A companion to the free TCI lesson found at: http://bit.ly/yVmmZS , this lesson allows students to pretend to be archivists working to sort into collections new artifacts related to symbols of America. The lesson can be scaled up or down depending on your class needs, time, and taste. It's free! From the makers of History Alive and award winning software. Learn more about us at www.teachtci.com.

1. Ideas That Unite Us as Americans

2. Preview

3. Ideas That Unite Us as Americans
As you listen to this song, follow along
with the lyrics, and be prepared to
answer the three questions at the bottom
of your Preview.
1. Who was the composer of this song?
2. How would you describe this song to
a friend?
3. Why do the ideas expressed in the
song unite us as Americans?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1rKQReqJZg

4. Ideas That Unite Us as Americans
While “God Bless America” is a very
popular patriotic song, it is not our
national anthem.
Francis Scott Key’s “Star Spangled
Banner” is our national anthem. Key
wrote the poem that became the lyrics to
the song during the Battle of
Ft. McHenry (Baltimore) during the War
of 1812.
Can you think of other patriotic songs
similar to “God Bless America”?

5. Activity:
Social Studies
Skill Builder

6. Ideas That Unite Us as Americans
What are three details you
see in this picture?
Notice the document in her
hand, it looks old. Where
might you find old
documents?
Why would it be important
to keep and protect
documents, pictures, video,
and audio related to events
in America?
This is Tina L. Ligon, Archivist at the National Archives and
Records Administration in College Park, Maryland. Tina views
Navy Deck logs in the stacks at the National Archives. She
oversees all activities related to the processing and procuring
of supplies for this project, as well as supervising nine
student workers.
Source: http://blogs.archives.gov/online-public-access/?p=4723

7. Ideas That Unite Us as Americans
Archivists help to catalog
and sort artifacts so that
they can be preserved for
generations of people to
read, view, and listen.
When on display, archives
are usually grouped into
collections. Collections
are artifacts that share a
theme, author, or topic.

8. Ideas That Unite Us as Americans
In this activity, you will
pretend to be an archivist
like Tina, working at the
National Archives.
Your task will be to sort
three artifacts given to you
by your teacher into a
collection that will be used
in a display entitled, “Ideas
That Unite Us as
Americans.”
Let’s model how you will
do this.

9. Ideas That Unite Us as Americans
Consider the recording of the song that
we listened to.
Talk it over with your partner and decide
which of the following collections this
artifact would be best suited for. Be
prepared to share and tell why you
chose a collection.
A. Artifacts related to early radio.
B. Artifacts related to the life and works
of Kate Smith.
C. Artifacts related to the life and works
of Irving Berlin.

10. Ideas That Unite Us as Americans
Which collection did you and your
partner decide would be best for Kate
Smith’s rendition of “God Bless
America”?
Now that you’ve had a little practice,
let’s get hard at work. You will be given
three artifacts to sort into collections. At
the end of the activity, your group will be
given the chance to tell everyone which
collection you choose and why. Here
are the procedures for completing this
task.

11. Ideas That Unite Us as Americans
Look at Student Handout 1 and follow
along as I read aloud.
Questions?
Begin.

12. Ideas That Unite Us as Americans
Let’s debrief! When I project one of the
artifacts that your group sorted, have
your presenter stand up. You will
present three times during this portion
of the lesson. You are to alternate who
shares with the class.
The first group called on will answer
each of these three questions, with
remaining groups answering just the
third.
1. What is this artifact?
2. What person or group of people is
related to this artifact?
3. What topic best describes this
artifact?

13. Ideas That Unite Us as Americans
1. What is this artifact?
2. What person or group of people is
related to this artifact?
3. What topic best describes this
artifact?

14. Ideas That Unite Us as Americans
1. What is this artifact?
2. What person or group of people is
related to this artifact?
3. What topic best describes this
artifact?

15. Ideas That Unite Us as Americans
1. What is this artifact?
2. What person or group of people is
related to this artifact?
3. What topic best describes this
artifact?

16. Ideas That Unite Us as Americans
1. What is this artifact?
2. What person or group of people is
related to this artifact?
3. What topic best describes this
artifact?

17. Ideas That Unite Us as Americans
1. What is this artifact?
2. What person or group of people is
related to this artifact?
3. What topic best describes this
artifact?

18. Ideas That Unite Us as Americans
1. What is this artifact?
2. What person or group of people is
related to this artifact?
3. What topic best describes this
artifact?

19. Ideas That Unite Us as Americans
1. What is this artifact?
2. What person or group of people is
related to this artifact?
3. What topic best describes this
artifact?

20. Ideas That Unite Us as Americans
1. What is this artifact?
2. What person or group of people is
related to this artifact?
3. What topic best describes this
artifact?

21. Ideas That Unite Us as Americans
1. What is this artifact?
2. What person or group of people is
related to this artifact?
3. What topic best describes this
artifact?

22. Processing

23. Ideas That Unite Us as Americans
Directions
You will now design a display for one
artifact that would be suitable for public
viewing at the National Archives in
Washington D.C. Your display must
include ALL of the following:
• A colorful sketch of the artifact
• Three important facts about the
artifact or topic.
• One paragraph that describes the
reason this artifact is an example of
an idea that unites us as
Americans.