Read, Listen, View
Use it online!.	Middle Level: Grades 6-8 Middle-Level Standard: Nonfiction Listen to presentations or read on-line information about the historical and cultural context, function, and style of the unit's 28 images, and demonstrate comprehension of the material by responding to questions relating to description, interpretation, and association. (See the "Look" and "Think" discussion questions following the essay about each image.) To complement study of Henry Lewis's St. Anthony Falls, read the report about Lewis's sketching trip on the Mississippi River, and discuss how a similar contemporary trip would be alike and different. (See Extension Activities, "The American Land: Changing Landscapes.") To complement study of the Connecticut Room (1740) and/or the Charleston Drawing Room (1772), work in a small group to determine 10 items to pack if emigrating to America at that period and explain why those items were selected. (See Extension Activities, "The American People--Newcomers: Home Sweet Home.") After reviewing the unit's specific images that honor heroes and heroines, consider the definition of hero/heroine and why the people represented by the images can be considered heroic. (See Extension Activities, "The American People: Heroes and Heroines.") To complement study of the unit's images of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, read biographies of these presidents, and compare how the biographers and the artists have emphasized personal and professional aspects of these presidents. (See Extension Activities, "The American People: Heroes and Heroines.") To complement study of the terms artifact and archaeologist, discuss what the unit's artifacts teach about the lives of the people who made them, and participate in creating a classroom "museum" of labeled artifacts that would reflect the contemporary life of a student for future archaeologists. (See Extension Activities, "The History of America: Archaeology.") To complement study of the Connecticut Room and/or the Charleston Drawing Room, imagine being a resident of the original house for a day and write a corresponding diary entry. (See Extension Activities, "The History of America: Dear Diary.") Discuss the term portrait and various examples of portraiture within the unit, and then create a "word picture" of one of these portraits. (See Extension Activities, "The Arts in America: Portraiture.") Read one or more of the nonfictional selections correlated to images in the unit, and discuss or write about comparisons between the viewpoints expressed or between the artistic and literary techniques employed. (See Extension Activities, "The Arts in America: Literature and Art.") Middle-Level Standard: Fiction Read one or more of the fictional selections correlated to images in the unit, and discuss or write about comparisons between the viewpoints expressed or between the artistic and literary techniques employed. (See Extension Activities, "The Arts in America: Literature and Art.")
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