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DonateStudents engage with history through fun, educational activities led by our staff in our five traveling trunks. Trunks align with South Carolina state social studies standards for a variety of grade levels and topics. Check below to see which trunks best fit your classroom needs.
This trunk, designed for 5th and 8th grade students, uses interactive activities to teach students about economics and life during the Civil War and Reconstruction, how Reconstruction impacted Southern society and the United States as a whole, and how Reconstruction ended.
SOCIAL STUDIES STANDARDS
4-6.5 | 5-1.1, 5-1.2, 5-1.3, 5-1.4 | 8-4.1, 8-4.2, 8-4.5
This trunk, designed for 3rd and 7th grade students, focuses on the geographic influences behind the founding and growth of South Carolina’s capital city. Students will understand the geographic, cultural, and social motivations behind the development and growth of Columbia – South Carolina’s capital city, and Columbia’s Main Street district. Students will apply their knowledge to develop and map their own cities. Students will also use the Engineering Design Process to construct a 3D model of a building in their city.
SOCIAL STUDIES STANDARDS (2019)
3.1.1.AG, 3.1.3.PR | 3.2.1.ER, 3.2.2.ER | 3.3.ER, 3.3.AG | 3.4 | 3.5
7.5.1.PR, 7.5.2.ER, 7.5.3.HS, 7.5.4.HS, 7.5.6.AG
SCIENCE STANDARDS
3.S.1, 3.E.4, 3.3.4A.2, 3.3.4A.3, 3.E.4B.3, 3.E.4B.4, 3.L.5, 3.L.5B.1
This trunk, designed for 3rd grade students, focuses on education and games children played during the 19th century. Children may take part in a quill and ink writing activity; look through a stereoscope; and play games like jacks, marbles ball-and-cup and more! Through this hands-on experience, they learn about the lives of different classes living in South Carolina during the antebellum period and following the Civil War.
SOCIAL STUDIES STANDARDS
3-2.4, 3-2.5, 3-4.1, 3-4.5, 3-4.6
This trunk, designed for both 5th grade & high school students, focuses on the home front during World War II. Using primary sources such as posters and ration books, students will consider how the lives of South Carolinians were affected by the war. They will also identify World War II aircrafts, as civilian airplane spotters in Columbia would have done at the time. An optional activity on the Holocaust and its connections to South Carolinians is also available.
SOCIAL STUDIES STANDARDS
5-4.3, 5-4.4, 5-4.5, 5-4.6, 5-4.7, 5.5.1, 5-5.2 | USHC-8.3
This trunk, designed for 3rd, 5th, and 8th grade students, focuses on significant achievements and actions accomplished by African Americans in the city of Columbia and throughout South Carolina. This trunk uses material culture to discuss important South Carolinians and the push for equal rights in the 19th and 20th centuries. Activities include singing a Civil Rights era song, a hands-on activity with artifacts, and learning about the South Carolina-based Briggs v. Elliott legal case.
SOCIAL STUDIES STANDARDS
3-5.1, 3-5.2, 3-5.4, 3-5.5 | 5-4.1, 5-4.7, 5-5.3 | 8-6.3, 8-7.2
This trunk, designed for 5th and 8th grade students, focuses on the role of race and media in the fight for Civil Rights. Using the lens Jim Crow South, the Civil Rights Movement, and Modjeska Simkins’ role in the fight for equality, students will conduct a close reading and analysis of different sources of media to develop an understanding of bias in media and develop their skills in media literacy. Students will apply what they have learned to create and evaluate their own forms of media in the classroom.
ELA STANDARDS (Grade 5)
Inquiry (I) – 1.1 | 3.1, 3.2 | 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 | 5.1, 5.3
Reading – Informational Text (RI) – Standard 1 | Standard 4 | Standard 5, 5.1 | Standard 7, 7.1 | Standard 8, 8.1, 8.2 | Standard 10, 10.1 | Standard 12, 12.1, 12.3
Communication (C) – Standard 1, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5
ELA STANDARDS (Grade 8)
Inquiry (I) – 1.1 | 2.1 | 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4 | 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 | 5.1, 5.2, 5.3
Reading – Informational Text (RI) – Standard 1 | Standard 4, 4.1, 4.1 | Standard 5, 5.1 | Standard 6, 6.1 | Standard 7, 7.1 | Standard 9 | Standard 10, 10.1 | Standard 11, 11.1, 11.2 | Standard 12, 12.1, 12.3
Communication (C) – Standard 1, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5 | Standard 2, 2.1, 2.2 | Standard 3, 3.2
SOCIAL STUDIES STANDARDS (2019)
5.2CX | 5.4CE, 5.4P, 5.4CC, 5.4E
8.4CX, 8.4CC, 8.4E | 8.5CE, 8.5.CX, 8.5.CC, 8.5.E
This trunk, designed for kindergarten students, focuses on differences and similarities between the past and present. Students will compare items used in the past to those used for similar purposes today, look through a stereoscope and participate in activities like creating "calling cards," playing dominoes, dressing up in historic clothes and more!
SOCIAL STUDIES STANDARDS
K-4.1, K-4.2
