Teaching Resources
Chandler and Arizona are both turning 100 in 2012! Looking for activities to learn about Chandler's centennial?
You're in the right place. If you have 15 minutes or many months, (or any amount of time in between) we have standards-aligned curriculum suggestions for you. All curriculum is created and/or vetted by the Museum's Educator Advisory Committee. We're adding new resources every day, so check back frequently for additions!!
If you have 15 minutes to learn about Chandler and Arizona's Centennial:
-show the short version of Chandler Unified School District "Namesakes" video. Contact Mike Holland
to get a copy of the vide.
-check out the Salt River Project website for photos of Roosevelt Dam. How does the dam function?
Salt River Project
-have students draw their family members. Create a "Faces of Chandler" bulletin board.
-take a virtual tour of Tumbleweed Ranch. This 1 minute video shows what life was like at home and while shopping in the 1920s.
-complete a quick map activity. "Where I live: Finding Arizona on the Map" is good for grades K-2 and includes worksheets and assessments.
If you have 1 hour to learn about Chandler and Arizona's Centennial:
-"You be the Critic" of famous historic portraits in the National Portrait Gallery. Suitable for grades 4-12, aligned with visual arts and language arts standards. Click here for lesson plan.
-"Hispanic Exploration in America" primary source set from the Library of Congress. Suitable for grades 4-12, aligned with social studies, language arts and library/technology state standards.
-"Japanese American Internment During World War II" primary source set features official documents, newspapers, and images. Suitable for grades 6-12, aligned with social studies, language arts and library/technology state standards.
If you have 1 week to learn about Chandler and Arizona's Centennial:
-"Little Cowpuncher: Rural School Newspaper of Southern Arizona." Created by Anglo and Mexican American ranch children, from kindergarten through 8th grade, between 1932 and 1943 at five neighboring Arizona schools (Redington, Baboquivari, Sasco, San Fernando, and Sopori), the newspapers present the original and unedited stories, poems, and illustrations of students about their community and school life. The site includes a map that identifies the location of the five schools and users may select which newspaper they wish to examine by school and by year. The site does not include lesson plans, but it does offer an opportunity to learn about Mexican and American ranch families in Southern Arizona. Suitable for grades 9-12. Check out the Goodyear School exhibit at the Chandler Museum. The Goodyear School operated from the 1920s through the 1950s and first served children of field workers at the Goodyear cotton ranch.
-"The Promise of Gold Mountain: Tucson's Chinese Heritage" explores the stories of Chinese families who settled in Tucson. Videos, biographies and suggested readings detail discrimination, family life and settlement. Useful for studying the west, ethnicity and Asian-Americans. The site does not include lesson plans. Suitable for grades 9-12.
If you have 1 month to learn about Chandler and Arizona's Centennial:
-Learn about the Phoenix Indian School. The School, located in downtown Phoenix and now part of Steele Indian School Park, was one of the largest Indian boarding schools in the country. Young Native Americans were forced to attend the schools, which focused on assimilation by training the students to be laborers and domestic workers. Have students read selections of Robert Trennert's The Phoenix Indian School: Forced Assimilation in Arizona, 1891-1935 or David Wallace Adams' Education for Extinction. Visit the Heard Museum to check out their exhibit "Remembering Our Indian School Days: The Boarding School Experience. Visit Steele Indian School Park to actually see the Phoenix Indian School. The School has been restored as meeting rooms, so there is not much to see related to the school itself at the Park. Suitable for grades 9-12.
Other ideas:
Have Project WET resources at your school? Project WET is worldwide water education and has Arizona-specific resources. The Arizona Conserve Water Educators' Guide is a great resource to learn about the complex uses of water in Arizona -- from thousands of years ago to today. Contains: background section with maps, graphs, diagrams and photos that facilitate the teaching of 15 interactive, multi-disciplinary lessons to K-12 students. In addition, 10 Arizona case studies are highlighted to provide secondary students with an in-depth opportunity to exercise their problem-solving skills, while learning about real-world water conservation solutions.
Have students think historically. The "Historical Thinking Matters" website from the Center for History and New Media offers 1 day, 3 day or 5 day lessons about 4 events in American history - the Scopes Trial, the creation of Social Security (its actually interesting, I promise!), the boycott of Montgomery buses, and the Spanish American War. Each unit contains primary sources, worksheets, suggested online and text reading, and assessments. Suitable for grades 9-12.
The Teaching History website is a never-ending resource. Lesson plans, website reviews, and the opportunity to chat with master teachers, museum educators, and historians make this website an efficient and useful tool. |