Develop the fifth graders' knowledge base with activities involving the inventions of the Industrial Revolution. Let the students work alone, in pairs, small groups, in teams or as class. Students may enjoy looking at a list of inventions and selecting one to research. Ask the students to record their research in a log and trade knowledge with other students.
Invite the students to prepare reports on their invention topics. They can add images they find on the Internet or draw images themselves. Ask the students to practice their presentations with other students in small groups. Follow the rehearsal stage with presentations for the class. Complete the activity by reviewing the inventions. Students can give a news report on the inventions or create skits in which they play the inventors and discuss their inventions.
Invite the fifth graders to create a classification list. Ask students to list aspects a child's life before the Industrial Revolution. Get the ball rolling by writing some points of classification such as air quality, diet, housing and activities. Create a chart or matrix for brainstorming answers. The class can make notes involving the pre-Industrial Revolution fresh farm air and the diet of fresh fruits and vegetables, meats and dairy products.
The fifth graders might note that though rural homes were small, there were plenty of fields and streams where kids could play games or other activities. Contrast the rural life to life in the urban areas where the families moved for work. Research with the children about the poor air and food quality, the overcrowded housing and the long days of working. Complete the activity with the fifth graders' observations about modern life, air quality, diet, housing and activities.
Include lessons about the Industrial Revolution's effect on families. Look at the families photographed by Lewis Hine. Ask the fifth graders to make a list of what they see in the photographs labeled "Families." Provide some examples, such as, "The family is sitting around the table and everyone is sewing." In another photo, Hine captured the image of a family processing a food item, nuts, while they were also eating at the same table and coughing and blowing their noses over the nuts that would be eaten by other people.
Brainstorm a list of similarities and differences to modern families. Topics can include the number of children, the clothes the family members are wearing and their evening activities. Extend the topics to Industrial Revolution workplaces, where parents and children worked in mines and factories. Discuss basic health practices in a family, such as keeping sick people away from food being prepared for others.
Study the Romantic poets' resistance to the Industrial Revolution. Ask the class to research why children were employed as chimney sweeps and the dangers involved in the job. Encourage students to report their findings that children were small enough to fit into the chimneys and that many sickened and died from the soot. Provide copies of William Blake's famous poem, "The Chimney Sweeper," and read the poem aloud in class.
Ask the fifth graders to write in their logs or notebooks their feelings about the poem. Invite them to investigate the rhyme scheme and to hypothesize why the last few lines do not rhyme. Offer the students a chance to look at the photos of child laborers and to write their own poems about child labor. Show them a copy of Blake's drawings and poem to give them ideas about how to integrate poetry and art. Hold a poetry reading and display the poems. Conclude the unit by watching "Samantha: An American Girl Holiday," about child labor in factories.