more meaningful to students when they get a chance to prepare for it. Getting students ready to visit St. Paul's Alexander Ramsey House just got easier: Pre-visit materials are now online.
Developed by a Ramsey House staff member who is a certified teacher, the materials provide a taste of life in Minnesota 130 years ago. Cross-curricular activities combine history, math, literature, science, and reading.
Find out how a trip to the Ramsey House can enrich your lessons about immigration, industry, and technology.
K-2 materials. Explore family trees, play a Victorian game, do art projects from the 19th century, and more.
3-5 materials. Become a house detective, investigate a letter from Henry H. Sibley to Ramsey, and more.
6-8 materials. Research Ramsey's role in westward expansion, discover 19th-century literature, and more.
9-12 materials. Research Ramsey's role in westard expansion, solve math problems about Victorian life, and more.
Homeschool materials. Receive a sampling of the materials above, to mix and match to suit your students' ages.
To book, fill out our field trip request form or call 651-296-8760. Previsit activities were developed with generous help from the The St. Paul Foundation.
NEW HISTORY PLAYERS COMING to a Class near You
"I love playing this character," says Wini Froelich, a History Player at Mill City Museum. "Mary Dodge Woodward speaks plainly about life, yet can still be poetic about the stark beauty of the world she is thrust into." Woodward's world was that of an 1880s domestic farm manager in the Red River Valley.
Thanks to the History Player in the Classroom program, more students will be a  ble to hear Woodward's story. In February, she will be one of two new Players available to visit classrooms throughout Minnesota.
William de la Barre--a "not-so-famous" person who made a tremendous impact--will also join the HPIC cast in February. An Austrian immigrant, de la Barre served as chief water engineer for Minneapolis. Influential in the city's inner workings, de la Barre established industrial roots that led to Minneapolis becoming "flour capital of the world" in the late 1800s.
History Player David Berg enjoys his role. "De la Barre's legacy lives on in a permanent way. He put water to work and it is still working." In addition to teaching about immigration and industrialization, de la Barre can share life lessons. As he once said, "Keep right on through praise or blame and do your duty just the same."
History Players are a great alternative to field trips. Complete with props and artifacts, each 45-minute lesson brings history to life in a memorable way. Teachers receive a background packet, pre- and post-visit activities, and a bookmark for each student.
FOR GRADES 3-8. We'll help tailor to your school's needs. If needed, book with a nearby school, or use Box Tops for Education to help cover costs. Players are also popular with homeschool groups. To book Mill City Museum Players, contact Patrick at 612-341-7556 or by email. To book History Center Players, contact Mary at 651-215-5865 or by email.
Back to top
Industry LESSONS For MIDDLE-LEVEL STUDEntS
We use the new Northern Lights Curriculum in our study of Minnesota History. Our culmination of Chapter 11: Flour, Lumber, and Iron is to use the "Forests, Fields, and the Falls" on-line activity. During computer time my students explore the four different options that are available. They look at lumbering, saw milling, farming, and flour milling through an extremely well done interactive process using animation, music, and actual artifacts and documents from the Minnesota History Center.
Each student over four days investigates each occupation and takes notes. On our fifth day, the students have to decide which of the four they would have liked to have been involved in and give reasons why. The students then write a report of their findings and present it to the class.
We often see that our personal background and familiarity with the world around us has an effect on what we would want to do. The students love the online work and are excited to put themselves into the shoes of an early Minnesotan and live their life for awhile!
--Kevin Wassenaar, 6th Grade Teacher
Central Minnesota Christian School, Prinsburg, MN
Do you have a classroom idea you'd like to share with other educators? Please contact us with your idea. If your idea is chosen, we'll send you a free book from the Minnesota Historical Society Press.
|
