School Pictures
Grade Levels: 6 - 8
Group Members: _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Date: ______________________
Part I
a) Go to the Library of Congress’ America
from the Great Depression to World II site (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsahtml/fahome.html).
Using the SEARCH function, type in “school”. You’ll get 100 images.
b) Spend about 10 minutes looking through the images, choosing ones that appeal
to you based on the descriptions. (In other words, you don’t need to go in order
but can jump around.) Enlarge the photos by clicking on them so that you can see
as many details as possible. Think about what these photos tell you about schools
and school life.
c) After you’ve looked at a minimum of ten photographs, decide
on three categories about which these images describe or provide information.
Categories might include: building exteriors, building interiors, studying and
school subjects, school clothes, etc.
d) Write your categories below and then
list at least five things you notice about each one. Print out corresponding
photographs that prove your observations and staple them to this sheet.
CATEGORY I: _____________________________________________________
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
CATEGORY II: _____________________________________________________
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
CATEGORY III: _____________________________________________________
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
Part II:
How are these things different than your own school?
As a group, go through your lists and think about how each item is both
different from and similar to life in your own school. Differences will probably
be easier to find than similarities, but try hard to think of how these schools
share some similarities to your own. Summarize your findings for each category.
CATEGORY I: Similarities and Differences
CATEGORY II: Similarities and
Differences
CATEGORY III: Similarities and
Differences

