Keeping in Touch
Dorothy Hinshaw Patent

Kids today have trouble imagining a world without the ability to be in constant contact with their friends and family.  They ride the bus and walk to school attached to their cell phones and earbuds.  Dorothy Hinshaw Patent helps students imagine what things looked like before these technologies existed.  With her easy conversational style, she will get your students thinking. 

English/Language Arts
Explore lead sentences - questions

• Add this Minute to your bank of mentor texts that showcase using questions as lead sentences!

Explore creative writing

• The author asks the reader to imagine leaving on the Lewis & Clark expedition where they’ve left their family and friends behind to explore new territories.  Have students engage their imagination and choose a time period and place to explore as they wonder about the people they have left behind

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Social Studies​
Explore communication as a component of human development

• Have students create a timeline of how humans communicate from the information provided in the second paragraph.  Have them use their critical thinking skills to expand upon the types of communication mentioned in the Minute.  How did humans communicate before alphabets?

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​Explore the Lewis & Clark Expedition

• Trace the expedition with maps and read some of the primary sources that were left behind.  As students explore the facts, ask them to use their critical thinking skills to think about why we continue to learn about this expedition.  What made it historical?

STEM
Explore modes of transportation

• What does a keel boat look like?  How does it compare with other types of boats? What kinds of things would you think about when choosing a mode of transportation for a long journey?  What are your limitations?  How do limitations sometimes spur invention?  Can your students come up with any examples?

​Research Skills
Explore testing statements for accuracy

• Author Patent says at the beginning of the second paragraph that for “most of human history people could only communicate when they were within shouting distance.”  Some of your students might find this difficult to believe.  Use the opportunity to have them “test” the statement by exploring the history of human communication.  Is this an accurate statement?  Use this Minute to provide an opportunity for your students to explore their skepticism.  This time, they may be wrong, but if they start thinking like this and looking for verification of strong statements, they may get some real surprises in the future!

© Karen Sterling, 2017 - May be used for educational purposes without written permission