3rd Grade History & Civics 2004

Building Our Community:

A Teacher’s Guide to a Focused Field Trip
For Third Graders

The Museum visit for third graders focuses on helping students view exhibits and learn about events in the history of the Casa Grande Valley that can then be placed on a timeline. This topic directly relates to the Casa Grande Elementary School District’s Third Grade Standards for History and Civics/Government.

The topic “Building Our Community” is especially relevant during 2004-2005 because Casa Grande has just celebrated its 125th anniversary. In addition, a Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibit called Yesterday’s Tomorrows will be on display here in October 2004. The school visits for this exhibit target children in grades 4-12. However, it is likely that 3rd graders might hear about the exhibit or visit it with their family. Therefore, as a teacher, you may wish to build a trip to their local museum into your calendar that strengthens your 3rd graders’ knowledge and appreciation of exhibits of all kinds.

This is our agenda for your visit.

First, you or the docent at the museum will divide your class into two groups. This is done to:

• Provide for more control in the limited spaces around selected exhibits in the museum;
• Increase interaction between the docent and the children while in the museum; and
• Increase involvement between the children and the docent as he/she reads selected stories and encourages leads in a discussion of the key points afterward.

All children will have an opportunity to participate in the total experience.

1. Children will be introduced to museum staff and docents, to the Dallis School House, an historic building in which many educational activities and public meetings occur, and to the concept of community growth over time.
2. A docent will lead one group into the museum where the children will be led to specific exhibits that depict the introduction and roles of the diverse peoples that have made the Casa Grande Valley home.
   At the same time,
3. A docent will read, and the children will be encouraged to talk about, one or more stories that describe the experiences of children from ethnic groups that have lived in the Casa Grande Valley. Typical of these books are:
   Pablo and Pimienta by Ruth M. Covault (Flagstaff, AZ: Northland Press, 1994.)
   Working Cotton by Sherley Anne Williams (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1992.)
   Sing Down the Rain by Judi Moreillion (Walnut, CA: Kiva Publishing, 1997.)
   Teachers, please NOTE: We are always looking for appropriate picture books to add to our selection. If you have one or more you could recommend, please do so and we will consider adding them to the collection.
   The groups then switch. When both groups have visited the museum/heard and discussed the stories, all gather back in the Dallis School House.
4. Boxes with photographs, objects, and cards that describe specific events related to the exhibits the children have seen are placed at stations around the room. The children move from one station to the other considering the content.
5. Following discussion, the proper chronological order is determined and the stations are moved appropriately.

You can help prepare the children by working the following into your discussion of this visit.

Chronology: arranged in or according to the order of time

Ethnohistory: a science that deals with the divisions of human beings into races and their origins, geographic distribution, cultures, and contributions to the human family. WHEW!

Museum: a place where people learn about a particular place, subject or idea.

Exhibit: a display of actual objects and photographs or drawings (perhaps you can use the word “artifacts”) that help us learn something.

The docents and museum staff make every effort to express the value of each person or group of persons in building our community. The Dallis School House, as you may be aware, was originally the segregated one-room school in Casa Grande to which African-American/ Black children went as late as the early 1960s. Rebecca Dallis, an outstanding educator and community-builder, exemplifies our goal in presenting this unit.

We especially appreciate your establishing clear standards for your students’ behavior in the museum. It may be helpful to compare libraries and museums as their expectations are a lot alike. We use our quiet voices, walk—rather than running or skipping, and we treat one another and the museum staff with respect.

We recognize that the values you teach everyday will carry over into the museum setting and make this an especially valuable experience for your students.