Ideas and inventions changed our lives and gave us more opportunities.

 

After discussing the story of the two friends that lived far away from each other, we made a list of all the communication tools we use today: Walkie-talkies, cell phones, computers, letters, notes, verbal, etc. 

We assessed the responses and eliminated the communication tools that require electricity in order to function. Walkie-talkies, cell phones and computers are the newest inventions that require electricity. Those are all important communication tools that nearly everyone uses now.

How did these inventions change our lives? 

We drew/wrote letters to our loved ones and mailed them via Canada Post. The children enjoyed the walk to the mailbox, but stated that it is hard work. Roy “The mail box is far away”.

Later in the week, no one had yet received the letters that we sent. This showed the children how long it takes for that letter to be delivered to its recipient.

 

When using the computer or iPad to send a message, the children were astonished to see the fast replies. 

Sofia's surprised face expression and statement showed an understanding in this process: "Wow, that was so fast. How did mommy do that?" 

The second day, Sofia shared with us what mommy told her about this process: "Mommy said that her phone rang after I sent her the message and she saw it right away." 

Here is our chart in which we are keeping track of the delivery speed: 

Communication tools

From the children's knowledge, we knew that people did not have electricity in the olden days. A discussion about how people used to communicate in the olden days arose.

Computers, telephones and walkie-talkies require electricity in order to function. These are the three main communication tools that the children came up with.

We played a game where we had two friends that live far away from each other. Mister Wiggle and Mister Waggle lived in a time before electricity. There was a mountain in between them, so the only way of communicating with each other was by walking over the mountain to give the message (talking). After a few trips over the mountain, Mister Waggle had no luck in delivering his message. Mister Wiggle was never home and Mister Waggle couldn't wait for him to come home because it would become dark and he had to get back home.

The children's task was to come up with an idea to help Mister Waggle communicate with Mister Wiggle.

"A note" Sofia said. "A picture" Trystan, Bela and Alexis said.

Mister Waggle drew a picture and wrote a note. He went over the mountain, and because Mister Wiggle was not home, left his note under the door. The next morning, Mister Wiggle brought a basket full of food over to have a picnic with Mister Waggle. Mister Waggle was very happy to see that Mister Wiggle had received the message.

The children will send a letter by post and an email, at the same time, to a member of their family. Please send a picture of them receiving the email at home (reading it on the computer) and another picture of them with the letter (when received). Please send the picture to me via email.

Children will recognize the difference in speed between receiving communication via email and post.

Planting vegetables in the garden vs. shopping for them at the store

 

A trip to the store helped us get a better understanding of life in the past. Although the walk was long, the children enjoyed the whole experience. Before we left, we discussed safety tips, such as staying on the sidewalk and holding your partner’s hand. In the olden days there was little or no traffic. Today there are many cars and busy streets.  The children were given a note that told them what they are responsible for bringing back from the store. As we arrived at the store, the children took their tasks seriously. IGA has a wide variety of foods and other items. It was very easy to find all our needs in one store. When we got back to school, we discussed how today's inventions and amenities make our life faster, more comfortable and full of options. 

We will still wait for our vegetables to grow in our little garden, but thankfully, we have vegetables and fruits from the store, so we can enjoy eating them while we wait. 

We celebrated the convenience of having fruits and vegetables all year round by making a vegetable and fruit salad. 

Growing your own food was one of the main chores in the olden days

After planting vegetables in the little garden in the back yard of our miniature house, the children took responsibility of caring for them.

Trystan "It takes a long time for the vegetables to grow." Trystan’s statement shows an understanding of the time required to grow our own fruits and vegetables.

We made a plan to water and care for the garden every day after group time.

In the meantime, while waiting for our vegetables to grow, we will take a walk to the grocery store to buy some fruits and vegetables. 

By exploring this process, the children will be able to recognize the difference it makes to have to plan everything ahead of time, the patience of waiting, the hard work involved in growing a garden, and the limitations it has on the varieties of food available to you.

While waiting for our garden to grow, we will explore more similarities and differences between the way people lived long ago and the way we live now.

Causation - How have ideas and inventions changed our lives?

"If people had no dryers and no electricity in the olden days, what did their homes look like?" Trystan inquired.

The houses a long time ago were mostly made out of wood, cut and carried by men or horses from the forest. In order to get a better understanding of how houses were built in the olden days, we all collected sticks from the forest to build a "House like in the olden days" miniature model. After piling the sticks and breaking them into even pieces, building a house, an outhouse and a fence, the children then had to display them on a board. We discussed the fact that the outhouse needed to be placed as far away as possible from the house. Maddi "Yes, if not, the yucky smell might go into the house."

For the next little while, we will do research on some things that people had in their houses. After, we will build a miniature model house/building from the present and look at the differences, the inventions and how these impact our lives.

So far, this is the list that we came up with of things that people used to have in their homes a long time ago:

- Candles -> Trystan: "Because there was no electricity"

- Churn -> Alexis: "Or a jar with marbles to make home-made butter."

- Bucket -> Sofia: "To wash clothes."

Please share ideas with us of things that you guys used to have in your houses, which was replaced by an invention that changed our lives.

For e.g - Anamaria: "We used to have string hung by our windows to dry our clothes. Today, we have a dryer which makes drying clothes fast. It is also more convenient to have it inside our home."