DISCOVERING OUR CITY

Debbie Gabelman
3rd Grade/ Social Studies

OHIO SOCIAL STUDIES STANDARDS:

Grade 3 Theme: Past and Present, Near and Far
Topic: Historical Thinking and Skills
Content Statement:
1. Events in local history can be shown on timelines organized by years, decades and centuries.
2. Primary sources such as artifacts, maps and photographs can be used to show change over time
Topic: Heritage
Content Statement:
3. Local communities change over time.
Topic: Economic Decision Making and Skills
Content Statement
14. Line graphs are used to show changes in data over time
Lesson Summary:
This lesson will teach 3rd grade students about their local city history. They will also learn how to create a
timeline. The class will take a field trip to the downtown (or historical district) of their local city. At
historically relevant places, a parent (dressed in era specific clothing) will provide a brief historical summary
about that particular location (including year, historical figures, event, etc.). The next day in school, the class
will watch videos on YouTube of the citys history and/ or images from the past. Each student will then utilize
www.hstry.com to create a historical timeline. The created timelines will be printed off and displayed in our
classroom.
Estimated Duration:
One 90 minute field trip, two 50 minute class periods and one 45 minute class period.
Commentary:
My approach will be to use different techniques to engage the students in learning about their citys history.
The biggest challenge is to keep the students interested and focused on the subject matter. The first and hook
will be the field trip. This will use all of their sensory modalities (auditory, visual, tactile and kinesthetic).
They will be actively learning in an authentic environment! I will have a fun worksheet to help them keep
track of important information (scaffolding) that will be turned in at the end of the field trip. The use of
technology to watch short videos and create their timelines should also help keep them focused and interested.

Instructional Procedures:
Day 1: 45 minutes
For morning work, Ill ask the students to write down what they think a timeline is and how it is used and any
facts they know about their city. Ill review responses while they are at lunch, recess or specials. (5-10
minutes)
In the afternoon, I will show the class an example of a historical timeline. The responses received from
morning work will determine how much time/ detail spent on reviewing timelines. I will then ask the students
to share any previous times they have seen or used timelines. I will also share with the students the basic
information of our field trip the next day and the timeline project so that they have an idea of what to expect.
(30-40 minutes)
Day 2: 90 minutes
Students will do a walking field trip around the downtown (or historical district) of their local city. At
historical locations throughout the walk, students will stop and listen to a brief 5-10 minutes summary about a
person, place or event that was important in the history of the city. Each parent or teacher that will be
providing a summary will be dressed in the era of the timeframe they are discussing. Each student will have a
clipboard, pencil and a fun worksheet to log each of the relevant facts provided in the summaries. This field
trip will last approximately 90 minutes. The worksheets will be turned in at the end of the day. The completed
worksheet will serve as an informal, formative assessment.
Day 3: 50 minutes
The handouts will be passed back out. We will have a group discussion about what we learned on our field trip
the day before. I will ask for a list of dates, events, people, and locations that they found interesting and
important in our citys history. I will capture all of their ideas for them to be able to reference later. I will then
show them a short video from YouTube of what their city looked like years before. I will also show them
historical pictures from the Internet of the places and people that were visited/ discussed on the field trip. Ill
ask them to write down (in chronological order) and turn in the top 5 historical facts (people and/ or events)
they (individually) feel are the most important in the citys history. This will serve as another informal,
formative assessment.
Day 4: 50 minutes (may take longer or need to finished as homework)
I will summarize the previous activities (field trip, video, pictures). I will show them again the example
timeline from Day 1. I will provide the students with a tutorial on www.hstry.com. A concept map/ graphic
organizer on how to create timelines (starting from the earliest date, etc.) will be displayed on the Smartboard
throughout this exercise. Each student will independently create a timeline using his or her prior days top 5
events in the history of our city utilizing www.hstry.com. I will walk around the class to answer questions and
provide support.
Day 5: After all students have completed their timelines, I will print them off and display them in our
classroom.

Pre-Assessment:
The pre-assessment will be the open-ended questions on timelines and their city completed during morning
work Day 1.
Scoring Guidelines:
Teacher judgment will determine knowledge gap on timelines and local history.

Post-Assessment:
The post assessment will be the completed 5-fact timeline on our local citys history created by each student.
Scoring Guidelines:
A 6-point rubric that will be used to score finished timeline product. The two criteria items scored will
be Accurate Historical Facts and Timeline. 1 point for Does Not Meet Expectations, 2 points
for Meets Expectations, and 3pt for Exceeds Expectations. A 4 is acceptable. Below a 4 will
require follow-up and re-work.

Differentiated Instructional Support

Describe how instruction can be differentiated (changed or altered) to meet the needs of gifted or accelerated
students: Students that have mastered the timeline and basic historical information will be asked to add
additional detail/ context on each of their 5 historical events/ people by researching the local public library
website, the local historical society website or provided library books.
Discuss additional activities you could do to meet the needs of students who might be struggling with the
material: This depends on the reason the student is struggling. One way is to provide peer support. If another
child has completed the project, then they can help the child that is struggling.

Extension
http://www.westervillelibrary.org/local-history
Link to public librarys local history website. Provides additional information, artifacts, documents and
pictures on citys history.
http://dohistory.org/on_your_own/toolkit/timeline.html
Link to step-by-step process to creating a timeline.

Homework Options and Home Connections

Not all students may finish the assignment during the allotted time. They can finish working on the timeline
project as homework.
Students could take copies of the their timelines home to share with their families. The next day, each student
could share what their family member felt was the most interesting event on their timeline and why.

Interdisciplinary Connections
Language Arts- The students could create a book on Storybird.com about their favorite historical event or
person.
Math- Students could calculate how many years between each event on their timeline.
Materials and Resources:

For teachers

Smartboard, Worksheet for field trip, Costumes for field trip volunteers, Library Books,
Access to the Internet

For students

Clipboard, pencil, paper, laptop, field trip permission slip

Key Vocabulary
Timeline
What is meant by historical event, location or person