Teacher’s Guide to Critters and Maps (2027 Edition)

 

Welcome to the teacher’s guide to the Tennessee History for Kids booklet Critters and Maps (2027 edition). 

One of the reasons we have this online teacher guide is to show teachers (and students) MUCH larger versions of some of the photos that appear in the booklets. Sometimes, small photos don’t do it justice! So… if you click on the photos shown here, you’ll be shown a much larger version!

Please do NOT copy the booklets. That is a violation of our copyright and makes it difficult for us to continue to exist. The reason we sell them for only $3 and use paper that students can write on with a pencil is so teachers will not be tempted to copy the booklets.

If you have any comments about the booklet or would like the answers to the quiz questions in the booklet, please email Bill Carey at bill@tnhistoryforkids.org.

 

Chapter One: Maps

 

Standard 1.09: Recognize basic map symbols, including cities, lands, roads and rivers

 

 

 

Chapter Two: Symbols

 

 

 

Standard 1.09: Recognize basic map symbols, including cities, lands, roads and rivers

 

 

 

Standard 1.12  Distinguish the difference between a lake, mountain, ocean and river

 

 

On the left and right are photos of a lake, mountain, ocean and a river.

Click on them to make them larger.

 

 

Sidebar: Which Way is Up?

 

Standard 1.11 Use cardinal directions (North, South, East and West) on a map

To the right you can see the compass rose at the Bicentennial Mall State Park in Nashville.

Click here to take a virtual tour of it, and here to see a video where “History Bill” visits it.

 

 

Chapter Three: Lines, Dots and Paper

 

Standard 1.10: Locate on a map Tennessee Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville, Chattanooga and Washington D.C.

Standard 1.13: Identify and locate on a map the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee and their borders (i.e. Mississippi River, Tennessee River, Appalachian Mountains).

There’s an Elementary Geography section on the Tennessee History for Kids website, and a lot of it supplements what is in this booklet.

Click here to check it out.

 

Chapter Four: Grand Divisions

 

Standard 1.13: Identify and locate on a map the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee and their borders (i.e. Mississippi River, Tennessee River, Appalachian Mountains).

Click on the right to see a large version of the Grand Division map on pages 18-19.

We are never able to put as many photos in these booklets as we like. Here are a few more landmarks in the Grand Divisions.

In East Tennessee:

In Monroe County, along the Cherohola Skyway, you will find a small lake with a sand beach (on the left).

On the right is the town of Cumberland Gap, in Claiborne County. The town is named for the actual Cumberland Gap, which is a very important part of a trail that settlers used to travel through the mountains.

In Middle Tennessee:

Here, on the left, is Cummins Falls, in Putnam County. Even though this has only been a state park for a short while, it is already a very popular one, as you can see.

Here, on the right, is a view from atop the Cumberland Plateau. The photo was taken in Grundy County, but a lot of the land shown is in Coffee County.

 

In West Tennessee:

Here, on the left, is the Discovery Park of America, a wonderful museum in Obion County. Click here to learn more about it.

On the right is the largest mound at Pinson Mounds State Archaeological Area, in Madison County. Click here to be taken to a virtual tour of it.

 

 

Chapter Five: Cities

 

Standard 1.10: Locate on a map Tennessee Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville, Chattanooga and Washington D.C.

Click on the image to the right to see a different view of the stadium where the Tennessee Titans play.

Also, if you look closely you will see that the Memphis riverfront (page 26) is paved with stones. Why? Because the mud was so bad that people were sinking into the mud whenever they walked off riverboats. True story!

Click on the image of the left to see another view of the cobblestones.

The University of Tennessee football fans among us would love a larger version of the photo at the bottom of page 27.

 

 

Speaking of page 27, take a close look at the photograph of the Sunsphere. Do you see the two men working on top of it? Click on the image on the left to see them. (We can assume that these two people are not afraid of heights!)

 

 

Here, on the right, is another view of Chattanooga from Lookout Mountain.

 

 

 

Chapter Six: Flags and Critters

 

Standard 1.20: Identify Tennessee symbols, including the state flag, state tree (tulip poplar), state flower (iris), state bird (mockingbird), state animal (raccoon) and significance of the state nickname.

There are a LOT of official symbols of the state of Tennessee. The only ones listed in the standards are flag, tree, flower, bird, animal and state nickname.

However, Tennessee doesn’t have one state animal. It has more than a dozen!

You see, Tennessee has an official sport fish (the smallmouth bass), an official commercial fish (the channel catfish), an official state bird (the mockingbird), an official state gamebird (bobwhite quail), an official wild animal (raccoon), an official horse (the Tennessee Walking Horse), an official amphibian (Tennessee cave salamander), an official reptile (eastern box turtle), 2 official state insects (the firefly and the ladybug), an official agricultural insect (the honeybee), and an official state butterfly (the zebra swallowtail).

In fact, I’ve always thought it would be interesting if we put one example of all 12 state animals in a small room, then closed the door. (My money’s on the raccoon; those critters have a mean streak!)

There are also at least 12 official state songs (which include, among others, the Tennessee Waltz, Smoky Mountain Rain and Copperhead Road. So please don’t tell your students that Rocky Top is “the” official state song, because there are more than 10 others.

 

Chapter Seven: The United States

 

Standard 1.10: Locate on a map Tennessee Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville, Chattanooga and Washington D.C.

Standard 1.19: Explain the importance of patriotic traditions (e.g. Pledge of Allegiance and National Anthem) and respectful behavior during both. 

The Pledge of Allegiance is discussed in this chapter. Here are some things that you may not know about the pledge:

* It was written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy, the former pastor of the Bethany Baptist Church in Boston, Massachusetts. Bellamy wrote it for a magazine called Youth’s Companion, which was looking for ways to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ landing in America.

* The words “one nation, under God” were added in 1955, at the request of President Dwight Eisenhower.

* Today, people put their hands over their hearts while saying the pledge. But, originally, the accepted salute to the United States flag (now known as the Bellamy Salute) consisted of a person holding out their right hands, as shown in the photo on the left. During World War II, Congress changed the Pledge of Allegiance salute because it was so similar to the Nazi salute.

 

Chapter Eight: Leaders and Citizens

 

Standard 1.14: Identify the name, image and role of Tennessee’s governor and the U.S. president.

Standard 1.15: Distinguish the differences between rules and laws and give examples of each.

If you click here you will find the 95 Tennessee county history pages. On those pages you will find (among other things) photos of every courthouse in Tennessee!

 

Chapter Nine: Holidays

 

Standard 1.24: Identify and describe the events and/or people celebrated during the following national holidays, and examine why we celebrate them: Martin Luther King Day, Presidents’ Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day/July 4, Labor Day, Columbus/Indigenous Peoples’ Day, Veterans’ Day, Thanksgiving Day

Teacher, please emphasize the difference between Veteran’s Day, Memorial Day and Independence Day. In recent years, the holidays have become blended, and U.S. veterans sometimes feel left out of the patriotic celebrations that take place. Many college and professional sports teams, for instance, will have a “Military Service Day” around Veterans Day on which veterans are actually never honored.

 

So, here is an idea for two good questions:

1) What is an appropriate action on Memorial Day? (Decorating the graves of military veterans)

2) What is an appropriate action on Veterans Day? (Asking a veteran what he or she did in the service.)

 

 

Chapter Ten: Rules and Laws

 

Standard 1.16: Distinguish the differences between rules and laws and give examples of each.

Standard 1.18: Define citizenship and recognize traits of good cities (e.g. respecting the rights of others, voting, and following laws). 

The community service projects illustrated in this chapter are wonderful, and there are many more. Please consider asking your students to take part in a community service project or, even better, organizing one.

 

Chapter Eleven: Wants, Needs, Savings

 

Standard 1.08: Assess factors (i.e. needs and wants) that could influence a person to use or save money.

This is a good time to acknowledge that all the cartoons in this booklet were created by Rick Baldwin, who used to work with me at the Metro Pulse newspaper in Knoxville.

Yes, that’s Boxy the Turtle with a hula hoop, a basketball, a stuffed animal, a car, a skateboard and a castle.

The candy store photographed on page 59 (shown on the left) is the Nashville Nut in the Downtown Arcade. To the dismay of everyone in downtown Nashville, it closed in 2023, when the Arcade was renovated and all the rents raised.

 

The toy store photographed on page 61 (shown on the right) is Phillips Toy Mart in Nashville. I’m thrilled to report that it is still in business.

 

 

 

Chapter 12: What People Do Around Here

 

Standard 1.04: Distinguish how people are consumers and producers of goods and services.

Standard 1.05: Give example of products (i.e. goods) that people buy and use

Standard 1.06: Give examples of services that people (i.e. producers) use

Standard 1.07: Recognize major products and industries found in Tennessee (e.g. agriculture, manufacturing, mining, music and tourism.)

You may wonder about the photograph on page 68 of the ladies working at a pencil factory. It used to be that so many pencils were made in Shelbyville, Tennessee that it became known as “Pencil City U.S.A.”

Click here for the story behind this, and a quick tour of the Musgrave Pencil Factory.

 

Chapter 13: Past, Present and Future

 

Standard 1.21: Arrange the events from a student’s life in chronological order.

Standard 1.22: Interpret information from simple timelines, including past, present and future events.

 

 

Chapter 14: Old Days

 

Standard 1.22: Interpret information from simple timelines, including past, present and future events.

 

Standard 1.23: Compare ways people lived in the past with how they live today, including forms of communication, modes of transportation, and forms of recreation

 

 

 

There are amazing photographs in this chapter. Click on the images on the left and right to make them larger.

 

 

 

The photo of boys working in a factory in Fayetteville is one of many which was taken by photographer Lewis Wickes Hines, who took many famous photos of children working in factories and coal mines all over the United States.

 

The photo on the right, which shows one man working on a car while another one drives by in a horse and buggy, is just funny.

I suspect your students can find many thing that have changed since this photo was taken.

 

 

 

 

Chapter 15: Tennessee Culture

 

Standard 1.01: Describe the components of culture (e.g., food, clothing, traditions, recreation) of a student’s community and state

Standard 1.03: Compare and contrast family traditions and customs among different cultures within a student’s community and state.

 

The main point that Imm trying to make in chapter 15 is that the word “culture” should not just mean cultures other than the ones we already have in Tennessee. There is culture all over the place–we just don’t use that word often.

 

 

 

Some of the photographs in this chapter look great, so here are a couple of them. Click on them to make them much larger.

 

 

Chapter 16: Common Ground

 

Standard 1.02: Define multiculturalism as many different cultures living within a community and state. 

Standard 1.03: Compare and contrast family traditions and customs among different cultures within a student’s community and state.

 

Again, really cool photos:

If you haven’t been to the Museum of Appalachia in Anderson County, you really, really need to go.

I’m partial to the Indian Creek Productions Powwow in Jefferson County (on the left) which is put on by Indian Creek Productions, which is run by Mark and Sherry Finchum.

Click here to be taken to the website of the Indian Creek Productions’s Powwow.