Last updated: June 28, 2021
Lesson Plan
A Nation Repays Its Debt: The National Soldiers' Home and Cemetery in Dayton, Ohio (Teaching with Historic Places)
- Grade Level:
- Middle School: Sixth Grade through Eighth Grade
- Subject:
- Social Studies
- Lesson Duration:
- 60 Minutes
Essential Question
For the full lesson plan, click on the following link: https://www.nps.gov/teachers/classrooms/a-nation-repays-its-debt-the-national-soldiers-home-and-cemetery-in-dayton-ohio-teaching-with-historic-places.htm
Objective
To see the full lesson plan, visit: https://www.nps.gov/articles/a-nation-repays-its-debt-the-national-soldiers-home-and-cemetery-in-dayton-ohio-teaching-with-historic-places.htm
Preparation
Objectives for students
1) To outline the steps the U.S. government took to care for and honor its veterans after the Civil War.
2) To explain how the success of the Dayton soldiers' home launched a nationwide system.
3) To list at least three factors officials used in creating standards for burial markers and compare and contrast the options considered to meet those standards.
4) To locate a veteran's grave in their community and research and write a biography on the life of that veteran.
Materials
Procedure
Materials for students
The materials listed below either can be used directly on the computer or can be printed out, photocopied, and distributed to students. The maps and images appear twice: in a smaller, low-resolution version with associated questions and alone in a larger version.
1) two maps of the location of National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in the United States and the cemetery layout;
2) four readings about the history of the soldiers' home and national cemetery, burial practices, and a poem honoring those who die during war;
3) one illustration of a letter regarding the selection of headstones;
4) five photos of the cemetery, monument, and grave markers.