Lesson Title: Telling Their Story
Lesson Theme: Orphan Train Unit - Primary Source Lesson Plan
Grade: 5th Grade
MN Standard: Grade 4-8 IV.B. Historical Skills: Historical Resources
Grade 4-8 IV.C. Historical Skills: Historical Inquiry
Lesson Objective: Students will obtain valid and viable information from the internet or other sources.
Students will create and present a Power Point presentation using the information they
found.
Essential Question: What determines if an experience is a good one or a bad one?
Materials Needed:
- Internet access
- Books, Newspapers, and other Articles on Orphans who rode the Orphan Trains
- Power Point or similar computer program
Anticipatory Set/Motivation/Snappy Launch:
Students will have read the book A Family Apart about a family of children and their experience on the orphan trains.
Background Discussion with students:
- Remember when the children were riding the train in Chapters 6 and 7.....
- Do you think these children's experiences were typical?
- Do you think the children had good experiences or bad experiences?
- Explain why you think that.
- Think about when the children arrived in St. Joseph and were chosen by families in Chapters 8 and 9....
- Do you think this was a good or bad experience for them?
- Explain why you think that.
- Frances and Petey went with the Cummings family.....
- Do you think this is good or bad for them?
- Explain why you think that.
- Think about the conditions the children lived in when they were in New York and the families they are currently living with....
- Do you think they are going to have a better or worse life with their new families than they would have had if they had stayed in New York?
- Explain why you think that.
Procedure:
Instructional Method: Constructivist
Instructional Strategy: Research, Identifying valid and viable information, Collaborative groups
Content Outline:
- If necessary, review with the students how to determine if a source contains valid information and how to document the sources used.
- Group students in 2 - 3 per group depending on the dynamics of the classroom.
- Groups will research orphan trains and find resources (pictures, documentation, personal stories, and so on) about a particular orphan and their experience.
- Groups will compile their information into a Power Point presentation of at least four slides with captions. Each group's portion will be put together as one entire presentation by the teacher (or a capable student or two). Students should use the first name only of the person they are researching when they create their slides and present their material. The slide following the fourth slide in the group presentation should read, "Did (insert first name of the orphan researched) have a good experience or a bad experience?" "Why do you think that?" During the presentation, we will be stopping to talk about these questions as a class after each group's section of the Power Point presentation.
Student Assessment:
Assessment will occur through observation of group work, content of Power Point, and participation in class discussion of essential question during the class presentation.
Rubric:
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Gathering information
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I stayed on task and worked cooperatively with my group to locate information.
3 points
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I mostly stayed on track with my group to locate information.
2 points
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I didn’t help my group very much in locating information.
1 points
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Pictures and other resources.
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I found 2 or more pictures or other resources for our slide show.
4 points
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I found 1 of the pictures or other resources for our slide show.
3 points
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I found some information, but it wasn’t useful for our slide show.
1 point
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Compiling information
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I had input on 2 or more of the slides for our presentation.
4 points
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I had input on 1 of the slides for our presentation.
3 points
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I gave a minimum of information for part of a slide for our presentation.
1 point
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Presentation of information
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I presented information on 2 or more slides.
3 points
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I presented information on 1 of the slides.
2 points
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I only presented a little information about 1 of the slides.
1 point
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Overall presentation
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Our slide show contained at least 4 slides. Each slide had a caption and/or other information. We included the follow up slide with the required questions.
8-10 points
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Our slide show contained at least 3 slides. Almost all the slides had a caption and/or other information. We included the follow up slide with the required questions.
6-7 points
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Our slide show contained at least 2 slides. At least one of the slides had a caption and/or other information. We included the follow up slide with the required questions.
1-5 points
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Discussion
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I was an active participant in the essential question discussion.
5-6 points
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I somewhat participated in the essential question discussion.
3-4 points
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I did a lot more listening than participating in the discussion.
1-2 points.
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Supplemental Resources:
Books containing orphan train riders stories and pictures:
Plains Bound: Fragile Cargo by Charlotte M. Endorf, ISBN: 1-59800-235-X, 87 pages
We Rode the Orphan Trains by Andrea Warren, ISBN-13: 978-0-618-43235-6 and ISBN-10:0-618-43235-3, 126 pages
Websites:
The following site contains stories and pictures of some orphan train riders.
http://www.orphantraindepot.com/RiderStories.html
Lesson Author Note:
I was inspired to find information on Orphan Trains and develop lesson plans around this subject because of the dear lady who taught me to play the organ. Marie was an orphan who traveled from New York to Minnesota on an Orphan Train as in infant. I am including a link here which contains some pictures of her and what I know of her story. A Family Apart_Slide Show
A Family Apart
A Family Apart_Lesson Plan
A Family Apart_Chapter 2 Reading Activity
History
Social Studies Standards
NCSS Ten Themes
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