The First Pepsi Generation

 

Program Summary The First Pepsi Generation is a four-part combination classroom and on-site program and is noted for its authenticity, in-depth research, and unique approach. The program begins with a pre-visit kit that acclimates the students to the time frame, followed by a bus tour of sights significant to an early 1900s student and an authentic 1910 school day experience at Coventry's one room Brick School and ends with a post-visit writing assignment. The local Historical Society will be contacted for pictures, maps, and newspaper articles appropriate for each town.  If town information cannot be obtained, Coventry pictures and articles will be used. Pre-visit kit: The pre-visit kits are delivered to the classrooms 1-week prior to first day of field trip. Teachers have the pre-visit kit for at least one week prior to their field trip to the Brick School. Kit contents: Groceries: Groceries are included to demonstrate similarities between food/items available at the turn of the 20th century and now.  Students may eat the Oreo cookies.                         jello                                         Pork-n-beans                         pineapple                                  Corn flakes                         crayons                                    Oreo cookies Assignment booklet and CD: Map exercise: A modern town map with the one-room school districts delineated is provided to the teachers along with information about each of the schools.  Students locate their home on the map, determine which school district they would have been in, where the school was located, learn who their classmates would have been, who their teacher was, and how many were in their school in 1910.  This exercise promotes map-reading skills and illustrates the isolation of the rural community. (Social Studies Content Standards 2: Local, United States and World History, 3: Historical Themes, 4: Applying History, 9: Places and Regions and 11: Human Systems) Now and Then exercises: In the first Now and Then exercise students will compare goods available, via catalogs, in the early 20th century (1900/1902 Sears Roebuck catalog) and 2005 (JC Penney catalog).  By looking at the catalogs students learn about the goods demanded by the consumers and apply it to society at the time. (Social Studies Content Standards: 1: Historical Thinking, and 4: Applying History) In the second Now and Then exercise students compare photographs, one taken in 2007 and one from the early twentieth century, noting the similarities and differences.   Eighth grade students are asked to list the pros and cons of each similarity/difference. In this exercise change (either good or bad) is emphasized as students analyze the photographs. (Social Studies Content Standards 1: Historical Thinking, 3: Historical Themes, 4: Applying History, 9: Places and Regions and 12: Human and Environment Interaction) Timeline and poster collage: Students are presented with a timeline of significant local, national and world events, occurring during 1900-1913, that they compare to the poster-collage and grocery items.  The collage holds many pictures (material goods, scientific, geographical and literary information) relevant to the early 1900s. By actively focusing on a few items, students will retain information for review at the Brick Schoolhouse.  Teachers are asked to emphasize the similarities between now and then. (Social Studies Content Standards 1: Historical Thinking, 2: Local, United States and World History, and 4: Applying History) Word Search: based on Coventry immigrant ethnic backgrounds. Reading Material: An effort will be made to contact the local historical society for input similar to the following Coventry based information.  If town information cannot be located the following will be used. The Diary of Mary Storrs is a primary source document written by a local woman born in 1891.  Her story gives a glimpse of life at the turn of the twentieth century. Six primary source newspaper articles, from the early twentieth century show how human nature has remained the same when compared to current events in Coventry. Two primary source documents, one written by Elijah Robertson and the other his obituary, introduce a prominent local man who died in 1905.  A story (primary source) based on Elijah Robertson's California Gold Rush experience is used during the fieldtrip to the Brick Schoolhouse as a reading, geography and mathematics exercise. CT Manufacturing in 1902 is a primary source document written by William A. Countryman, former editor of the Hartford Post, for From Yankee to American Connecticut 1865 to 1914. This article emphasizes the importance of Connecticut as a manufacturing center in 1902. (Social Studies Content Standards 1: Historical Thinking, 2: Local, United States and World History, 3: Historical Themes, 4: Applying History) 9: Places and Regions and 13: Limited Resources) Word Search: Ethnic groups living in Coventry according to the 1910 U.S. Census are used in a word search format to familiarize students with the diversity of the town at the turn of the 20th century. Immigration/census exercise: Students will fill out a 1910 census form based on their immediate family and friends.  This information will be compared to Coventry statistics from the 1910 census and used in the post-visit assignment.  This assignment illustrates the immigration and industrialization of Coventry. (Social Studies Content Standards 2: Local, United States and World History, and 4: Applying History). Poetry: Several poems familiar to early 1900s students are included in the pre-visit box.  Students are expected to memorize one poem for recitation during their field trip to the Brick School. Selections include: Who Has Seen the Wind? By Christina Rossetti, The Caterpiller by Christina Rossetti, Clouds by Christina Rossetti, I'm Nobody! Who Are You? by Emily Dickinson, A Bird by Emily Dickinson, The Train by Emily Dickinson, How Doth the Little Crocodile by Lewis Carroll, Jabberwock by Lewis Carrol, The Purple Cow by Gelett Burgess, The Children's Hour by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Owl and the Pussy-Cat by Edward Lear, Jenny Kiss'd Me by Leigh Hunt, Wynken, Blynken and Nod by Eugene Field, The Duel by Eugene Field, The Little Man Who Wasn't There by Hughes Mearns, and the North Wind Doth Blow by Anonymous, Proof of Immortality by William Carlos Williams, Trees by Joyce Kilmer, Now Close the Window by Robert Frost, A Late Walk by Robert Frost and Stars by Robert Frost. The following books are included in the pre-visit box: Children of a New Century by Jane A. Schott 1900's The First Decade by Margaret Sharman 1900-1909 Portrait of a Decade by Elizabeth Campling Welcome to Samantha's World-Growing up in America's New Century by The American Girls Collection Dawn of the Century 1900-1910 by Editors of Time Life Books Immigrant Kids by Russell Freedman Journey to Ellis Island by Carol Bierman Immigrants by Martin W. Sandler American Family of 1900-1920 (paper dolls) by Tom Tierney Betty Bonnet Paper Dolls by Sheila Young Gibson Girl (paper dolls) by Tom Tierney These books were selected for their portrayal of society at the turn of the twentieth century.  They include information on national and world events, scientific discoveries, immigration, family life and fashion that acclimatize students to the timeframe. (Social Studies Content Standards: 1: Historical Thinking, 2: Local, United States and World History, 3: Historical Themes, 4: Applying History, 9: Places and Regions, and 11: Human Systems) Game: Students are provided with two games.  The first is a Connecticut Trivia game and the second is entitled Life in 1910. 1910 Trivia entertainingly reinforces information taught in the classroom on local history, Connecticut history, geography, science and nature, art and literature, sports and leisure, and U.S. history (from current test to become a naturalized citizen).  Life in 1910 provides the student insight into an immigrants life compared to American born citizens.  Ethnic background is determined by the spin of a wheel, as is family size. The winner is determined by points earned through citizenship, farm ownership, children's education and accumulated cash. (Social Studies Content Standards: 4: Applying History and 6: Rights and Responsibilities of Citizens)             The day of the field trip 8:30: Brick School teacher arrives at the classroom.  Questions about the field trip are answered and a pre-printed booklet featuring the sights on the bus trip to and from the Brick School is folded. The booklet contains questions about each sight and will be completed by students. The sights were chosen for their importance to a student living at the turn of the 20th century and for their ease of bus access.  The bus tour can be omitted to allow a timelier arrival at the Brick School. 9:00: Bus Tour: The students remain on the bus viewing the sights through the window while the "field-trip teacher" describes what they are seeing and why it was important. Sights include: Wellwood's General Store: Coventry Village's general store in the early 1900s.  This building was the earliest store in the village and is one of the oldest continuously operating businesses in the state. Booth and Dimock Library: Coventry's library built in 1913. Tracy's Shoddy Mill: Local mill employing many immigrant workers in the early 1900s.  Other significant mills in Coventry's history are also mentioned. District 4 one-room school: An example of one of Coventry's one-room schools that has been turned into a home.  A case of diphtheria closed the school for seven weeks in 1910.  Students are made aware illnesses that are no longer an issue in our society played a large role in the early 1900s. (Social Studies Content Standards: 2: Local, United States and World History, 4: Applying History, and 9: Places and Regions) 9:30: Distric 8 Brick Schoolhouse The 1910 Town Annual Report was consulted for textbooks to ascertain the subjects taught and adapted for the time allowed at the schoolhouse. The activities taught include passive and active participation and are presented in varying forms for visual and verbal learning. 9:30 - 9:45: Students are seated, and specific questions about their one-room school surrounding are answered. Students then recite Pledge of Allegiance, the 1910-style 9:45 - 10:15: Local history is presented in the form of several short stories.  Story subjects will come from local historical societies and will be similar to the following presented to Coventry students: Coventry's geography, Native Americans in the Coventry area, the First Congregational Church lightning strike in 1903 and Lakeside Park on the day the trolley started business from Willimantic, CT. Black and White photos representing the stories are shown to the students to make the come alive. 10:15 - 10:55: This period is used as two 20-minute sessions. Students are divided into two groups. Half of the students have desk work; a penmanship lesson using nib pens and ink.  The other half will design and construct a cardboard model of the Brick Schoolhouse using an architectural scale At 10:45 students change places and complete the other activity. Restroom/water break as students complete the activities. 10:55 - 11:30: A Primary Source Document entitled Gold Fever is used for the Reading, Geography and Local History exercises.  This document is based on the diary of a distinguished local man, Elijah Robertson.  Elijah Robertson is the father of George Hersey Robertson, the namesake of, George Hersey Robertson Intermediate School. Students locate the destinations mentioned in the story and plot the journey, on an 8-1/2x11 inch map of the Western Hemisphere, of Mr. Robertson and his luggage. 11:30 - 12:00: Students eat their brown bag lunch.  The Brick School teacher leads the students in several 1900s style recess games.  The games include "Honey Do You Love Me", "Marbles", "Camping Trip" and "Hot Potato". 12:00 - 12:20: Students participate in a spelling and vocabulary bee using words taken from the fabric descriptions in the Sears Roebuck Catalog. A certificate is awarded the winner(s). 12:20 - 1:00: This period is broken down into two 20-minute segments with half the class completing an arithmetic assignment at their desk and the other half in recitation.  The arithmetic assignment involves finding the longitude and latitude of the locations mentioned in Gold Fever.  Since recitation was a large part of 1910 education, students are given a selection of time appropriate poems to memorize in the pre-visit box and recite them at the Brick Schoolhouse. 1:00 -1:15: End of the day verbal quiz given to the students to reinforce the things they have learned in the program with a piece of hard candy as a reward for the correct answer. (Social Studies Content Standards: 1: Historical Thinking, 2: Local, United States and World History, 3: Historical Themes, 4: Applying History, 9: Places and Regions, 11: Human Systems and 12: Human and Environment Interactions) 1:15 - 1:45: Bus Trip returning students to their school. Sights seen on the return from the Brick School: Porter Library: North Coventry"s library in the early 1900s. Hytone Dairy Farm: Dairy farming was a major industry in Coventry at the turn of the twentieth century. This farm is only one of the very few that are left. District 6 one-room school: Pond Hill School is another example of a one-room school.  Students are reminded that these schools housed grades one through eight and that the number of students varied by school term.  This school had 71 students enrolled in 1849, ages 5 through 21, daily average attendance of 55 and one teacher. (Social Studies Content Standards: 2: Local, United States and World History, 4: Applying History, and 9: Places and Regions) Post Visit Assignment: Students are asked to write a story based on what they learned via the field trip to the Brick School and the pre-visit kit.  Eighth grade stories take place in the early 1900s and are required to include at least ten references to the period.  The best stories are sent (with parental approval) to the local monthly magazine for publication. (Social Studies Content Standard: 1: Historical Thinking)