The Library of Congress

Lesson 1 - Artifact Attributes

Have the children bring in personal mementos from a previous school year. At the Dalton School, one of the first activities of the year for fourth graders is the creation of a Museum of the Old Country. The "old country" is their K-3 Lower School several blocks away. Each child brings in a memento from a previous school year and writes a caption about it. These mementos and captions are displayed in a museum (hallway, classroom, etc.). Mementos include photographs, stories, awards, and sculptures.

Use these artifacts and documents in a lesson on artifact attributes.

1. Ask the children to identify attributes that all the items share such as color, shape, size and format (written document, photograph, etc.). You can also refer to articles of clothing or shoes the children are wearing.

2. As children identify artifact attributes that are shared by the items, write them on a blackboard or large piece of paper.

3. Relate the categories students identified to the way information is organized in a library. Ask about the attributes that books have. Which of these attributes is used when placing materials on the library shelf?

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Lesson 2 - Primary Sources

1. Have students sit in a line or circle.

2. Write a one sentence message on a piece of paper Give it to a student and ask the class to play the "telephone game". The first student reads the message and returns it to the teacher. Then the student quietly tells another child what the message says. This student in turn passes the message along until everyone has heard the message. Ask the last student to stand and recite the message out loud.

3. Write the original message and the final version of the message on the blackboard for comparison.

4. Inform students that the original message is a "primary source" and the final version is a "secondary source".

Use the telephone game to suggest ways in which the retelling of stories over time can change our understanding of history. Primary sources can be much more reliable than secondary sources for studying past events. Ask students how they think information might change over time? Ask students to give examples of things that are primary sources. Why do people save primary sources for personal use? Why do we save primary sources as a society? It may be helpful to record student comments on a blackboard or large piece of paper. Guide the discussion keeping in mind the overarching objectives of the unit.

Assessment

Students can be assessed based upon their level of engagement in group discussions.