Then and Now Photo Analysis

3rd Grade Social StudiesCommunities Past and Present4 pages

About this worksheet

Two illustrations of one Main Street, around 1920 and today, open this 3rd grade social studies sheet. In the 1920 picture, Model T cars and a horse-drawn wagon share a dirt road with a general store, a bank and wooden poles strung with wires. Today the same brick buildings hold a grocery market, with a crosswalk, a traffic light and a cyclist outside. Students list changes and continuities, write two questions of their own, and make one inference from both sources. The 4 pages follow the C3 Framework, and the answer page gives sample responses for every part.

Page 1 of 4

When this preview is focused, use the left and right arrow keys to move between pages.

Curriculum objectives covered

D2.His.2.3-5

โ€œCompare life in specific historical time periods to life today.โ€

The Page 2 table asks for four changes and three things that stayed the same between 1920 and today.

D2.His.10.3-5

โ€œCompare information provided by different historical sources about the past.โ€

Question 3 needs clues from both Source A and Source B to support one inference.

D2.His.12.3-5

โ€œGenerate questions about multiple historical sources.โ€

Question 2 asks for two questions students still have after comparing the two pictures.

What's inside this worksheet

Examine the Sources

Source A shows Main Street around 1920 and Source B shows the same street today, with the bank and its clock in both.

Compare Then and Now

A two-column table where students list at least four things that changed and at least three that stayed the same.

Ask Questions and Make an Inference

Students write two questions they still have, then one inference about daily life backed by clues from Source A and Source B.

Answers

Sample changes such as the dirt road and boardwalk becoming a paved street with sidewalks, three sample questions and a model inference about travel.

How teachers use it

Look before writing

Give pairs two minutes with Page 1 before they see the table. Ask each pair to find the horse and wagon and the overhead wires.

Same building, new use

Point out that the general store and the grocery market sit in the same brick building. Students often list it as a change and miss that the building stayed.

Bring it home

Find an old photo of your own town's main street and run Page 3 again with it as Source A.

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