This unit helps children to understand the impact of change of communities and environments, and to
evaluate whether the purported benefits of a given change will outweigh its costs. Children will focus
particularly on the period from 1850 to the present, and will study the effects of technology and
community growth. Having learned from "improvements" and mistakes made long ago, they will be
better prepared to make informed decisions as they face change in the future.
The Guiding Questions
1. How are families who lived in New England during the 1800s different from your family?
2. How do inventions change people's lives?
Throughout this unit children will:
* Learn to identify the six New England states and locate New England on a map of the US
*Understand the impact of the New England climate on daily life
*Become familiar with local maps and learn to identify streets and significant locations
*Use old maps, artifacts, timelines, historical fiction and primary sources to obtain data and make sense
of life long ago
*Make personal connections through the use of both fiction and nonfiction materials including books,
photographs, and websites
*Develop research skills using varied technology and a range of sources (books, libraries, museums,
photos, maps, and eyewitness accounts)
*Draw conclusions, make inferences, and identify central themes
*REcognize the value of historical fiction as a way to understand the past
