15 Miles on the....
Erie Canal
This module will include three lessons about the Erie Canal. The lessons will be presented in three columns.
Lesson 1: Erie Canal: Introduction & Vocabulary
Please open the lesson plan and materials below! The first file is a Microsoft Word document, the second a PDF document. The first page is the lesson plan followed by the materials.
Lesson Plan
- Pen/pencil for student to use to answer questions
- Colored pencils/crayons/pencil for drawing vocabulary pictures
- Videos (on my website or in my YouTube playlist, Erie Canal)
- Print out the lesson plan packet or give paper to student to write answers (Entrance Ticket, vocabulary organizer, video questions) You could also have students answer questions verbally instead if you do not have paper or a printer
- The definition of a canal and definition of a lock
- Location of the Erie Canal (Albany to Buffalo)
- Write as many things down as you can remember about the Erie Canal from elementary school.
- Show video to student and have student answer questions (Pg 3) along with video.
- Vocabulary graphic organizer (Pg 4): Have students review the graphic organizer and in the last column have them draw a picture of the term.
- Journal entry (Pg 4) Have students write a sentence or two about what it might be like to ride a boat through the locks.
- Do you know who built the Erie Canal?
- What do you think the people who built the Erie Canal did after they finished building the canal?
- Speed up/slow down videos
- Read to your student
- Extra time
- Have students answer only 1 question
- Verbal, drawn, typed answers
Subject
The Erie Canal: Introduction and Vocabulary (Day One)
Date
Wednesday, March 18, 2020
Materials Needed
Lesson Goals
The student will be able to identify (write or say) key facts about the Erie Canal including:
The student will be able to reflect on what it may have been like to ride through the locks of the Erie Canal in a journal entry.
Lesson Agenda
Opening Bellwork
Entrance Ticket (Pg 3): Have your student answer the following question on the entrance ticket or have a conversation with them about it.
Agenda
Closing
Questions to think on: Send your student off with the following questions to think about for tomorrow. Make sure the students hold their answers until tomorrow.
Suggested Changes for Students
Modifications & Accommodations
Extra Learning (Pg 5)
- Extra videos included
- Ask students to create more questions for the video
- Have students add terms to vocab graphic organizer
NYS Social Studies Framework Standard
7.6c Westward expansion provided opportunities for some groups while harming others. Students will examine the Erie Canal as a gateway to westward expansion that resulted in economic growth for New York State, economic opportunities for Irish immigrants working on its construction, and its use by religious groups, such as the Mormons, to move westward.
Lesson Reflection
What went well? What could have gone better? Is there anything you would change about this lesson? Please feel free to share with me at historywithmrst@gmail.com
Lesson Tasks
Task 1: Entrance Ticket
Directions: Write down everything you can remember about the Erie Canal from elementary school.
You can play this video while your student works (Bruce Springsteen, Erie Canal):
Task 2: Erie Canal Video
Directions: Watch this video (on website and link below) and answer the questions below.
Video: Off Limits Visits Lockport Cave:
Questions:
1. What cities are the starting and ending points of the Erie Canal? (1:10)
__________________ and __________________
2. How did the Flight of Five locks impact Lockport? What was it like before and what was it like after? (3:50)
Task 3: Vocabulary Organizer
Directions: Review the vocab in the graphic organizer and draw an image that can help you remember the vocab term.
Terms & Definitions
Canal
A river or man-made channel of water used for transportation.
Lock
A system that helps boats that travel up or down a river or canal be moved to the next higher or lower level.
Erie Canal
A canal in New York between Albany and Buffalo, connecting the Hudson River with Lake Erie: completed in 1825.
Flight of Five
A set of locks on the Erie Canal in Lockport, New York. It is a staircase lock constructed to lift or lower a canal boat over the Niagara Escarpment in five stages.
Task 4: Journal Entry
Directions: Write a few sentences about what you think it would have been like to ride a boat through Lockport's locks on the Erie Canal.
Task 5: Questions to Think On
Directions: These are two questions to THINK ABOUT for the rest of the day. Don't share your answers!
- Do you know who built the Erie Canal?
- What do you think the people who built the Erie Canal did after they finished building the canal?
More Learning!
Directions: If you want to learn more about this topic you can watch the following videos!
How a lock works, Canal & River Trust
Erie Canal Locks Time Lapse, Aaron Pufal
Source: New York Public Library
Lesson 2: Erie Canal: Building the Erie Canal
Please open the lesson plan and materials below! The first file is a Microsoft Word document, the second a PDF document. The first page is the lesson plan followed by the materials.
Lesson Plan
Subject
The Erie Canal: Building the Erie Canal (Day Two)
Date
Thursday, March 19, 2020
Materials Needed
- Pen/pencil for student to use to answer questions
- Colored pencils/crayons/pencil for drawing vocabulary pictures
- Videos (on my website or in my YouTube playlist, Erie Canal)
- Print out this packet or give paper to student to write answers (Entrance Ticket, vocabulary organizer, video questions, reading and questions) You could also have students answer questions verbally instead if you do not have paper or a printer
Lesson Goals
The student will be able to identify (write or say) the groups of people who built the Erie Canal.
The student will be able to reflect on what happened to people after they finished building the Erie Canal and the impact of the settlement on Western New York.
Lesson Agenda
Opening Bellwork
Entrance Ticket (Pg 3): Have your student watch the following video and write two facts that they learned from the video about the Erie Canal that they did not know before.
Source: NYup, Erie Canal at 200: How a ditch transformed New York into the Empire State
- Vocabulary graphic organizer (Pg 3): Have students review the graphic organizer and in the last column have them draw a picture of the term.
- Complete reading excerpt (Pg 3-5) and answer the corresponding questions.
Closing
Questions to think on: Send your student off with the following questions to think about for tomorrow. Make sure the students hold their answers until tomorrow.
- How did the Erie Canal change the speed of transportation?
- What inventions have been created that have improved the world?
Suggested Changes for Students
Modifications & Accommodations
- Speed up/slow down videos
- Read to your student
- Extra time
- Have students answer only a few questions
- Verbal, drawn, typed answers
Extra Learning (Pg 5)
- Extra websites included
- Ask students to create more questions for the video
- Have students add more terms to vocab graphic organizer
NYS Social Studies Framework Standard
7.6c Westward expansion provided opportunities for some groups while harming others. Students will examine the Erie Canal as a gateway to westward expansion that resulted in economic growth for New York State, economic opportunities for Irish immigrants working on its construction, and its use by religious groups, such as the Mormons, to move westward.
Lesson Reflection
What went well? What could have gone better? Is there anything you would change about this lesson? Please feel free to share with me at historywithmrst@gmail.com
Lesson Tasks
Task 1: Vocabulary Organizer
Directions: Review the vocab in the graphic organizer and draw an image that can help you remember the vocab term.
Engineer
a person who designs, builds, or maintains engines, machines, or public works
Immigrant
A person who moves from their native regions into another country to live
Sources: SimpleWikipedia, dictionary.com
Task 2: Erie Canal Reading
Directions: Please complete the reading below and answer the questions below the reading.
Erie Canal Reading
The Erie Canal
When the Erie Canal was built it stretched 363 miles from Albany to Buffalo. It was only four feet deep and forty feet wide and there are 83 lift locks along the canal. The Erie Canal changed New York. It made New York a trading center and helped grow Western New York's population. In fact, 80 percent of the population of upstate NY still lives within 25 miles of the route of the Erie Canal.
The Big Idea!
The idea for the Erie Canal was presented by Jesse Hawley. He was a flour merchant from western New York who went broke trying to get his product to market. He published a series of essays from debtor's prison. His essays caught the attention of New York politicians, including New York City mayor DeWitt Clinton. Clinton became the governor of New York and workers started building the Erie Canal on July 4, 1817.
Engineering the Canal
This project was so large, no one had done anything like this in the United States. Project engineers had little experience building canals. The first "engineers" were two judges who had experience surveying land in settling disputes between neighbors and a math teacher. Erie Canal engineers invented new equipment to uproot trees and stumps and invented the first cement that could set and harden underwater.
The Erie Canal was nicknamed the "Erie School of Engineers". The project provided practical schooling for a new generation of American engineers and builders, and led to the founding of the nation's first civil engineering school, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, New York, in 1824.
The Men Who Built the Erie Canal
The Erie Canal was completed within eight years, two years ahead of schedule. Many men worked on the canal. Some historians argue that German, British, and Irish immigrants did the bulk of the tough, unskilled work while other historians argue that most of the workers were local.
The work was tough and dangerous. The men worked long days, many working 12-15 hours. Many were injured from blasts from explosives or collapsing canal walls and in swampy areas many died of malaria. For this work, they were paid the equivalent today of 30 to 46 cents per day.
The Men Who Built the Towns
While they were building the Erie Canal the men lived in temporary towns along the canal. Those short term towns became long term settlements as men settled after finishing the canal, or the part of the canal they worked on.
While working near cities that already existed, men spent money at on food, supplies, and lodging, boosting the economies of those towns. Before long the towns along the Erie Canal would become major hubs for immigration and trade.
About 36 years later the same generation of men who built the Erie Canal would go on to fight in the American Civil War.
Source: Reading created by Christina Turowski using information and excerpts from www.history.com ; https://immigrationtounitedstates.org/403-canals.html; https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/grab-your-mule-named-sal-and-explore-erie-canal-180963892/; https://www.thoughtco.com/building-the-erie-canal-1773705
Questions about Erie Canal Reading
1. What is one way the Erie Canal changed Western New York?
2. Are there any big ideas you can think of that are similar to the Erie Canal?
3. Why do you think a math teacher was chosen as one of the engineers?
4. What groups of people built the Erie Canal?
5. What are some challenges the people who built the Erie Canal had to deal with?
6. Where did the men who built the Erie Canal settle?
7. How did building the Erie Canal help local towns?
Task 4: Questions to Think On
Directions: These are two questions to THINK ABOUT for the rest of the day. Don't share your answers!
- How did the Erie Canal change the speed of transportation?
- What inventions have been created that have improved the world?
More Learning!
Directions: If you want to learn more about this topic you can check out the following resources!
Check out the digital collections the Erie Canal Museum, particularly the following ones on immigration on the Erie Canal and the history of the Erie Canal.
- https://eriecanalmuseum.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/High-Hopes.pdf
- https://reflections.eriecanalmuseum.org/about
"Tour" the Erie Canal by looking at Photographs from the era
Color images of the Erie Canal
Lesson 3: The Erie Canal: How did the Erie Canal improve life? (Day Three)
Please open the lesson plan and materials below! The first file is a Microsoft Word document, the second a PDF document. The first page is the lesson plan followed by the materials.
Lesson Plan
Subject
The Erie Canal: How did the Erie Canal improve life? (Day Three)
Date
Friday, March 20, 2020
Materials Needed
- Pen/pencil for student to use to answer questions
- Colored pencils/crayons/pencil for drawing vocabulary pictures
- Videos (on my website or in my YouTube playlist, Erie Canal)
- Print out this packet or give paper to student to write answers (Entrance Ticket, vocabulary organizer, video questions, reading and questions) You could also have students answer questions verbally instead if you do not have paper or a printer
Lesson Goals
The student will be able to identify (write or say) the religion that spread with the help of the Erie Canal (Mormonism).
The student will be able to reflect on how the Erie Canal improved shipping and immigration in Western New York.
Lesson Agenda
Opening Bellwork
Entrance Ticket (Pg 3): Have your student answer the following question. Name one invention that has improved the world and explain how it made the world a better place.
Agenda
- Vocabulary graphic organizer (Pg 3): Have students review the graphic organizer and in the last column have them draw a picture of the term.
- Have student watch the video and answer the question: Why were mules used to pull canal boats along the towpath on the Erie Canal? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVureiAWX-I
- Complete reading excerpt (Pg 4-5) and answer the corresponding questions.
Closing
Questions to think on (Pg 5): Send your student off with the following questions to think about for tomorrow. Make sure the students hold their answers until tomorrow.
- Have you ever seen grain elevators?
- Can you find an image of one of the grain elevators in Buffalo?
Suggested Changes for Students
Modifications & Accommodations
- Speed up/slow down videos
- Read to your student
- Extra time
- Have students answer only a few questions
- Verbal, drawn, typed answers
Extra Learning (Pg 6)
- Extra websites included
- Ask students to create more questions for the video
- Have students add more terms to vocab graphic organizer
NYS Social Studies Framework Standard
7.6c Westward expansion provided opportunities for some groups while harming others. Students will examine the Erie Canal as a gateway to westward expansion that resulted in economic growth for New York State, economic opportunities for Irish immigrants working on its construction, and its use by religious groups, such as the Mormons, to move westward.
Lesson Reflection
What went well? What could have gone better? Is there anything you would change about this lesson? Please feel free to share with me at historywithmrst@gmail.com
Lesson Tasks
Bellwork: Entrance Ticket
Directions: Answer the question in the entrance ticket using your knowledge.
Name one invention that has improved the world and explain how it made the world a better place.
Task 1: Vocabulary Organizer
Directions: Review the vocab in the graphic organizer and draw an image that can help you remember the vocab term.
Mules
An animal that is a mix between a horse and donkey. Canal boats had no engines or sails. They were pulled by a pair of sturdy mules horses on a towpath alongside the canal.
Towpath
A path beside a river or canal, originally used as a pathway for horses or mules towing canal boats.
Goods
Items for sale, or things a person owns that can be moved
Textiles
A type of cloth or woven fabric, includes clothing, cotton, and fibers.
Sources: https://www.quia.com/jg/4185list.html; dictionary.com; Oxford Dictionary; Cambridge English Dictionary
Task 2: Erie Canal Mules
Directions: Please watch the video and answer the following question.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVureiAWX-I
Source: Erie Canal Mules: lowbridge1
Question: Why were mules used to pull canal boats along the towpath on the Erie Canal?
Task 3: Impact of the Erie Canal Reading
Directions: Please complete the reading below on the left and answer the questions on the right.
Impact of the Erie Canal Reading
The Opening of the Erie Canal
The Erie Canal opened on October 26, 1825. To celebrate its opening Governor DeWitt Clinton rode a boat from Buffalo to New York City. Clinton made the trip in just 10 days! He brought water from Lake Erie in Buffalo on his trip. When Clinton emptied the water into the Atlantic Ocean he called it a "Wedding of the Waters."
The Impact of the Erie Canal
The Erie Canal decreased the cost of shipping goods. Before the Erie Canal it cost $100 to ship a ton of goods but after the Erie Canal was completed it cost $10 to ship a ton of goods. It also made shipping faster, changing the trip from weeks to days. Boats were originally pulled by mules on towpaths. Mules were eventually replaced by motorized boats.
By 1853, the Erie Canal carried 62 percent of all U.S. trade. Some goods that were shipped included grain, salt, wood, and textiles.
Source: National Park Service
People Moved Along the Erie Canal
Goods were not the only thing moved through the Erie Canal, people moved along the Erie Canal as well. Millions of people traveled along the Erie Canal and eventually settled in canal towns along the route. The boats served as mini-houses, with everything a family would need on board. The Erie Canal made it easier for immigrants to move from port cities westward. Immigrant communities popped up in cities, and the impact can still be seen today in the First Ward's Irish community in Buffalo.
Mormonism and the Erie Canal
Not only did people spread across Upstate New York through the Erie Canal but so did religion. Mormonism traces its roots to Joseph Smith in the 1820s. He spread his ideas to canal towns along the Erie Canal before eventually moving to Ohio.
Looking Ahead
The Erie Canal made Western New York a trading hub, grew the population, and made Buffalo the city it is today. Next lesson we will learn about the inventions that were created during this time period. We will learn more about many invention, including the grain elevator, which was invented right here in Buffalo!
Source: Reading created by Christina Turowski using information and excerpts from
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Erie-Canal/From-commercial-artery-to-national-symbol
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/grab-your-mule-named-sal-and-explore-erie-canal-180963892/
https://www.history.com/topics/landmarks/erie-canal
Questions about the Impact of the Erie Canal Reading
1. When did the Erie Canal open?
2. List two ways the Erie Canal improved shipping goods?
3. How did the Erie Canal impact canal communities?
4. What religion was spread because of the Erie Canal?
Task 4: Questions to Think On
Directions: These are two questions to THINK ABOUT for the rest of the day. Don't share your answers!
- Have you ever seen grain elevators?
- Can you find an image of one of the grain elevators in Buffalo?
More Learning!
Directions: If you want to learn more about this topic you can check out the following resources!
- Check out the digital collections the Erie Canal Museum, particularly the following ones about women on the Erie Canal, immigration on the Erie Canal, and the history of the Erie Canal.
- https://eriecanalmuseum.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Hidden-Perspectives-Womens-Lives-on-the-Erie-Canal.pdf
- https://eriecanalmuseum.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/High-Hopes.pdf
- https://reflections.eriecanalmuseum.org/about
- "Tour" the Erie Canal by looking at Photographs from the era
- https://www.eriecanal.org/tour-east.html
- Color images of the Erie Canal
- https://eriecanalmuseum.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Coloring-pages.pdf