Groundwork Preparation – Information Search
Before implementing the unit study, immerse yourself in aspects of New Haven's history. Contact or if possible take a preliminary excursion to the New Haven Museum. (Education and Photo Archive personnel are most helpful and can assist you in gathering invaluable visual images to support your study). Access on-line info and review copies of suggested bibliographic info contained herein with regard to the New Haven colony its formation and growth through the 21 st century. Do not, however, limit yourself to accessing textual info and historical society visits.
Take a preliminary tour of downtown New Haven, beginning with the New Haven Green. Saunter along the major thoroughfares. Take in the landscape. Make note of the masonry, ironwork designs, and pictorial images displayed in stained glass windows and surrounding architectural structures. Closely examine statues, grave sites, churches, fountains, bus kiosk and surrounding structures. Observe the diverse groups of people that populate the area; listen to the sounds… take it all in. Doing so gives you a different perspective viewing a community. Using this approach familiarizes you with the sensory experience soon to be embraced by your young learners. Tote an I-Pod or cell phone with a photographic feature to take strategic snapshots of key landmarks along Elm, College, Chapel, Church, and Temple. These pictorial images will be used at a later time for a follow-up, 3-D map-making activity.
3-D Photocards – A Mapmaking Tool
These visual resources will be used by students to create a visual map of what will be experienced during the two planned walking tours. Depending upon the number of grouped teams you have in your classroom, you will require six-to-seven 4"x 6" or 5" x 7" laminated sets these items. Photocards regarding the first excursion should be reflective of key sites or landmarks evidenced on each of the five thoroughfares surrounding the New Haven Green. Photos can be mounted on card stock, subsequently folded at their base such that each picture card stands independently when placed in an upright position. (If available, optionally use 5" x 7" wooden blocks—enough to accommodate each team—as a supportive base on which to lean select photographic images in an upright position.)
For the first excursion, I chose the following pictorial images for my students' mapping activity: College Street: the front entrance to Battell Chapel at the corner of the Elm and College, the front-gate entrance to Old Campus, and Bingham Hall at the corner of College and Chapel. Chapel Street: The Taft Apartment complex, Chipotle, New Haven Fitness, and Citibank at the corner of Chapel and Church; Church Street: Bank of America, City Hall, and the Sengbe Pieh statue; Elm Street: Calhoun College, the First Summerfield United Methodist Church, the main branch public library, and the courthouse; and Temple Street: the Trinity Episcopal Church near Chapel, the Center Church in which the underground cemetery is housed, and the United Church where most meetings regarding the abolishment of slavery were held. 1 (Note: A second series of 19 th century pictorial images to be used post the second excursion requires a lesser number of photocards. Select images can be made available through the New Haven Historical Society [see "Special Contacts"].)
Also have on hand a pair of scissors for each team, 18" x 20" construction paper, along with 20" x 1" strips of black construction paper. The latter will be placed on the larger sheets representative of walkways and thoroughfares within the depicted area.
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