Grade 4:  Linking Rare Finds 

Dear Students:

You are invited to join our staff of historians in an interpretation of primary source artifacts concerning the Nashua River.

1. Please examine the artifacts listed below and draw some conclusions about the river and its future.
2. Use the guiding questions to help you draw your conclusions.
3. Share your ideas with your fellow historians.
4. Read The River Ran Wild, a novel by Lynne Cherry, to determine whether your conclusions are valid.
5. Write a poem about the Nashua River and its history.

Use the guiding questions with each artifact to help you examine it and draw conclusions about the Nashua River and its future.

1. Bird's-Eye Map:  Nashua, New Hampshire (Be sure to zoom in on the Navigator window to see larger portions of the map.)
Guiding Questions:
• When was this picture taken?  How many years ago?
• What does the river look like from a bird's-eye view?
• What do you predict will happen to this river?  Why?
• What information can we learn from the small pictures along the bottom of the larger picture?
2. The Nashua River, New Hampshire
Guiding Questions:
• What can we learn about the Nashua River from this photograph?
• When was this picture taken?
• Is this a place that you would like to visit?
3. The Nashua River, New Hampshire
Guiding Questions:
• What more can we learn about the Nashua River from this photograph?
• Do you think that you could swim or raft here?
4. The Conservation Movement
Guiding Question:
• What type of documents are included in this collection?
5. Read this quotation from "Our Vanishing Wildlife - Its Extermination and Preservation":

The preservation of animal and plant life, and of the general beauty of Nature, is one of the foremost duties of the men and women of today.  It is an imperative duty, because it must be performed at once, for otherwise it will be too late.  Every possible means of preservation, -sentimental, educational and legislative,-must be employed.

By William T. Hornaday, Sc.D.
Director of the New York Zoological Park,
author of The American Natural History, and former president of the American Bison Society.

6. Click on the link and go to the document quoted here. Use information from the document to answer the questions.
Guiding Questions:
• When was this quotation written?
• What might it mean for the Nashua River?

1. With others in the class, discuss your conclusions about each artifact.
2. Using the Artifact Analysis Matrix, record the class's conclusions on a large piece of paper.

1. Read A River Ran Wild by Lynne Cherry.
2. Check the completed Artifact Analysis Matrix. Are your conclusions about the Nashua River valid?

1. Answer the 5-Ws:
• who,
• what,
• where,
• when,
• why, and sometimes
• how.
2. Use exact words and phrases from the story. Try to match your "answers" to both the story and the artifacts.
3. Create your own 5-W poem using the words and the phrases that you have selected. The poem may be created using one of the following methods:
• Write your own poem.
• Write a verse from selected pages; then put your verse together with verses from the rest of the class to tell the story.
• Work with 1-2 other students to write a group poem.
• Work with 1-2 other students to write a verse; then put the group's verse together with verses from the rest of the class to tell the story.

Rough Draft	Final Draft
Who:  a group of native people What:  came down from the mountain Where:  in the peaceful river valley When: one day long ago Why:  "Let us settle by this river," said the chief. Verse Two follows . . .	Long Ago by the Nashua River by Amy, Josh, and Tonya One day . . . long ago A group of native people Came down from the mountain To the peaceful river valley "Let us settle by this river," said the chief. Verse Two follows . . .