Unit 8: Set 1: 4th Grade - Activities

Introduction | The Gift | The Gift Comes Home | Terms & People | Photos | Documents | Activities

1. Can you remember the facts? A fact is a piece of information that can be proven to be true. How many facts about the silver service from the USS North Dakota can you remember from your reading? Make a list of facts from these lessons. Examples might include dates, names of people, and where the ship sailed.

2. Historians sometimes have to imagine the past when there are not enough facts to explain everything we want to know. Imagined history is not just made up; it has to be based on what could be possible and what most likely happened. Imagine who might have used the silver service on the USS North Dakota. Would the officers or ordinary sailors use it? At what kinds of occasions might they have used it? Who kept the silver service clean? Pretend you are a newspaper reporter who lived at the time of the USS North Dakota, and write an article about an event at which the silver service might have been used.

3. Historians analyze facts from the past to understand why events were important. Think about Mr. Cathro and why he wanted to bring the silver service back to North Dakota. Why was it important to him? Why was it important to Congressman Sinclair?

4. Today, the people of North Dakota expect to have another ship named for our state. This one will be a submarine. Imagine that you have been asked to paint the ship with designs that represent North Dakota. Draw a picture of those designs.

5. Find out more about how a law is made by looking at the web page of the Clerk of the House of Representatives: http://kids.clerk.house.gov/grade-school/lesson.html?intID=17.

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