Folklife

Students will learn North Carolina folklore, traditions, war activities, local legends, superstitions, food preparation traditions, art, songs and dances which are unique to the area.

A lesson plan for grade 8 Visual Arts Education, English Language Arts, Information Skills, Music Education, and Social Studies

By Carolyn Early

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Learning outcomes

Students will:

• complete a geneaology chart (at least five generations) which lets them research the history of their family.
• interview a family member or friend 70 years of age or older to find out how life styles used to be.
• bring in artifacts or heirlooms for “show-n-tell.”
• design a quilt pattern or color one that is already designed to learn of patterns.
• learn songs or music of past cultures.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

6 Weeks

Materials/resources

• list of questions for the interview
• blank geneaology chart
• list of suggested artifacts or heirlooms that could safely be brought to class
• grid or graph paper to design their quilts or a pre-printed page to color
• Foxfire series for quilt patterns
• recordings of folk songs

Technology resources

none

Pre-activities

Students will need to know a senior citizen to interview. Students will need to let their grandparents know about the geneaology chart in time for research to be done if necessary.

Activities

In the interview, students will find out how everyday things were done 50-70 years ago. Using the geneaology chart, students will be able to find out about their ancestors. Using the quilt charts, students can see or draw first hand some of the original designs. Then, perhaps they will want to create some original designs of their own.

These are the questions for the Senior Citizen interview:

1. Describe your family life. (Include number of brothers and sisters and whether or not a grandparent lived with them, description of the house they lived in, farm life, gardening, where they got their water, type of punishment or rewards used, sports, toys and games played, kinds of music and entertainment, and celebrations, electricity, lights, telephone, etc.)
2. What was laundry day like? (Describe styles of outfits boys and girls wore, how many outfits and shoes they had.)
3. What was the mode of transportation? (Describe. If a vehicle, what year, color, model, etc.)
4. Describe a typical school day. (Tell whether or not a one-room school, the schedule, subjects studied, lunch, recess, punishment or rewards used, mode of transportation, games played, and if there were a ball team of any kind at their school.)
5. What church did you attend? (Describe a typical Sunday--including church socials,
   decoration day, singing instruments used, choir, etc.)

6. What home remedies did your parents use when you were sick or injured? (Was there a doctor or hospital nearby?)
7. Were you ever in the Armed Services? (Describe which branch of service, and if you fought in a war, which one, what battle you remember the most.)
8. How old were you when you started to work? Describe your first job, such as where you worked, wages per hour, how often you got paid, etc.) (What were some of the prices of
   food, clothing and entertainment then?)

9. What kind of natural disasters or catastrophes have you witnessed? (Example: flood of 1916.)
10. How old were you when you started “courtin’?” (Describe a typical date, also tell how old you were when you got married--describe the wedding, and how many years you have been married, or how many anniversaries you have celebrated together?)

Assessment

Within a six-week period, students should have a written or an oral report ready to present to the class. There should be some artifacts to display. Along with the report, students should have their ancestor chart as complete as possible. The quilt pattern can be done as an art project within one class period--letting the students put the blocks together on the bulletin board to see the particular quilt design. Students can demonstrate the folk songs by giving a performance of choral music, or instrumental performances on the dulcimers.

Supplemental information

A book I used was When I Grew Up Long Ago by Alvin Schwartz. Other books were the series of Foxfire editions. I used a lot of David Holt folktale tapes. The Grandfather Tales were really big with the students.

Related websites

North Carolina Folklore Society:
http://www.ecu.edu/ncfolk/

Sources for the Foxfire book series:
http://www.sedelmeier.com/foxfire.htm
http://www.survivalistbooks.com/foxfire.htm
http://www.foxfire.org/prodFFbooks.html

Quilt patterns online:
http://www.freequiltpatterns.info/
http://www.freequilt.com/
http://www.quilterscache.com/