On Friday my class had to bring in artifacts based on the unit we taught the second graders at Bishop Dunn. In all honesty, I thought that this was one of the most difficult projects to complete so fat this semester. I could not think of what to put in my artifact bag at first. I tried to be creative with what I got, so I hoped all of my effort paid off!
What is an artifact?
An artifact is an object made by a human being, typically of historical or cultural interest. Since the unit that my group taught was on "13 colonies, One Country," I had to make or find pictures of artifacts relating to something that I taught during that unit.
I chose the American Revolution to focus this artifact activity on, because I thought that there would be a lot to cover during that time period, specifically during and after. In addition, this was the bulk of our lesson when we were teaching, so after doing this artifact activity, students would have a better understanding of it.
My artifacts
I included three artifacts:
- A dollar bill
- The Declaration of Independence document
- What a tax looked like
The artifact bag that I put the items in was blue with red stripes and 13 white circles, since I cannot draw stars. If I taught this activity to a second grade class, I would split students up into groups of three or four and hand each group a bag. Inside were red, white, and blue pieces of confetti.
Dollar Bill
I chose a dollar bill as my first artifact to symbolize that after the Revolutionary War and George Washington led the troops to victory, a dollar bill was created in order to emphasize his importance. The first dollar bill with his face on it actually came out in 1869.
Declaration of Independence
My second artifact was the Declaration of Independence document, which was written after the American Revolution was over and it declared that the colonists were free from British rule. The document was written in 1776.
A tax (and a tea bag)
One of the reasons why the American Revolution started to begin with is because the British put unfair taxes on items such as tea and sugar. The colonists did not like that very much, and rebelled (Boston Tea Party, ect.. although we did not go over this during our lesson) but including the tea would help students understand and learn that taxes were put on these sort of items. In addition, students would understand what a tax looked like back then.
As it is shown in the picture, a British tax had King George's crown on it. Therefore, it is a British tax and one of the reasons why the American Revolution started. The tea I used to help students associate the tax with is Lipton. Unfortunately, I could not get access to the types of tea the colonists drunk back then.
The book
This is the book I would use in relation to the artifact bag. Even though my group taught the American Revolution primarily from the colonist's side, I think it is important for second graders to get a better understanding of the American Revolution from both sides and learn more about King George and his motives, along with what happened to him after the war was over. This book is interesting and engaging in the fact that all students would enjoy reading it and learning!
Even though I did not use authentic materials- aside from the dollar bill- I did put a lot of effort into making the artifact bag as creative as possible. I thought the pictures I used was effective, and the way I put the bag together was organized. However, seeing other groups and other people's artifacts, especially group 4's, made me wish I did put more effort into it. The more authentic the artifacts more, the more use students will get out of it. Even though my artifact bag was creative and served a purpose, it could have been better. I could have found or looked for an article of clothing, a hat, a letter, or something along those lines that would help make my artifact bag be more engaging. Part of doing activities like this is to learn from your peers and to build off what you could improve on for next time! That is what I plan on doing.
To top it off, here are websites I found that could go along with the artifact activity and my PowerPoint.
I love your artifacts, especially the tea bag! That is extremely creative. I also liked how you used a dollar bill and an old note. Students would love to examine these artifacts and try to figure out who they belong to or what time period! I could not agree with you more! Some of our colleagues had amazing artifacts that would truly make their lesson engaging!!! The purpose of these projects and lessons we do is to not only introduce us to different strategies and lessons but to help us learn from our classmates and build off of our mistakes! I could not agree with you more. Your bag was creative by the way! Good job
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