Lesson Focus:
Analyzing a Colonial Family

Objective:
For students to better understand the similarities and differences between the families of the Colonial Era and those of today. This will be accomplished through an inter-disciplinary approach.

Materials:

• Copies of 'The Alexander Family' Worksheet

• Copies of 'An Alexander Journal' Worksheet

• Writing paper and pencil

Instructions:

1. Download 'The Alexander Family Worksheet,' which includes a list of the names of Hezekiah Alexander’s ten children, their year of birth and their year of death. Review this information with the students, using the prompts at the bottom of the worksheet.

2. The final questions asks students to put the children in order of age from oldest to youngest. Assign 10 students the roles of these children and have their classmates tell them where to stand in the front of the room, with the oldest being on the far left and the youngest on the far right. Once you have the 'actors' in their chronological ages, have them answer 'their' question for the class, and have the class double-check to make sure they all have the correct answer. (Ex: have the student assigned William, the oldest, to answer the question that asks William's age when Oswald was born. You may ask them to answer the question in a first-person form, "I was 23 years old when Oswald was born.").

3. After the tour, when the students have had an opportunity to see the rooms where the children lived and the house, have them pick one of the children and write a journal entry about what one day in their life may have been like.

4. Conclude the activity by discussing how the day they wrote about, and the Alexander family is similar and different from families today.