Common Ground and Historical Identity

Level: All School – Assembly Level – Fun, Energetic, Celebratory
Grades: K-12
School Quarter: 4

Related Grade Level Activities:

• Elementary Lower: Map school & Draw Favorite Place
• Elementary Upper: Map Community & School Scavenger Hunt
• Middle School: Maps Then vs. Now
• High School: Maps Exploration and Comparison

Activity: Local Geography by grade level
Use ‘Your Town’ resource to explore local geography in the 1700s

• Elementary: grades each give a tour of part of the school to another grade
• Middle School: Display dioramas of state sites
  • Diorama making instructions, including affordable material ideas
• High School: History Fair – display

Theme Alignment: Common Ground and Historical Identity

Toolkit Overview (In this toolkit):

• Background
• How to implement this activity
• Major Resources: Official versions of each of the founding documents
• Training/Tips for reading formal documents as a group
• Tech Sheet for livestream. Audio/Visual tech specs (video, microphones, lighting, etc)

Background:

Geography is a crucial aspect of understanding history and culture. These school-level activities encourage students to explore the world around them, consider it from a historical perspective, and to share what they learn with others in ways that make sense for their age group. Some maps of New Mexico from the 1700s show names identical or similar to those of modern communities, while other communities did not yet exist or were not recognized by map makers.

• Elementary school students are invited to learn about their school and local community in the classroom, then share their learning with other classes by designing a tour for their assigned section of the school.
• Middle school Quarter 3 classroom activities encourage students to learn about state cultural and historical sites, while Quarter 4 offers the opportunity to examine how maps of New Mexico changed over time. These two activities culminate with the Quarter 4 school level activity to create a diorama of a historically, culturally, or geologically significant state site. Display options could include school display areas, local museums or libraries, or other local government buildings.
• High schools can create a history fair to exhibit student learning throughout the year based on the 1776 quarterly themes. Schools can use the National History Day organization’s guide.

How To:

Link to Implementation / How to

• Elementary
• Middle School
• High School

Major Resources: High School

• National History Day Contest Rule Book
• National History Day Resources for teachers
• New Mexico Humanities Council – New Mexico’s affiliate for National History Day
• Chicago History Organizing Your School History Event