Lesson Plans > 6th - 8th Grade

Background:

In World War II captured German prisoners were sent to prisoner camps throughout the United States. Camp Grant was a POW Camp located in Rockford, Illinois.

During harvest time many POWs from Camp Grant were sent to Sycamore. The POWs stayed at a temporary barracks on Park Avenue (located where Upstaging is today) and ate their meals in town. Many of the POWs worked in the local canning factory and harvested food at local farms.

Note: Materials are for educational purposes only.

Standards:

SS.H.1.6-8.MC:

Use questions generated about individuals and groups to analyze why they, and the developments they shaped, are seen as historically significant.

SS.H.2.6-8.MC:

Analyze how people’s perspectives influenced what information is available in the historical sources they created.

SS.IS.6.6-8.LC:

Construct arguments using claims and evidence from multiple sources, while acknowledging their strengths and limitations.

Guided Questions:

1. How do we treat enemies?
2. How did Sycamore come face to face with our enemy in World War II?

Suggested Activity:

1. Show class the photo of the POW Camp from the 1950’s (see downloads).
2. Ask kids to describe what they see. What do they think the importance of this photo is?
3. Point out the guard tower. Continue to push them to describe what they see.
4. Finally, tell students that this is a photo of a POW camp worksite. Can they determine where the site is?
5. The next slide (see downloads) has a few places marked on the photo to help explain the camp. Show it and explain that Sycamore had a POW camp during the last year of World War II. It housed 300 German soldiers from ages 16 to 25. They worked harvesting sweet corn, peas, and asparagus. Then they helped can the vegetables at the Sycamore Preserve Works. The camp ran from June, 1945 to October, 1945. Before this more permanent camp, however, German and Japanese POWs were often brought to work in DeKalb County from their camp in Rockford. They were mainly agricultural hands.
6. In groups of 3-4, have kids use discussion cubes (see downloads) to further their discussion of the POW camp. They can roll the cube like a die. The question that lies on top is the one they must discuss and answer. If you want, they can record their answers on a piece of paper.

Suggested Assessment:

You can informally assess the students by reviewing their written answers to the discussion cube.

Resources & Extensions:

Compare and contrast conditions in Japanese internment camps to the Sycamore POW camp. This comparison will allow students to question how Japanese Americans may have been treated worse than German prisoners of war.

1. Create a letter home from a German soldier based at the Sycamore POW camp.
2. Read the Geneva Convention to learn all the rules about how POWs must be treated.

Downloads:

POW Camp Discussion Cube
POW Camp PowerPoint
POW letter in Sycamore True Republican, March 11, 1947

Background:

Sycamore native Everell Dutton fought in the battle of Atlanta. This photo of him is from the Civil War, when he was only 27. Dutton commanded the 105th. The 105th advanced through the south under Sherman’s command. With Sherman, the 105th became part of 20th Corps, commanded by General William T. Ward and Colonel Benjamin Harrison. “This machine,” as Dutton referred to it, moved into Georgia.

On June 18, 1864, Dutton was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. Around this time Daniel Dustin’s son Will arrived. A later account said, “When General Dustin was on the exciting campaign to Atlanta, the son, then aged 14 years, ran away from home and joined him and followed the 105th through that campaign, and although he was sent home, it was only a few weeks later that he again appeared among the troops.”[1] A school friend of the boy, Turner G. Wing, later wrote:

Colonel Dustin of Sycamore had a son, Bill, who was several years older than I. Bill wanted to go, and so did I. His father was on duty somewhere in the south and Bill and I started on foot to join him. A neighboring farmer saw us and sent me back home. I was seven years old. But Bill somehow joined his father and stayed with him til the close of the war.[2]

At the time, Everell Dutton wrote, “Willie Dustin is under my care yet. He is a pretty wild boy and I fear unless some change is wrought over him he will not make a very good man.”[3] And again, within the month, he noted, “Wilie D— is still here. He is pretty wild, and just the age to think it a disgrace to be governed by a woman, so his mother can do little with him. He is pretty wild.”[4] He had “at the age of 13 years accompanied his father to the scenes of the Civil War, spending a year and a half at the front during a period that included the Atlanta campaign, the March to the Sea, in Washington both days of the grand review.” Dwight Star and Herald, February 23, 1918.

[1] Sycamore True Republican, February 20, 1918.
[2] Sycamore True Republican, March 24, 1923.
[3] Everell Dutton to Rosa Paine, August 1, 1864, Near Atlanta, Georgia, The Letters of Everell Fletcher Dutton, 1863 and 1864 (unpublished manuscript, 1984), 337.
[4] Everell Dutton to Rosa Paine, August 23, 1864, [Chattahoochee River, Georgia], The Letters of Everell Fletcher Dutton, 1863 and 1864 (unpublished manuscript, 1984), 310.

Note: Materials are for educational purposes only.

Standards:

Coming soon!

Materials:

Guided Questions:

1. What was the Battle of Atlanta really like?

Suggested Activity:

1. Introduce General Dutton to the class. Explain his background.
2. Dutton’s commander, Dustin, was away between July 14 and August 4, 1864. So Dutton was in charge of the 105th Illinois Volunteer Infantry. He wrote a report telling of his troops’ activity during that time. Explain to the class that reading a battle report provides one with detailed activity. By reading Dutton’s report the class will get a better understanding of the pace and movement troops were expected to keep up during war.
3. Preview military vocabulary with student:
• Picket: guard post
• Bivouac (bivouacked): set up tents for the night
• Entrenchments: trenches (see photo)
• Breast-works: temporary trenches used for defense
4. Pass out empty timelines and Dutton’s report. Explain to the class that they should complete the timelines as they read the report. Students should notice that Dutton begins his report with an error in date. He writes about August 14, and it really should be July 14.
5. Upon completion of the timelines, ask the students these comprehension questions:
• What happened to the 105th?
• As you review what happened on July 20, notice that the soldiers are fighting on hills.
• Which army has the advantage, the Union or the Confederates? Why?
• Does the 105th get a lot of rest? Do you think that’s unusual? Why?

Suggested Assessment:

Dustin’s son Willie was with the 105th during these weeks. Explain to students how Willie ran away from home to help his father in the war. Willie’s job was to help the cooks and move the mules. However, being right in the midst of battle had to be a bit exciting, to say the least. Willie was only 14. Ask students to imagine they are Willie. Then, have them write a picture postcard home describing this battle.

Resources & Extensions:

Photo of troops crossing Chattahoochee River on pontoon boats
Current photo of the Dustin house

Downloads:

Photos of entrenchments and battleground
Dutton's Timeline (1)
Dutton's Timeline (2)

Background:

Greek gods to know:
Hestia: Goddess of hearth and home, goddess of sacrificial flame
Zeus: King of the gods, god of sky, weather, law, order and fate
Hera: Queen of the gods, goddess of women and marriage

Note: Materials are for educational purposes only.

Standards:

Coming soon!

Materials:

Press Release

Guided Questions:

1. How is Sycamore connected to Ancient Greece?

Suggested Activity:

1. Ask the students how they could connect Sycamore with Ancient Greece. See how many different ways they can make connections. Then show them the photo of the 1984 torch runner, Michael Fuller. Ask students if they can make a more specific connection.
2. Explain to students that in 1984 the Turner Corporation was commissioned to create the Olympic torch for the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Nearly 3000 torches were made to be used in Greece and the USA.
3. AT&T sponsored the Olympic torch run in 1984. This press release explains the significance of the torch and the history of the torch lighting ceremony. Students can read the press release. Then ask why they think we need to have a torch relay and ceremony? Why have we found value in this old tradition to include it in our modern Olympics? Why does the relay and ceremony change with each Olympics? Should there be change in such a deep–seated tradition?
4. Connecting our ceremonies today to those of ancient times shows a commonality among humans. We competed then as we do now in peace and through a sense of brotherhood. The poem “Light of Olympia” points heavily to that theme. Reading the poem with the class may help students further understand the value in connecting the past, present, and future through our Olympic traditions. As you read the poem have students underline the parts that show why the Olympics are valued by cultures both past and present.
5. The torch has become a symbol of our connections to the world past and present. The torch can also symbolize the human spirit striving to succeed. As it lights the way for our Olympians, it also provides the light of success. Ask students what sorts of light do each of us need to strive for success. What does the light symbolize in our own lives?

Suggested Assessment:

Use the discussion guide as an informal assessment.

Resources & Extensions:

1. Listen to the Olympic Anthem and examine its lyrics.
2. Write poems about what ignites our lives.
3. Research more about the ancient Olympic ceremonies.

Background:

In 1832, Black Hawk, a Fox and Sauk chief, brought 400 people from his tribe to reclaim their homeland along the Rock River after having lived in Iowa for a year. White settlers were alarmed and nervous that the Native Americans would begin fighting. Eventually, the militia was called in and fighting began. During the summer of 1832, the American troops fought Black Hawk and his warriors in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin. In the end, hundreds of Black Hawk’s people were killed. The Native Americans accepted relocation to Iowa and the battles ended.

Note: Materials are for educational purposes only.

Standards:

Coming soon!

Suggested Activity:

1. Provide some background on the Black Hawk War.
2. For a brief time, American soldiers camped in the Coltonville Road area of Sycamore. Attached is a short account of their time there. The significance of this account is that these were some of the first white people in the area. More interesting, the soldiers in this group all became rather important people in our nation’s history. One can be intrigued about their argument and General Whiteside’s response. Read the excerpt with the class. Students should underline 4-5 interesting things as they read. When finished, they could share what they underlined and explain why it’s interesting. Then ask students to answer the questions on the “Trouble with the Troops” sheet.
3. As the account is rather funny, students will draw comic strips depicting the story with their own added elements.
4. Ask students to share their comic strips and explain their reasoning for their story line.

Suggested Assessment:

The comic strips can be the assessment.

Resources & Extensions:

The Black Hawk War website has great background information, primary sources and pictures.

The Black Hawk War by Frank E. Stevens

Downloads:

Trouble with the Troops
Black Hawk War Map
Story of General Whiteside's Army from "Centennial Program, 1834-1934"