Lesson 1

What is History?

Objects, photographs, written records, and oral histories provide evidence about people who lived in the past. This lesson introduces how historians and archaeologists use those sources to understand everyday lives and the history of places.

KEY IDEAS

• History is the study of real people from the past.
• We learn about the past through evidence like artifacts, photos, stories, and writing.
• Archaeologists help us study old things carefully.
• Every place, including your own home, has a history.

SUGGESTED PICTURE BOOK
Before I Lived Here by Stacy S. Jensen, illustrated by Victo Ngai

HANDS-ON PROJECT
Cut-and-paste timeline activity

VOCABULARY

• History – the study of people who lived before us
• Past – time that has already happened
• Present – time that is happening right now
• Evidence – something that helps us figure out what happened
• Archaeologist – a scientist who studies old objects and places
• Artifact – an old object made or used by people long ago
• Timeline – a way of showing events in the order they happened

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

• What does it mean when we say something is "in the past"?
• How do we learn about the past?

Digging Deeper

• If you could ask someone who lived 100 years ago one question, what would it be?
• Why do you think old objects are important?
• What's something you'd want future people to know about you?