Introduction Kindergarten Grades One and Two   Lesson One   Lesson Two     Experience One     Experience Two   Lesson Three Grades Three and Four Online Games and Activities Culminating Experience Train Glossary National Standards		Grades One and Two: Lesson Two - Experience One Trains and Your Town >> Resources How have trains transformed our way of life? This lesson allows students to explore trains and train-related jobs in the past and present and examine the importance of trains in their own community. Prior to the 1950s, the arrival of a train was a community event. Trains brought the mail, newspapers, refrigerated fruits and vegetables, and mail order items. They brought visiting relatives and new jobs. They allowed people to sell and buy more products and enabled them to visit cities and communities in their own region, as well as other places in the United States. They also allowed people to leave their hometowns and seek a new life in another place. Sometimes the lonely sound of a train whistle reminded people of a loved one far away. Going Places - How do trains help us go places? Students explore trains and train-related jobs in the past and present and examine the importance of trains in their own community. Objectives: Experience One will enable students to: Identify people and places in the community. Identify train-related jobs and explain how these jobs help the community. Find their own community on a map and show how it is connected to other places. Identify ways that train transportation is important to their community and state. You will need... Materials: Map of the local community or another community showing symbols of major cultural features. (See Resources for Web-based community maps.) Time: Two or three 30-minute periods Words: More powerful than a locomotive... Job responsibilities, goods and services Focus Questions: Use these questions to help students focus on key ideas in Experience One. What kinds of train jobs do people do? How do these jobs help the community? Does a train travel through or near your community? What does it carry? How can you find out more about trains in your community? Working on the Railroad Indiana's Academic Standards: Grade One: Social Studies Standard 3: Geography (1.3.4); Standard 4: Economics (1.4.2, 1.4.3) Language Arts Standard 7: Listening and Speaking (1.7.1, 1.7.4). Grade Two: Social Studies Standard 3: Geography (2.3.3, 2.3.4, 2.3.6); Standard 4: Economics (2.4.2). Language Arts Standard 7: Listening and Speaking (2.7.1, 2.7.6). Procedures: This experience involves identifying the services that people in train jobs perform and how these services help the community. It should not be students' first exposure to the concepts of goods and services. See Resources for sources of preliminary Grade One and Grade Two economics activities. Day One: Show students a map of the local community or a nearby community. (See Resources for Web-based maps.) Help them to identify symbols for key features, such as buildings, highways and railroads. Explain to students that railroads have been very important for communities in the past because they provided jobs and helped transport people and products. Remind students of the song that they learned, "I've Been Working on the Railroad." Ask students how many jobs they can identify in the song. In addition to the jobs associated with building the railroad, what other jobs does it take to run a railroad? Have students brainstorm train jobs. Write responses on the chalkboard or overhead and help them develop a brief oral description of each job. List the jobs on the chalkboard and examine compound words, such as "signalman." Day Two: Review previous learning about goods and services. Students should be able to identify goods that people use and familiar services that people perform in the school. Goods are objects that people want, such as toys, foods and school supplies. A service relates to an action that someone does for someone else. For example: Apples produced by a farmer are goods. A cafeteria worker at school performs a service by serving the apples to students. Review the train jobs that students identified on Day One, such as: engineer, conductor, stationmaster, steward, brakeman. Most train jobs involve performing a service, such as operating a freight train that delivers goods to people or taking care of people on a passenger train. Ask students to determine what kind of service each job involves. Discuss how all of these jobs help people in the community. Divide the class into groups of two. Assign each group a train job. One student should be able to describe the job and tell what kind of service it involves. The second person should explain one way the job helps people in the community. Assessment: Review the discussion of jobs and how they help the community. Create a "human chart" to assess what students have learned. On the left side of the chalkboard, write "Jobs." On the right side, write the label "How Jobs Help." Have partners stand side by side in front of the appropriate label. Ask the student on the "Jobs" side to describe the service this job involves. The student on the "How Jobs Help" side should be able to describe benefits to the community. Performance Criteria: Each group should be able to: Describe the service involved in a train job. Explain how that job helps people in the community. Listen to others, speak clearly and stay on the topic during oral presentations. Train of Thought Journal: Ask students to think about this question: If you worked on the railroad, what job would you like to do? Why? Students can write in their journals or draw a picture to explain why they would like this job. Family Connection: Let family members know that the class is studying train-related jobs. At home, students may want to talk with family members about their jobs to find out what kinds of goods and services they provide and how these jobs help the community. Tips for the Teacher: In Experience One, students examine places and jobs in their community and consider the importance trains and railroads have in the local economy. This may be a good time for a field trip to a train station or another site to look for evidence of trains and their impact on the local community. It is also a good time for students to learn about safety rules around railroad tracks and crossings and to do more research into community history. It would be hard to overestimate the importance of trains and railroads to Indiana communities in the past. Some communities actually had their origin with the arrival of a railroad line. Some existing communities experienced considerable growth due to their location on or near a train route. Others declined when transportation routes failed to develop nearby. While trains are still important today, they are not as central to everyday community life as they were in the past. Good highway systems and airplanes have made train travel less popular, and some products can be transported more efficiently by truck. Trains are still important in transporting heavy loads over long distances. Railroads can move bulk products, such as grain, coal and steel, using much less fuel than other forms of transportation. An interdependent system of highways, railways and water routes helps Indiana move and sell its products around the world. Bonus - Extending Experiences: Try these experiences to extend students' learning: Help students become familiar with train crossing signs and signals. Use painter's tape to make tracks and railroad crossings on the classroom floor and practice railroad safety rules. Play "Mr. Train, Mr. Train! Where have you been?" Make flash cards with the names of Indiana towns and cities. Individual students or teams ask the question, draw a card, locate the city on an Indiana map and identify its region. Research local history to find out if railroads were significant in the development of the community. Also, students may want to examine the ways that products come into and leave their community today. County historical societies, local historians, business people and community officials would be helpful resource persons. The Santa Train: A very special train visits Appalachian communities in Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee just in time for Christmas. The Saturday before Thanksgiving, the Santa Special begins a 110-mile journey from Pikeville, Ky., to Kingsport, Tenn. It stops at 29 communities along the way, leaving goodwill and gifts of toys, clothes and candy for children who come to see the train with their families. Santa's helpers on the train, including business people, country singers, teachers and other volunteers, make sure that every child gets a present. This tradition, sponsored by local businesses, began in 1943 and continues today. Students may want to participate in a service project to provide donations for the Santa Special or help to organize another "Goodwill Train" to benefit their own community. For example, a "train" of boxes could be decorated and set up in a central location so that students can fill them with canned goods for a local food bank. For information on how to help the Santa Special, contact the Kingsport Area Chamber of Commerce, Santa Special, 151 East Main Street, Kingsport, TN 37660.