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 Social Studies

By Carolyn Early

Learn more

• Foxfire Books You can purchase the Foxfire Book Series at this website, at well as learn about the history of this magazine and the company's role in preserving the history of Southern Appalachia.

Related pages

• North Carolina American Indian stories: In this lesson students will select and read stories from some of the North Carolina American Indian tribes. They will compare and contrast two stories of their choice and complete a Venn diagram. Students will use the information on the Venn diagram to write three paragraphs. After reading several American Indian tales or legends, students will then create their own legend using the narrative writing process.
• Dynamic dialect: Horace Kephart and Our Southern Highlanders: Students will read an excerpt from Horace Kephart's Our Southern Highlanders and explore how language and dialect have changed over the years.
• N.C.- The Rip Van Winkle State: This lesson introduces students to Washington Irving's short story "Rip Van Winkle" and correlates it with the history of North Carolina. In the 1800s North Carolina was nicknamed "The Rip Van Winkle State."

Related topics

• Learn more about North Carolina, culture, families, folklife, folklore, genealogy, history, interviews, language arts, oral histories, and social studies.

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Learning outcomes

Students will:

• complete a genealogy 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 used to be.
• bring in artifacts or heirlooms for “show-n-tell.”
• design a quilt pattern or color a pre-designed pattern
• learn songs or music of past cultures.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

6 Weeks

Materials/resources

• list of questions for the interview
• Blank genealogy chart (courtesy of Misbach Enterprises)
• 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, preferably their grandparent, to interview. Students will need to let their grandparents know about the genealogy chart in time for research to be done if necessary.

Activities

1. For homework, students should fill out the genealogy chart to find out more about their ancestors. Students will probably need help from their parent/guardian for this assignment.
2. In the interview, students will find out how everyday things were done 50-70 years ago. Here are some questions that can be used to the Senior Citizen Interview:
   • Describe your family life. (How many siblings do you have? Did your grandparents live at home with you? What did your house look like when you were growing up? Did you live on a farm or grow your own food? Where did you get your water? What kind of punishments or rewards did you get? What kinds of sports did you play? What games did you play? What kind of toys did you play with? What kinds of music did you listen to? What did you do for entertainment? What did you do for celebrations? Did you have electricity? A telephone?, etc.)
   • What was laundry day like? (What kind of outfits did boys wear? What kind of outfits did girls wear? How many set of clothing did you have? How many pairs of shoes did you have?)
   • What was your main mode of transportation? (Describe how you got from place to place. What kind of car did you have (year, color, model, etc.)?
   • Describe a typical school day. (How many rooms did your school have? What was your schedule like? What subjects did you study? Did you have lunch at school? Did you have recess? What kinds of punishments or rewards did the teachers use? How did you get to and from school? What games did you play? Did you have any sports teams at your school?
   • Did you attend any religious services? If so, what kind? (Describe a typical day of worship, including socials events, songs, instruments used, choir, etc.)
   • What home remedies did your parents use when you were sick or injured? (Was there a doctor or hospital nearby?)
   • Were you ever in the Armed Services? (What branch of service were you in? Did you fight in a war? Which war? What battle do you most remember?)
   • Tell me about your jobs. (How old were you when you started to work? Where was your first job? How much money did you make? How often did you get paid? What were some prices of food, clothing, and/or entertainment?)
   • What kind of natural disasters or catastrophes have you witnessed?
   • How old were you when you started “courtin’”? (What was a typical date like? How old were you when you got married? What was your wedding like? How many years have you been married?
3. 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.

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.