From mid-April to the beginning of May, the K-3 students embarked on a journey to learn about the Erie Canal. The unit began with discussions about the ways in which people and goods move from place to place today. After creating a list of how we move from place to place in 2021. We then took a time machine, per Erika’s suggestion, back 200 years to 1821. Then we began discussing the ways in which they think people and goods in 1821 moved from place to place and the differences and similarities seen over the 200 year gap. These discussions led the students to realize that boats were the major mode of transportation 200 years ago. In the next lesson we learned about why the Erie Canal needed to be built and how it was built. We examined who was building the canal in addition to what tools they were using to build it. During the next class, the students would be helping Governor De Witt Clinton with planning where to build the Erie Canal. They did this by labeling a New York State map with where the Erie Canal is located, important waterways it connected, mountain ranges it was built around, and the major cities it went through. During the final two classes the students learned about the important structures that were built along the canal like aqueducts, locks, and towpaths, in addition to other terms like hoggee, mule, and packet boat or barge. To end out the unit the students collaboratively made memory games by drawing pictures and writing the names of some of the key Erie Canal terms we discussed (aqueduct, hoggee, mule, lock, packet boat/barge, towpath). The students also learned and sang the song “15 Miles on the Erie Canal”, or as some know it “The Erie Canal Song”. The students also played an active game that required them to run, like a hoggee, or gallop, like a mule, from Albany to Buffalo by running through the Erie Canal. Our final activity of the unit was our field trip to the Syracuse Weighlock Building. This was a great wrap up for the unit and it allowed the students to see everything we had discussed in class first hand. The major highlights of the field trip were getting to walk on the packet boat and seeing the statue of the mule and hoggee. Each of the students came into the unit with different depths of knowledge regarding the Erie Canal. However, each of the students also came into the unit with an open mind and a desire to learn. This allowed each of the students to be successful throughout the unit and learn about an integral piece of Syracuse’s local history in the Erie Canal.

by

Hannah Smith