Then and Now How Life Has Changed

I like using side-by-side pictures when students are learning that history shows change as well as continuity. This set gives me a history detective, an old-fashioned child, a timeline arrow, past-and-present cutaway, one-room schoolhouse, modern school, log cabin, suburban home, horse-drawn wagon, car, candlestick phone, smartphone, hoop and stick, video game controller, washboard, and washing machine. A blacksmith, oil lamp, radio, photograph, and museum case add more clues to investigate.

The images fit first- through fifth-grade units on historical change, daily life, technology, and local history. I'll use the paired schoolhouse and modern school as a sorting prompt, asking students to cite one visible difference and one question they still have. They can sequence the wagon, car, old phone, and smartphone on a classroom timeline, then write how each change affected a family. Color versions help a timeline read from across the room. Blackline versions are ready for compare-and-contrast pages, labels, and student sketches.