Educational Overview | Ohio Social Studies Curriculum | Plan Your Visit
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The Historic Village... Curriculum
New! Meet the People
An Exhibit Highlight: The District 16 School
Terms to Explore From the Ohio Social Studies Content Standards
Connections to Ohio Social Studies Content Standards
Suggested Activities With a Visit to the Historic Village

Natives & Newcomers... Curriculum
An Exhibit Highlight: The Council Oak Carving
Terms to Explore From the Ohio Social Studies Content Standards
Connections to Ohio Social Studies Content Standards
Suggested Activities With a Visit to Natives and Newcomers
Further Information About the Natives and Newcomers Exhibit

The Historic Village...
Suggested Activities With A Visit To The Historic Village

* Pink/Bold face type indicates relationship to an Ohio Social Studies Content Standard

The following activities are suggested as possible ways to help students learn from their experiences throughout the Historic Village.

Grades 3-5

A Very Long Trip . . . Ask students how long a very long trip lasts? What long trips have they taken? Why did European immigrants decide to take the long trip to America? After identifying such reasons as agriculture, manufacturing, and political or religious freedom, ask students to brainstorm how going to a brand new place might help people improve these types of situations. (Explain the reasons people came to Ohio) (Identify possible cause and effect relationships) Discuss with students what it would be like to leave everything you knew to go to a new home. How would you feel? What would the trip be like? Most immigrants came in steerage class on a long boat ride. What would it be like to finally arrive in a new land with no home, no friends and no job? Ask students to role play an immigrant of their own age. Write a letter to a friend in Europe describing both the journey, as well as life in their new home. How would food be obtained? How would meals be cooked? What would the first shelters built probably be like? How would it feel to start all over? (Compare reasons for immigration to the reality immigrants experienced upon arrival.) Which is your favorite? . . . As they explore the Historic Village, point out to students the differences in the various historic structures. Ask students to keep track of which are their favorites and why. This could be shared and discussed after your visit. How do the outside of buildings differ? How does the construction of the Historic Homes change from one time period to another? What about items inside the buildings such as cooking utensils, entertainment, furniture? What do these changes tell us about the development of the area? (Describe changes in the community over time... architecture, transportation, technology, recreation.) What do we NEED?  What do we WANT?  How did THEY get it? . . . Guide the class in making a list of needs and wants. Ask students to predict how those items would be obtained in a community in the 1800s or early 1900s. While visiting the Historic Village, help students discover how the items were made, or where they came from. Some items might include: mittens, eggs, cloth, clothes, pans and dishes, butter, cheese, door latches, water buckets, candle holders, lamps. (Identify people who purchase goods and services as consumers and people who make goods or provide services as producers.) Are we having FUN yet? . . . One hundred years from now, what artifacts will historians find that show how we have fun? What household items do your students identify as fun? While exploring the Historic Residences, have a student in each group be responsible for finding ways that people of the past entertained themselves. How many musical instruments, stereoscopes, and toys can they find? Why are there fewer of those in the 1834 Lauber Homestead than in the 1910 Homestead? (Describe cultural practices and products) Hear Ye, Hear Ye! . . . Ask students to compare methods of communication found in the Historic Village to those of today. How was information distributed before the era of television and daily newspapers? There are many modes of communication represented throughout the Historic Village. Don’t forget oral, written, and mechanical methods. (Extra Credit: How did the depot workers communicate with passing trains?) (Identify systems of communication used to move ideas from place to place.) Are we there yet? . . . It may have taken a little longer, but several ways of getting from place to place can be found throughout the Historic Village. How many transportation methods can your students locate? Analyze how advances in transportation would impact the development of the region. (Extra Credit: Why did some wagons pulled behind animals have solid wheels instead of ones with spokes in them?) (Identify systems of transportation) (Explain how canals and railroads changed settlement patterns in Ohio.) (Explain the impact of settlement, industrialization, and transportation on the expansion of the United States.) A Time for Worship . . . Worship was very important to the Black Swamp families of all denominations. How long was the typical church service? Did families go only to hear the sermon? How was activity on the Sabbath different than in many of the communities of today? (Compare or Describe Cultural Practices) Make a Grocery List . . . Make a list of things you could purchase at a general store in the 1880s. If you didn’t have any money, how might you pay for the things you needed? The General Store was also the place to pick up your mail. How is this different from a modern post office? How did the arrival of train service to this region in the 1850s impact the type of goods you could buy, how you bought them and where you bought them? (Describe Cultural Practices and Products) Are we going to school . . . on our field trip? What do the two schools in the Historic Village tell you about life in Black Swamp communities in the 1800s? Have groups make lists of similarities and differences that they find here in comparison to their own schools. Or, ask students to compare the two schools in the Historic Village to each other. (Describe changes in the community over time.) (Describe cultural practices and products of various groups who have settled in Ohio over time: European immigrants.) Time to go Work! . . . In the 1800s and early 1900s students usually did not go to school to learn a craft or a trade. Instead, they became an apprentice to a working craftsman who would teach what he knew while the student worked for him. During or after your day at the Historic Village, ask students to pick one of the craftspeople to whom they would like to have been apprenticed. After the visit, students can draw, or describe in written form, some of the objects they would make. What were the steps involved in making the object? (Describe changes in the community over time including changes in... Businesses, Employment, Education.) Back to Top

The Historic Village... Curriculum
New! Meet the People
An Exhibit Highlight: The District 16 School
Terms to Explore From the Ohio Social Studies Content Standards
Connections to Ohio Social Studies Content Standards
Suggested Activities With a Visit to the Historic Village

Natives & Newcomers... Curriculum
An Exhibit Highlight: The Council Oak Carving
Terms to Explore From the Ohio Social Studies Content Standards
Connections to Ohio Social Studies Content Standards
Suggested Activities With a Visit to Natives and Newcomers
Further Information About the Natives and Newcomers Exhibit

Educational Overview | Ohio Social Studies Curriculum | Plan Your Visit
Special Events & Programs | Reservation & Payment Forms