Introduction Kindergarten   Lesson One   Lesson Two   Lesson Three     Experience One     Experience Two Grades One and Two Grades Three and Four Online Games and Activities Culminating Experience Train Glossary National Standards		Kindergarten: Lesson Three - Experience One Engines of Change >> Resources Where's the Caboose? - How have trains changed? In this lesson students learn about ways that inventions and innovations in transportation and communication have helped trains change with the times. They explore the connections between trains and the visual arts and consider the ways that trains may shape and be shaped by the future. Objectives: Experience One will enable students to: Identify trains of the past and the present. Give examples of how inventions have changed transportation and communication. Give examples of how new technology may change trains and the way we travel in the future. You Will Need... Materials: Poster paper or butcher paper; Visual 15: Trains Today and Visual 16: Trains Long Ago; glue sticks, crayons Time: Two or three 30-minute periods Words: More powerful than a locomotive... Long ago, today Focus Questions: What kinds of trains did people use long ago? What were they like? What are trains like today? Trains Today and Long Ago Indiana Academic Standards: Social Studies - Standard 1: History (K.1.1); Language Arts - Standard 2: Reading Comprehension (K.2.2, K.2.3). Procedures: Day One: Remind students of The Reuben Wells and show them the picture of the locomotive once again. Ask them if they think The Reuben Wells was an engine that was used long ago or today. How can they tell? Show students pictures of Trains Today and Trains Long Ago without showing or telling them the captions. Ask students to look at the pictures carefully. Point to each train and ask students to guess which trains were used long ago and which trains are used today. Discuss the clues that students can use to tell if a train is from long ago or today. Read the captions to the pictures and explain that one group of trains is used today and the other group was used long ago. Ask students if they can see ways that trains in each group are similar and different. Explain to students that people traveled by train long ago and that they still travel by train today. Trains look different today. Can students think of other ways that trains have changed? Day Two: Show students a familiar book, such as Train Song, Steam Train Ride or another picture book. (See Resources, Lesson One and Lesson Two.) Ask students if they can tell from the pictures whether the story is about trains today or long ago. What clues can they find in the pictures? Repeat the same process with an unfamiliar book and ask students to make predictions about story content. Read the story with students and review the predictions. After reading the story, ask students if they can tell about any real life experiences with trains. Some students may have seen a real train or may want to tell about their toy or model trains. Some students may want to tell about seeing a train in a museum or at a historical site. Assessment: In the classroom learning center on trains, create a large wall chart using pieces of poster paper or butcher paper. Place the caption "Trains Long Ago" on the left side and "Trains Today" on the right side. Make copies of the two visuals and cut the trains apart so that each student has one train. Introduce students to the chart and read the captions with them. Coach students by asking them to bring their train and stand on the appropriate side of the chart. When students understand how to use the chart, have them color their trains and use glue sticks to place their trains on the correct side. Have students explain how they can tell where their trains belong. Performance Criteria: Students will: Identify a drawing of a train as being used long ago or today and place it on the appropriate side of the chart. Explain how they can tell where the train belongs. Train of Thought Journal: Choose one of the trains from each visual and paste each to a page of the Big Book of Trains. Write the captions "Long Ago" and "Today" at the top of each page. Have each student write or dictate a sentence for the teacher to write about a train long ago or a train today. When the sentences are complete, read them back with the students to help them see how much they know about trains. Students may want to add their own pictures to the page. Tips for the Teacher: In this experience students encounter concepts related to time, such as the ideas of past, present, continuity and change. Older students examine the ways inventions and changes in technology influence the way people live and travel. It is important for students to understand that changes are usually gradual. Many of the things that people used in the past are still used today, but the technology or the purpose has changed. For example, in the past sails and oars were the only ways to power a boat. Today, we have powerful engines that use fuel to move boats. Some people still use sailboats but they use them for recreation or because they enjoy sailing as a sport. Where's the Caboose? In the past it took a crew of several people to operate a freight train. The caboose was the last car and provided a place for workers to rest. It also had an observation window that allowed on-duty workers to see the entire length of the train. They could signal the engineer if there was a problem. Today, an electronic device placed on the last car of a train sends data to the engineer. Technology allows a train to be operated by two or three people who can sit in the cab of the locomotive. Under most circumstances, a caboose is no longer needed on a modern freight train. Bonus - Extending Experiences: Visit the All Aboard gallery at The Children's Museum to learn more about trains. Research African-American inventors such as Elijah McCoy and Granville T. Woods, whose devices helped transform train travel. Develop a train time line showing the development of trains from the past to the present.