Students, Families, and Work

How did Pocopson Township families earn their living over 100 years ago, and were the parents and adults the only ones working?

After the students have learned about one-room schoolhouses, including the Locust Grove Schoolhouse in Activity One, they will begin to learn about the community that the school served. In this lesson, children will use copies of primary source documents—the Census, newspaper articles, and Teacher’s Monthly Reports—to learn about Pocopson Township’s occupations.

Objectives:
Students will be able to:

• Name six different occupations of students’ families in the late 1800s in Pocopson Township.
• Answer whether school children had occupations or jobs.
• Understand that the Census, maps, newspaper articles, and attendance books are primary sources and all record information about occupations and industry, even though that was not the main purpose of these documents.

Curriculum Alignment:

8.1.3.A: Understand chronological thinking and distinguish between past, present and future time.
8.1.3.B: Develop an understanding of historical sources (data in historical maps; visual data from maps and tables).
8.1.3.D: Understand historical research.
8.2.3.D: Identify conflict and cooperation among social groups and organizations in Pennsylvania history (ethnic and racial; labor relations; immigration).
8.1.4.A: Identify and describe how geography and climate have influenced continuity and change over time.
8.2.4.B: Locate historical documents, artifacts, and places critical to Pennsylvania history.
8.2.4.C: Explain how continuity and change in Pennsylvania history have influenced personal development and identity (commerce and industry, technology, and physical and human geography).
2.6.3.B: Organize and display data using pictures, tallies, charts, bar graphs and pictographs.