This week was a lot of fun. My husband helped the children out by giving them a list of food companies that got their start during this time and are still in business today. Then the research began. They had to look up each company and see what they were selling then and how it compared to what they were selling now. Amazingly enough some of them are still selling very similar products. For example, Kellogg’s Corn Flakes and Dole canned pineapple. We narrowed down their choices a bit to make a bit more practical list and let them help me find the items to purchase for their industrial revolution tasting party.
Making a meal out of the tasting was a little interesting and some of the products we talked about were put aside for another meal (like the Corn Flakes) but they enjoyed Campbell’s tomato soup, saltines, sliced pepperoni and dried beef, and pineapple for lunch. They washed that down with a rare treat of Pepsi. Then for dessert they had Cracker Jacks, Oreo’s, and Hershey’s chocolate. They explained each one as we talked at lunch to show when it was first produced by the company and how the industrial revolution had influenced that food.
The children worked together to build a Lego display depicting the reconstruction of the south. They had to present the display and explain what each part was and how it represented reconstruction. While it may not look like much without an explanation, they were able to talk about rebuilding homes, replanting farms, new railroads, and steamships.
In addition we found a few clips from a Modern Marvels episode on YouTube that discussed Henry Ford’s assembly line approach. It was really helpful for the children to be able to see the assembly lines and understand the process.
Next week we are going to study Theodore Roosevelt in honor of Presidents’ Day and spend some time on my favorite subject for this time period, The Wright Brothers! We have a read aloud, a model, and a few other activities to go along with the Wright Brothers.
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