Shakers Grade 7 Social Studies/Library
Essential Question What would cause people to join a communal society?
Day 1 Ask students: In your house, what is shared and what is private? Have them brainstorm. Explain what a communal society is Pair/Share- what factors would cause you to join a communal society? Students fill out half of chart Give them the history of the Shakers and read out loud.
Day 2 Students go through stations of different primary sources showing beliefs and practices of the Shakers. Students fill out other half of chart using artifacts to show examples of Shaker values Celibacy; Pacifism; Community; and Equality as well as the examples they came up with from the day before (shared beliefs, economic security, etc.)
Primary sources
Children
missionary work
Mother Ann Lee
Map of a Shaker village Interactive website Interactive website
Music
Dancing to Praise Video of interpreters showing examples of Shaker style dancing at Hancock Village
Inventions and Craftsmanship
Simple Gifts SIMPLE GIFTS 'Tis a gift to be simple, 'Tis a gift to be free, 'Tis a gift to come down where we ought to be, And when we find ourselves in the place just right, It will be in the valley of love and delight. When true simplicity is gained, to bow and to bend, we will not be ashamed To turn, turn, will be our delight, 'Til by turning, turning, we come round right. (Kathy Sobansky of Clam Chowder wrote second verse of:) "tis a gift to be simple, 'Tis a gift to be free, For the proud are cast down deeper than the sea, The first shall be last and the last shall be first, And the meek at last shall receive the earth.
Meetinghouses for worship Pleasant Hill, Kentucky Mt. Lebanon, NY Hancock Village, MA