Teaching the Past

I find that my students have a hard time wrapping their heads around history. They just can't imagine a past without YouTube, cell phones and smartboards. We look at a lot of pictures and watch re-enactments in videos, but it's a difficult concept for them. And once you get started talking about historical figures their burning question is always "is he dead?".

There are some books I have discovered over the years that I love to use with my kiddos:

Technology is one of our Social Studies objectives and my students when they think of that word think of cell phones and tablets. This book shows how technology has changed over the generations with just a recipe for whipped cream. My students loved competing to see who could whip it first using just a whisk and then I showed them using beaters and finally a mixer. 

Alice Roosevelt was the Princess Diana of her time. The people loved her and I actually think Eleanor was a little jealous of that fact-the two didn't really get along. Alice's father Teddy once said he could keep up with her or be President he couldn't do both. She would go around saying the wanted to "eat up the world!". Spurns a great discussion of children in the White House and how their lives must be different.

Imogene loves history and when they want to tear down a historical site in her town she protests it! This is a great story to show how important it is to remember our past.