5 Artifacts

One activity that we did in class was very interesting and would be a great introduction to history in the elementary classroom.  Each student had to bring in 5 artifacts that describe who they are.  Many students had the same items for this activity as they did for the shoebox activity.  The artifacts were laid out at each desk and we all walked around and viewed them.  Each person picked one item and was given a worksheet to fill out in order to make inferences about it.  Some of those inferences include what the viewer thought the story might be behind the item and how old the item was.  Then, while the rest of the class listened, the viewer had to ask the owner about the item and everyone else got to hear the story behind it.  This would be useful in the elementary classroom because it is an genuine learning activity where students can see the differences and similarities among themselves and other students.  It also gives them an authentic way to look at and discuss history. An extension would be to put all of the items together and ask what a person ten years from now might infer about this class if he/she viewed the items.