Industrial Revolution & Child Labor

 

Problem: With the Industrial Revolution in America, the poor working conditions for the factory workers many who are children have become intolerable.  After the Civil War new inventions, abundance of natural resources, and demand for new products, drove the need for more workers for the factories.  With wages so low, children were forced into the workplace at a young age to help their families survive.

 

Policy: Child Labor Laws

 

http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/childlabor/

 

Eileen Schreppel

Grade 5

Holland Patent Elementary School

eschreppel@hpschools.org

 

 

Introduction:

 

Imagine having to get out of bed at 5 o’clock in the morning.  You share the bed with 4 brothers and sisters in a cold tenement building in New York City during the late 19th century.  You head out the door to work at the factory for a 12 to 14 hour day.  The factories are a dangerous place to work and your boss is allowed to beat you if you are too slow or don’t follow directions. 

 

 

Task:

 

Working in groups you will use the AHPPA steps to evaluate the Child Labor during the late 1880’s and early 1900’s on the worksheets. Your group will make a Powerpoint presentation portraying with summaries, pictures, and captions the working conditions that children dealt with during this time in history.  The Powerpoint will be presented to the class using our oral presentation skills.  The group will also be responsible to make a booklet containing one journal/diary entry, a letter to a friend, a letter to a government official, and a newspaper article discussing a typical day from a child’s point of view with a table of contents including an author page,

 

 

Step 1:  Identify the Problem –

 

Step 2:  Gather Evidence –

 

Step 3:  Determine Causes –

 

Step 4:  Evaluate the Policy –

 

Process:

 

As a class we will be going through the steps of AHPPA together.

Click Below and use the Graphic Version

Steps of AHPPA

You will be assigned to a group and begin researching the topic.

Powerpoint made up of 10 – 12 slides with a title slide including a title page with name of your presentation and the participants.  The presentation must include information that summarizes the problem of child labor and contains pictures, graphics, and captions.

 

AHPPA Step 1

 

 

Resources:

 

 

Evaluation: 

 

Task

4

3

2

1

Power Point presentation

Power Point presentation fully answers the task question

Power Point presentation somewhat answers the task question.

Power Point presentation vaguely answers the task question.

Power Point presentation does not answer the task question.

Primary sources

At lease 2 primary source documents are used and there is an explanation of these documents.

One primary source document is used and there is an explanation about that document.

Either a primary source document is missing or an explanation is missing

No primary source documents are used. There is no explanation.

Grammar/ spelling

Each slide has correct grammar and spelling.

There are a few spelling/ grammatical errors.

There are many spelling or grammatical errors.

There are many spelling and grammatical errors.

Speaking skills

Each member of the team is prepared and presents the Power Point presentation.

 ( Notes are evident)

Only some members of the team are prepared to present.

(Only a few have notes)

No members of the team are prepared.

( There are no notes)

The PowerPoint presentation is not complete./ The team is not prepared to speak.

Letter(Govt)

News Article

Letter(friend)

Journal/Diary

Article/letter fully addresses the task

Article/letter mostly addresses the task

Article/letter somewhat addresses the task

Article/letter does not address the task

Mechanics

Article has correct grammar and spelling.

There are a few spelling/ grammatical errors.

There are many spelling or grammatical errors.

There are many spelling and grammatical errors.

Overall Group Effort

Great

Collaboration

Good

Collaboration

Fair

Collaboration

Poor

Collaboration

 

 

Conclusion:

Congratulations, you are finished!  You are now an expert on the Boston Tea Party and should be able to explain how child labor laws helped to improve kids’ lives in the early 1900’s.

 

 

N.Y.S. Standards

Social Studies Standards:

Standard 1

 History of the United States and New York

Key Idea 2-

 Investigate key turning points in New York States history and explain why these events or developments are significant.

Standard 4

 Economics

Key Idea 1

Study about how the availability and distribution of resources is important to a nation’s economic growth.

ELA Standards

Standard 1-

Students will read, write, listen, and speak for information and understanding.

Students will gather and interpret information from children’s reference books, magazines, textbooks, electronic bulletin boards, audio and media presentations, oral interviews, and from such forms as charts, graphs, maps, and diagrams.

Students will present information clearly in a variety of oral and written forms such as summaries, paraphrases, brief reports, stories, posters and charts.

Students will use standard English skillfully, applying established rules and conventions for presenting information and making use of a wide range of grammatical constructions and vocabulary to achieve an individual style that communicates effectively.

Standard 3

Students will read, write, listen, and speak for critical analysis and evaluation.

 

Students will analyze, interpret, and evaluate information, ideas, organization and language from academic and nonacademic texts, such as textbooks, public documents, book and movie reviews, and editorials.