Learning History through dolls

[Mim Bizic <BIZICM@CALVIN.CC.DUQ.EDU>]

9/21/94         Dear LM_NET Members,

        Just have to share this great information with you of
something that worked so very well for me!   Last September, I
 ordered 64 books that come with the American Girl Doll books
 package from Pleasant Company. (The books have been extremely
 popular, and most of the time, the display shelves were empty.)

        I also asked to be put on the list for the free rental of the 5
 American girl dolls.  I had to wait almost a whole year.  (For
 instance, if you are interested in ordering them now for your library,
you'll have to wait until May or June, even though they have 10 doll
SETS circulating.)

        Nevertheless, they came at the beginning of September.  You
know how things are at the beginning of the year, but  since I waited
 so long for them, I was glad they arrived.   The dolls have to be sent
 back in a week  (cost me $7.81), but you get to keep the free lesson
 plan ideas, free balloons, free buttons, and free bookmarks, etc.

        All week long, I used the dolls as examples of history
lessons just waiting to be told.  For Colonial Felicity (1774), we
 sang "Yankee Doodle," and talked about what famous people lived
then, what famous events were happening, etc.  And so it went up
 the line: Kirsten, the Swedish immigrant (1845);  Addy, the girl
who ran away with her slave mother to Philadelphia (1854);
 Samantha, the orphan who lives with her rich Grandmother (1904)
and Molly, of 1944.

        (For instance, for Samantha, I asked them to close their eyes
 are envision our old Post Office building (now the Sweetwater Art
 Center) and the Municipal Building with their beautiful columns or
extra "gingerbread."  I told them those buildings were built at the
 time we call the "Golden Era," etc.and why.)

        I got the children to line up in a timeline, etc., getting them all
 involved.  Although these are just "girl" dolls, I asked them to think
 of what young boys of 9 or 10 years of that age might be doing
 then, how they could be dressed, etc.

        I love the Internet.  Suddenly, it occurred to me that these
dolls are like our Bookmarks on the Internet.  They're Bookmarks
 for History.

        So the following week, after they went back (they represent
almost $1,000.00 with all of their accessories), I proposed an
 American Girl Doll Schoolwide History Contest.    We would try to
 see which classroom came up with the most history facts during the
 specific time periods of the dolls.  The times listed above for them
 was when they were 9 years old, in the story books.
 (continued in next message)