We have been singing; Take Me Out to the Ballgame, since opening day of baseball season, in my kindergarten classroom. When I was planning a new and engaging primary source lesson I thought of how much the students love this song and I thought of doing something on the history of baseball. While researching primary sources I developed the following lesson, which every student LOVED!

I found the following primary sources:

 http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2008678966/resource/

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2013646384/

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/cph.3b36379/

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/ggbain.10155/

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/90710762/

I enlarged the pictures and stapled them together so that each student could have their own copy to hold in their hands.

I paired the students and passed out magnifying glasses to every student.  They had to introduce themselves to each other as Historian (their first name) ,ex. Historian Teresa.

I told the students that I found these pictures of groups of people sitting or standing together.   I think they do something together.  Can you figure out what they do?  Make sure you look at their clothing, shoes and socks, for clues.  I instructed the students to talk to each other and make sure to ask your partner what they see.

After their personal analysis and then partner discussion, I posed some questions for them to think about.  They realized the men in the photographs were sports players, but they were not sure of the sport.  Many students thought they were golf players. 

Then I asked, ‘Which team do you think is the football team?”  They all picked the photo of the German football team.   I told them to look closely and think soccer.  This led to a discussion about American football vs. soccer.

I continued with, “Which team is the baseball team?  Which is the basketball team?” and then I told them.   I cannot explain to you their surprise and amazement and all the discussion this lesson created.

Finally, I said, “When I count to 3 we will hold up the photo of our favorite team picture.  1…2…3!”  I was amazed at the photos they held up.  They walked around and talked to each other about their favorite team picture and why it was their favorite.

I closed by asking them to tell me what they learned.  And finally, “Did you like this lesson?”  They cheered! 

Some other answers: “I loved the lesson!”  ‘I want to do it again!”  “I want to learn about golf.” “I like  Yankee uniforms.”  “I play soccer.”  “I love football.” “Mommy won’t let me play football.”  “Can we keep the pictures?”