Participant Name(s): Kristin Steffy

The Last Great Canal Curriculum Project
Unit/Lesson Title Getting to Know Downers Grove Settlers; Connecting with Our Past
Intended Grade Level Third Grade	Approximate length Four days
Applicable Standards Illinois Standards: 16.A.1a Explain the difference between past, present and future time; place themselves in time. 16.A.1b Ask historical questions and seek out answers from historical sources (e.g., myths, biographies, stories, old photographs, artwork, and other visual or electronic sources). 16.B.1 (W) Explain the contributions of individuals and groups who are featured in biographies, legends, folklore and traditions. 16.D.1 (US) Describe key figures and organizations (e.g., fraternal/civic organizations, public service groups, community leaders) in the social history of the local community.
Goals/Objectives 1. Students will learn about regional life in the mid-nineteenth century. 2. Students will make a connection to the early settlers of Downers Grove, Illinois, by reading/listening to biographies from the Downers Grove Historical Society. 3. Students will make a connection to the early settlers of Downers Grove by visiting the local cemetery, and, using a map, locate and gather information from the headstones of selected local leaders from the past. 4. Students will write a narrative describing life from the perspective of a local biographical subject. They may choose to describe 1800’s life or bring their subject to the present and compare and contrast life then to life now.
Procedures 1. Tell students that it is important to understand how our town came to be. People just like us came to settle the town in the 1800’s, and because of who they were, decisions they made, and the events of the times, our town was shaped. 2. Using an overlay marked KWL, have volunteers write in names of Downers Grove founders they may have knowledge of. Next, have volunteers write in what they would like to know about the people who settled in Downers Grove in the 1800’s. 3. Students will view the film Prairie Tides to get an understanding of local events in the mid 19^th century. Ask students to describe a canal and what having a canal can accomplish. Discuss the I&M Canal and the growth of Chicago. Although Downers Grove is not on the I&M Canal, compare and contrast canal towns to towns that grew along the Burlington Northern tracks: Lockport : canal :: Downers Grove : railroad. Discuss how Downers Grove might have been different if Chicago had not prospered. 4. Students will read/listen to biographies of mid-nineteenth century local community settlers and leaders of Downers Grove, Illinois. Discuss how it is that we have this information from the 1800’s. Discuss recording history through various means (personal stories and journals, oral legends, legal documents). 5. Give the students a folder containing teacher generated materials and supplies for a field trip to the local cemetery. Explain that they will use a map to locate selected headstones of early settlers whom they have learned about. They will make a rubbing of one headstone, and be prepared to answer why they made their selection. Using a list template, they will look for 1800’s first names that have gone out of common use, and compare to names they list that are still in use. They will locate Civil War headstones, and record the soldiers’ names and any other information. Students will list names and ages of persons buried in the cemetery and later discuss if there is a pattern (e.g., very young and very old persons died; not too many in their middle years). 6. There will be a homework assignment: Using a Downers Grove phone book street map, find streets named after the early settlers of Downers Grove. Make a map showing where the streets are located. Minimum of three streets on the map. Use Downers Grove boundaries to show where the streets are located. 7. Brainstorm on the chalkboard information about the events that were going on during the lifetimes of the Downers Grove settlers. In class, students will write a personal narrative from the perspective of a biographical person they have studied.
Materials - Each child will receive a teacher-generated packet which includes: biographies/pictures of subjects to be studied; map of Downers Grove Main Street Cemetery; List templates for collecting information from gravestones; blank paper, pencil and crayon for rubbings. - The video Prairie Tides - KWL overheads
Resources (traditional & electronic) Voices that are Gone: A Guide to Historic Main Street Cemetery, Downers Grove, Illinois. Downers Grove Historical Society. 2005
Assessment(s) Students will write a personal narrative about a Downers Grove settler of their choice following a rubric.