It was a wonderful time with social studies teachers and administrators at the New Jersey Council for the Social Studies annual conference last Wednesday, October 23. AntiquityNOW had an exhibit and welcomed much interest in our programs. Next month AntiquityNOW will be a poster at the National Council for the Social Studies annual conference on November 22 in St. Louis, Missouri.
One of the programs particularly interesting to teachers was our Yesterday’s Child series that uses creative storytelling and related lesson plans and activities to promote critical thinking and literacy. The series is unique in that it seeks to expose children not only to history and its legacy today, but also to ancient lifestyles as seen in such cultural touchstones as music, art and food.
AntiquityNOW’s mission is to show ancient and modern connections in order to build awareness of the fragility of our cultural heritage if indifference, politics, greed and theft prevail. AntiquityNOW strives to instill in future generations an understanding of the importance of valuing our collective past. That is the foundation of our Yesterday’s Child series.
Click here to explore our prototype curriculum that includes:
- The original children’s story, “The Tale of Yong and Bao,” situated during the reign of the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang
- Lesson plan
- Educational activities
- Examples of music and cultural arts
- Recipes
Future curricula are centered around a little boy in Mesopotamia who learns about tolerance during the reign of Cyrus the Great, credited with writing the world’s first human rights decree, and a young girl living in Egypt at the time of the female Pharaoh Hatshepsut who dreams about becoming a doctor.
The Yesterday’s Child curricula are currently designed for grades K-6. Other grades will be included at a later date. Each module is crafted as an adjunct to the social studies programs currently used in the United States. Materials are written to correlate with the National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies: A Framework for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment. All materials are produced to enable teachers to address different ways of learning in children, particularly those with literacy challenges. While adhering to these U.S. standards, the Yesterday’s Child curricula can be used in classrooms outside the United States. In non-English speaking regions, teachers may also find the series encourages English language study.
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