Activity 7: Shopping in Seattle for Supplies
Part One (Creating a Shopping List -1 hour)
2. At this point ask students to chart in small groups what they think they'll need to take on their journey. Regroup and share results. Teacher creates a class list of ideas as he/she asks students to think about the following guiding questions: What kind of food will last one year? How much food do you need to bring? What will the weather be like? Will you need any tools? Why? Where will we sleep? Is everything necessary and sufficient? Next, share with the students some sample lists (see attachments) to show children what actual Stampeders bought for the adventure.
Part Two (Optional Shopping for Supplies - 2 hours)
1. Recreate Seattle shops in the classroom and have students shop for supplies. Create 5 different "shop" stations around the classroom (mercantile, hardware, dry goods, cooking ware, provisions), using your posters to designate the different stores. Invite parents to act as shopkeepers. Students will move about the room with their shopping lists in hand as they shop for supplies, so you want to make sure there's plenty of room. Move aside all desks and chairs to create an open space in the center of the room. Hang drawing paper as a backdrop for each "shop" station. Decorate the paper with photocopies of items found at that particular shop. Place a student desk and two chairs at each station. It's also fun to ask parents to dress as if they were shopkeepers at that time in history. Five parents are asked to be shopkeepers while the other two parents roam around the room helping students as the need arises. It's nice to have plenty of help during this activity (especially for students who need help with math). Place several calculators, pencils, and stack of receipts at each station. Parents may need to help students fill-out the receipts. Before the students begin shopping, you may want to gather them to explain the process and go over how to fill-out receipts. Students who finish early can work on calculating how much money they spent in total.
OBJECTIVE: Students will become more aware of the kind of economic impact the Gold Rush had on Seattle; Students will gain a better understand of what Stampeders took with them to the Klondike; Students will make shopping lists and shop for supplies in the classroom; Students will utilize a variety of mathematical skills.
TIME: Two 1 hour sessions (one day for creating list and another for shopping)