Introduction Kindergarten Grades One and Two Grades Three and Four   Lesson One   Lesson Two     Experience One     Experience Two   Lesson Three Online Games and Activities Culminating Experience Train Glossary National Standards		Grades Three and Four: 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: Physical map of Indiana (See Resources); Visual 8: Map of Indiana, showing rivers, major cities and regions, and Visual 9: Railroad Map of Indiana, showing the railroad system; map pencils or crayons. Time: Two or three 30-minute periods Words: More powerful than a locomotive... Regions, trade, cardinal and intermediate directions Focus Questions: Use these questions to help students focus on key ideas in Experience One. Are trains important to your community today? Were they important in the past? What evidence can you find of the impact that trains have had on your community? A Train Runs Through It Indiana's Academic Standards: Grade Three: Social Studies - Standard 3: Geography (3.3.3, 3.3.6); Standard 4: Economics (3.4.3). Grade Four: Social Studies - Standard 3: Geography (4.3.5, 4.3.9), Standard 4: Economics (4.4.3). Procedures: Day One: Give each student a copy of Visual 8: Map of Indiana showing rivers, major cities and three major regions: North, Central and South. Explain to students that one way of looking at Indiana is to divide the state into regions. Regions are areas that have similar physical and cultural characteristics. Indiana can be divided into three major regions: North, Central and South. Because of the action of glaciers in the geological past, these three areas have different physical characteristics. Use a physical map of Indiana to discuss similarities and differences in the three major regions. (See Resources for Web-based maps.) Discuss with students whether they think there is any difference in the weather patterns in the three regions. Would the weather and physical characteristics make a difference in the types of crops grown in the three regions? Have students locate and label their own community on the regional map and color the regions with crayons or map pencils. Divide students into groups to research the crops and other products produced in their community and region. Students should list the products on their map. Day Two: Give each student a copy of Visual 9: Railroad Map of Indiana. Explain to students that it shows only the railroad system. Ask students to look at the map carefully. Have them try to locate their own community and major cities. Do the railroads give them any clues? Ask students to determine if a railroad runs through or near their community. Could people in their community ship a product by railroad to the nearest major city? Encourage them to think about where that product might go next. Explain to students that when goods and services from their community are sold somewhere else, trade takes place. Trade is the exchange of goods and services. Ask students to explain why trade might be improved by being close to a railroad. Help students to understand that transportation routes, such as railroads and highways, help to link communities and regions together and make it easier for people to travel and trade with each other. Do they think trains and railroads were more important to their community in the past than they are in the present? Why? Assessment: Have students use map pencils to identify Indiana's three major regions and to locate and label their community, major cities and principal rivers on the Railroad Map. Have them trace the route products might take from their community to the nearest major city in Indiana. Performance Criteria: On the Railroad Map each student should accurately: Draw Indiana's three major regions and principal rivers. Locate and label their community and major cities. Trace the route a product might take from their community to the nearest major city. Train of Thought Journal: Give each student Visual 10: Railroad Map of the United States to include in their journals. Ask them to answer these questions: If you could take a trip by train where would you go? Why do you want to go there? Ask them to label their starting point and destination and trace the route they would follow. Family Connection: Have students interview an older community resident or a family member about their train experiences. 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.