Canal Connections
FALL, 2006-2007
How did flour sacks, mosquitoes, and horseshoes alter the course of New YorkState history? Third graders made sense of history one artifact at a time during this expedition. They examined how seemingly unrelated artifacts told the story of Rochester's "Flour City" days and how the construction of the canal propelled it to become America's first boomtown. The artifacts helped guide students' investigations of the milling industry, the construction challenges presented by geography (and the clever engineering solutions), and how communities thrived with the arrival of the canal. Mirroring the canal study, students collected artifacts that told the story of their learning and how the connections they made along the way helped them understand how they think and learn.
