My Own Artifact Bag

Hello again!

Now that we have learned so much about artifact bags and the opportunity to conduct research on one given to us, it is our turn to make one! Being that my group is focusing on the beginning portion of the American Revolution, I will be basing my artifacts on that topic. I began thinking and thinking about what types of things I could include in my artifact bag because I do not own anything from the time period. I decided it was best to try to find three or four things that can allow the students to identify the time period, as well as identify one major aspect of the time period.

Here are the artifacts I decided to include in my bag.

I chose to put these objects in my bag for a specific reason. Starting with the first picture; money. I chose to put the money in the bag because written on it is not only a date, which will tell the students the time period, but it also said it was from the colony of New York. I felt this was a great way to portray the time period that we would be learning about because it reads a year that was relevant and it also brings about the idea that the time period had to be when there were thirteen colonies. I included the cannons that are in the second picture to allow the students to bring up the idea of war. Being that the American Revolutionary War would be the topic that the students would be learning about, I felt it was necessary. The third picture is a reading known as The American Crisis, written by Thomas Paine. This was an extremely important reading during the time period of the Revolutionary War. This writing influenced thousands of soldiers to continue fighting the war even though they felt it was a lost cause. The last picture is a picture of a quill pen. This was included to bring about the idea that we will be talking about the past; being that this was the writing tool used in the past, I felt it was interesting to include because it can correlate with the writing.

When we went to class and presented out artifact bags to our groups, it was amazing to see what the other girls had thought of bringing in. It is interesting to see the different ways people think about things and how they feel is the best way to portray a time period. Christina brought in a real quill pen with ink that can be made which would be extremely interesting for children to be able to look at. Brittney brought in a number of stamps and old tea bags which will bring about the ideas of the Stamp Act and the Boston Tea Party. Courtney brought in a great book that she used to read when she was a child that was about the American Revolution. Kristen, I believe also brought in money as a way for the children to connect the year to the time period.

Overall, it was a great experience. We were able to see what the other groups had brought in using a power-point which was also interesting. It was enjoyable to make, and the opportunity has given us a not only a connection to the beginning of the American Revolution, but also a reminder for what we will be teaching the students,as well as what the other groups will be teaching the students.

** Great idea for a future lesson! **