When students are finished brainstorming, display the answer key. The day before the lesson, ask students to bring one object from home that they think tells an interesting story about their family's life or about 21st-century life in general. Students examine the things that the family left behind and draw their own conclusions about this family's way of life. In small groups, students discuss the conclusions that they made after studying the evidence. Students compare their ideas with those of historians who have also studied the Springer family.
Students present the objects they brought from home.
Discuss what future historians might conclude from these artifacts. Look at other classroom ideas and lesson plans on the Smithsonian site. Describe a typical day in the life of a child in colonial America.