Supporting Question 1: What significant events took place in agriculture during Era 1?

1. Using a projector, mobile devices, or computer lab, review the Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change section of the multimedia timeline. The Growing a Nation events and sub-events are designed to be adaptable to a variety of teaching strategies. Each Main Event contains Sub-events that explore American history for a greater understanding of the time period or historical cause and effect relationships. The sub-event tiles ask higher order questions to not only expand student knowledge, but also to increase their comprehension to the level of application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.
2. After students view selected events and sub-events, explain that they will be investigating the question, "What significant events took place in agriculture during Era 1?" Assign or allow students (or student pairs) to choose a sub-event tile. Students can work off of a computer or mobile device or take a screenshot of the selected sub-event and print.
3. Ask the students to be prepared to answer the questions on their tile by either using the Think, Pair, Share strategy or by using one of the attached Demonstration of Learning Strategies. You may want to choose a particular strategy to use with the entire class or cut the strategies into strips and ask each student to pick one or two. If the student or group of students is allowed to pick two, ask them to choose the learning strategy they prefer and put the other one back. Keep in mind that some Demonstration of Learning Strategies will be a better fit for some of the event topics than others and that some take more time than others. Some strategies may need to be grouped depending on the available time.
4. Revisit the question, "What significant events took place in agriculture during Era 1?" (Student answers will vary depending on the events the students research.)

Supporting Question 2: What are the similarities and differences of my daily life compared to when my grandparents were my age?

1. Explain to the students that they will investigate the question, "What are the similarities and differences of my daily life compared to when my grandparents were my age?"
2. Read the "In the Good Old Days" section of the Background Agricultural Connections portion of this lesson.
3. Ask the students if daily life chores have changed since their parents or guardians were children. Ask your students if they can share their parents’/guardians' or grandparents’ childhood stories about things they did around the house that are no longer done today. Are there activities that the students do today that might someday seem dated to their children or grandchildren?
4. Explain to the students that you have prepared an inventory activity sheet to determine the types of agricultural and everyday activities they have done. Tell the students that some of the activities on the list may seem like novelties, but they may have been a way of life for their parents or grandparents. Pass out the In the Good Old Days Inventory Activity Sheet, and give them time to read it over. Give students the option of adding a few items to the list.
5. Ask the students to complete the activity sheet by putting a check in the box if they have done the activity.
6. Ask them to find someone in the class that has done the activity, and then write their name in the space. Have all the items been done by the students in class?
7. Tell the students that they will now get a chance to survey their parents/guardians and their grandparents. Assign students to complete the activity sheet at home by filling in the names of their parent or guardian and, if necessary, a grandparent or neighbor over 65 to fully complete the activity sheet.
8. When the homework is returned, graph the differences between the generations. As a class, count the number of activities the students did compared to those their parents/guardians and grandparents did. What kind of differences do the students notice? How many students have grown their own food? How many have made their own clothes? Where do these necessities come from today?
9. Explain to the students that these differences indicate the changes that have taken place over time regarding our relationship to agriculture and our connection to food and fiber production.
10. Revisit the question, "What are the similarities and differences of my daily life compared to when my grandparents were my age?" (Students should recognize that their grandparents had fewer technologies and likely participated in more of farming practices that produced their food.)

Supporting Question 3: How has agriculture impacted the growth of the nation and individual lives?

1. Copy for each group or pair of students a set of the Chronological Event Strips for 1600-1929, preferably on colored paper for easy sorting between groups. Cut the events apart into strips. Notice that the strips are separated by eras so that you can select or group the events you would like to use for the activity.
   • Tip: If you’d like the strips to be reused, laminate the Chronological Event Strips pages before you cut them apart.
2. Explain to the students that they will investigate the question, "How has agriculture impacted the growth of the nation and individual lives?"
3. Provide each group with selected event strips for the time periods you are discussing. Ask the groups of students to place the events, to the best of their knowledge, in chronological order on their desk. Ask them how confident they are about the order.
4. Provide each group of students with a Significant Agricultural Events Activity Sheet. Ask them to reorganize their chronology strips into the correct order based on the data sheet. Together, the groups should consider the significance of each event and how it has affected and impacted the cultural/societal categories on the activity sheet.
5. Instruct each group to place a check mark on the activity sheet, in the appropriate space, if the event had an effect on the cultural/societal category and impacted or changed how we live in the United States today. The activity sheets should be kept for future reference and completed throughout the course. As you review each era and progress through the course, students will be able to see the impact agriculture has made on the growth of the nation and how developments in agriculture have changed their lives. Ask the students to rank the events periodically or when they complete the course. Which events or event do they think had the most impact? Why?
   • As an optional activity, ask students to prepare an individual or group project on the event they feel had the most impact.
6. Revisit the question, "How has agriculture impacted the growth of the nation and individual lives?" (Agriculture has made it possible for communities to grow and thrive by meeting their basic needs (food, clothing, and shelter) and providing products that could be sold for a solid local economy.)

Supporting Question 4: Why was wool important to the economy in early colonial times?

1. Explain to the students that they will investigate the question, "Why was wool important to the economy in early colonial times?"
2. Share with the students the "Sheep and Wool" section of the Background Agricultural Connections.
3. Give each student a piece of wool approximately 1/4" wide and 14" long and a spinning hook. Explain to the students that they will be hand spinning the wool.
4. Fold about 1/2" of wool over the end of the spinning hook and begin spinning.
5. Back your non-spinning hand out as the wool is spun; this is called drafting.
6. Draft out the wool so that the spun wool is taut, but not "bumpy." If you get twisted bumps in your spun yarn, draft (or let out) more unspun wool. When you have twisted the entire length of the wool, don't let go—it will unspin. You are now ready to ply your yarn.
7. Plying the yarn will keep it from unspinning and make it stronger. Plying is the twisting together of two single strands of spun wool. Have someone hold the center of the twisted wool while you hold the ends.
8. Bring the ends of the wool together in one hand so that there are two strands side-by-side. Have your helper let go, and let the wool twist together. It should spring into a twisted strand. The double strand is now called plyed yarn.
9. You can view a Wool Spinning Tutorial. 
10. Revisit the question, "Why was wool important to the economy in early colonial times?" (Prior to the Revolutionary War colonists depended on Great Britian for their wool. Producing and processing wool in the United States decreased dependence on Great Britian.)

Teach with Clarity Wool was colonial America's first textile. It's important for students to understand how wool was collected, processed, and spun for textiles. This background will help students make a comparison to cotton and recognize why cotton became the desired textile for early colonists.