Kindergarten and First Grade Tours
Digging Through Time
Go back in time to the Guale and Timucua, the earliest residents of Jekyll Island. Beginning with the present day, students will dig to uncover how each era of Jekyll Island lived, finding artifacts in each level of dirt and sand while also learning about archeology and “leaving no trace.”
- ELAGSEKW3 Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to narrate a single event or several loosely linked events, tell about the events in the order in which they occurred, and provide a reaction to what happened.
- ELAGSEKW8 With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.
- ELAGSE KSL1 Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about kindergarten topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
- ELAGSEKL5a Sort common objects into categories (e.g., shapes, foods) to gain a sense of the concepts the categories represent.
- MGSEKCC4 Understand the relationship between numbers and quantities; connect counting to cardinality.
- K.CC.5 Count to answer “how many?” questions about as many as 20 things arranged in a line, a rectangular array, or a circle, or as many as ten things in a scattered configuration; given a number from 1-20, count out that many objects.
- MGSEKCC6 Identify whether the number of objects in one group is greater than, less than, or equal to the number of objects in another group, e.g., by using matching and counting strategies (Groups with up to 10 objects).
- MGSEKG1 Describe objects in the environment using names of shapes and describe the relative positions of these objects using terms such as above, below, beside, in front of, behind, and next to.
- ELAGSE1W3 Write narratives in which they recount two or more appropriately sequenced events, include details regarding what happened, use temporal words to signal event order and provide some sense of closure.
- MGSE2MD1 Measure the length of an object by selecting and using appropriate tools such as rulers, yardsticks, meter sticks, or measuring tapes.
- MGSE2MD2 Measure the length of an object twice, using length units of different lengths for the two measurements; describe how the two measurements relate to the size of the unit chosen.
Suggested Reading: Animal Skeletons (430L), Caring for the Earth (150L), Look at Fossils (430L)
Possible Activities: Archeological dig using clear boxes and material artifacts, creating their own layers of history.
Second Grade Tours
The Other Native Tribes of Georgia
Jekyll Island has a long history. Two native tribes, the Guale and the Timucua, were the first inhabitants of this island, who called Jekyll “Ospo.” Students will explore the cultures of the Guale and the Timucua before their tribes dwindled and assimilated with the Creek and the Seminole Natives.
- SS2H1 Describe the lives and contributions of historical figures in Georgia history.
- SS2H2 Describe the Georgia Timucua* and Guale* cultures of the past in terms of tools, clothing, homes, ways of making a living, and accomplishments.
- Compare and contrast the Georgia Timucua* and Guale* cultures of the past to those of Georgians today.
- SS2G2 Describe the cultural and geographic systems associated with the historical figures in SS2H1 and Georgia’s Timucua* and Guale* in SS2H2.
- Identify specific locations significant to the life and times of each historical figure, Timucua* and Guale* on a political or physical map.
- Describe how each historical figure and the Timucua* and Guale* adapted to and were influenced by their environments.
- Describe how the region in which these historical figures lived affected their lives and compare these regions to the region in which students live.
- Describe the regions in Georgia where the Timucua* and Guale* lived and how the people used their local resources.
- SS2G2 Describe the cultural and geographic systems associated with the historical figures in SS2H1 and Timucua and Guale in SS2H2.
- SS3G3 Describe how physical systems affect human systems.
- Explain why American Indian groups occupied the areas they did (SS3H1a), with emphasis on why some developed permanent villages and others did not.
Suggested Reading: The Timucua Indians-A Native American Detective Story, Explore Native American Cultures, Native American Stories for Kids, The Land of the Guale, Guale Uprising
Possible Activities: Word search, build a model of a home, a canoe, or a midden, and create a storyboard of the Guale and Timucua residence on Jekyll.
*Timucua and Guale were the original inhabitants of Jekyll Island; While the original education standard included lessons on the Creek and Cherokee tribes, they did not inhabit the island.
Third Grade Tours
Plantation Oak: History told through the eyes of a tree.
Students will take a tour of Plantation Oak, listening to a brief history of Jekyll’s first inhabitants, the Guale and Timucua, ending with the British settlers.
- ELAGSE3RI7 Use the information gained from illustrations (e.g., maps, photographs) and the words in a text to demonstrate understanding of the text (e.g., where, when, why, and how key events occur).
- STANDARD 3-5.T.C.1: Use knowledge of purposes and audiences, as well as the language that develops those relationships, to make meaning of texts in multiple modes.
- STANDARD 3-5.T.C.2: Make connections between authors of texts, speakers in texts, varying perspectives, and the circumstances in which texts are produced.
- STANDARD 3-5.T.SS.2 Use language to interpret meaning and craft engaging texts.
- Identify and describe the use of figurative language, such as similes, metaphors, and idioms in a wide variety of texts.
- Use figurative language, such as similes, metaphors, and idioms, to show relationships between ideas and information.
- SS3H1 Describe early American Indian cultures and their development in North America.
- SS3H2 Describe European exploration in North America.
- SS3H3 Explain the factors that shaped British Colonial America.
- Describe colonial life in America from the perspectives of various people: large landowners, farmers, artisans, women, children, indentured servants, slaves, and American Indians.
Suggested Reading: The Giving Tree, Sweet Tea by the Live Oak Tree, One Acorn’s Journey, Tell Me Tree
Possible Activities: Write a poem or short story of one of the various people mentioned in SS3H3 told through the eyes of the Plantation Oak; Students will draw a picture of one of the various people mentioned in SS3H3 with a caption underneath, describing the picture.
Fourth Grade Tours
Jean-Marc of Jekyll
Explore the founding of the Jekyll Island Club and how New Yorkers changed Jekyll Island and the other barrier islands on the Georgia Coast. The book’s main character, Jean-Marc, and his mentor Vandi, a Gullah Geechee descendant work together to create a better life for the grandchildren of formerly enslaved people along the coast.
- SS4H5 Explain the causes, major events, and consequences of the Civil War.
- Discuss how the issues of states’ rights and slavery increased tensions between the North and South.
- Describe the effects of war on the North and South.
- SS4H6 Analyze the effects of Reconstruction on American life.
- Describe the purpose of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments.
- Explain the work of the Bureau Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandon Lands (Freemen’s Bureau)
- Explain how slavery was replaced by sharecropping and how freed African Americans or Blacks were prevented from exercising their newly won rights.
- Describe the effects of Jim Crow laws and practices.
- SS4E1 Use the basic economic concepts of trade, opportunity cost, specialization, voluntary exchange, productivity, and price incentives to illustrate historical events.
- SS4G1 Locate important physical and man-made features in the United States.
- Locate major physical features of the United States: the Atlantic Coastal Plain.
- ELAGSE4W7 Conduct short research projects that build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic.
Suggested Reading: Jean-Marc of Jekyll loaned as a class set, Forty Acres and Maybe a Mule
Possible Activities: Students will write a journal entry told through the eyes of either Jean-Marc, Vandi, Amy, or a character from Forty Acres and Maybe a Mule. Journal entries will be aged and placed in a book for the class.
Fifth Grade Tours
Building a House with a Bridge? The Hollybourne Cottage
Charles Stewart Maurice was an engineer at the Union Bridge Company, and he built a cottage unlike any of the others on Jekyll Island. He used bridge-building techniques to have one of the first “open floor plan” homes in America. Students will explore Hollybourne Cottage and its unique architecture.
- MGSE.5.MD.1 Convert among different-sized standard measurement units (mass, weight, length, time, etc.) within a given measurement system (customary and metric) (e.g., convert 5cm to 0.05m), and use these conversions in solving multi-step, real-world problems
- MGSE.5.G.2 Represent real-world and mathematical problems by graphing points in the first quadrant of the coordinate plane, and interpreting coordinate values of points in the context of the situation.
- MGSE.5.NBT.5 Fluently multiply multi-digit whole numbers using the standard algorithm (or other strategies demonstrating understanding of multiplication) up to a 3-digit by 2-digit factor
- MGSE.5.NF.5 Interpret multiplication as scaling (resizing)
Suggested Reading: How are Bridges Built?, What Makes Bridges so Strong?
Possible Activities: Students will tour Hollybourne Cottage on a walking tour and create a bridge. Students will analyze the scaling of the support system in comparison to the plans.
Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Grade Tour
Kate Brown-Walking Tour through Her Letters
Kate Brown was hired by the Macy Family as a secretary to Mrs. Macy and tutor to the Macy children. During her time working there, she sent home letters to her family. These letters give us a look into the lives of some of America’s richest and most influential people of that time. Students will complete a walking tour beginning with Moss Cottage, owned by the Macys, and ending with Chicota Cottage, visiting Sans Souci, The Wharf, Jekyll Island Club, and the Plantation Oak.
- ELAGSE8RI3 Analyze how a text makes connections among and distinctions between individuals, ideas, or events (e.g., through comparisons, analogies, or categories).
- ELAGSE8RL4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.
- ELAGSE8RI6 Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how the author acknowledges and responds to conflicting evidence or viewpoints.
- ELAGSE8RI9 Analyze a case in which two or more texts provide conflicting information on the same topic and identify where the texts disagree.
- ELAGSE8W3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective techniques, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.
- ELAGSE8W2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.
- ELAGSE8L2 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
- ELAGSE8L4 Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words or phrases based on grade [s6-] 8 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.
Suggested Reading: It’s a Wonderfully Lovely Place
Possible Activities: Students will write a letter through the eyes of a servant on Jekyll OR write a letter to their parents or guardians, describing one of the places visited on the tour.
American Government and Civics Tour
I am Woman, Hear me Roar
Women’s roles in traditional society were very different than how ladies behaved and were treated on Jekyll Island during the Gilded Age. Students will explore the freedoms available to women on Jekyll and compare/contrast those freedoms to that of when they returned home.
- SSCG7 Demonstrate knowledge of civil liberties and civil rights.
- Define civil liberties as protections against government actions (e.g., First Amendment).
- Define civil rights as equal protection for all people.
- Identify how amendments extend the right to vote.
- L9-10RHSS1: Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, attending to such features as the date and origin of the information.
- L9-10RHSS6 Compare the point of view of two or more authors for how they treat the same or similar topics, including which details they include and emphasize in their respective accounts.
- L9-10RHSS9 Compare and contrast treatments of the same topic in several primary and secondary sources.
Suggested Reading: Women’s Suffrage, 100 Years of Georgia Women Legislators, Women’s Suffrage…, With All Due Respect: Understanding Anti-Suffrage, National Association Opposed to Women’s Suffrage
Possible Activities: Compare and contrast the lives and freedoms of women on Jekyll vs. the rest of society, articulating why women’s suffrage came about. Create a PSA for Women’s Suffrage using the 19th Amendment as a guide.
US History and American Literature Tour
Gullah Geechee Culture through Stories and Folktales
The Gullah Geechee Culture has been protected for over a century, simply because of its geographical location-islands are away from the rest of society. Until recently, that culture has remained intact. Students will visit the Wanderer Memory Trail after reading one folk tale and one interview from Drums and Shadows.
- SSUSH2 Describe the early English colonial society and investigate the development of its governance.
- SSUSH7 Investigate political, economic, and social developments during the Age of Jackson.
- SSUSH8 Explore the relationship between slavery, growing north-south divisions, and westward expansion that led to the outbreak of the Civil War.
- SSUSH10 Identify legal, political, and social dimensions of Reconstruction.
- Describe the significance of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments.
- ELAGSE11-12RL4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful.
- ELAGSE11-12RL9 Demonstrate knowledge of eighteenth-, nineteenth- and early twentieth-century foundational works (of American Literature, British Literature, World Literature, or Multicultural Literature), including how two or more texts from the same period treat similar themes or topics.
- ELAGSE11-12W1 Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
- ELAGSE11-12W3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective techniques, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.
Suggested Reading: Drums and Shadows, Gullah Folktales from the Georgia Coast
Possible Activities: Students will complete a Reader, Author, Format, Topic (RAFT) activity.
Twelfth Grade Tour
Economics of Jekyll pre and post WWI
Why were Southern plantation owners radically opposed to the Slave Importation Act of 1807? How did Reconstruction affect plantations, plantation owners, and slaves? How did the end of the war and the Emancipation Proclamation affect the Southeastern economy? Students will explore the economic reasons behind advocating for slavery and those of abolitionists.
- SSEF1 Explain why limited productive resources and unlimited wants result in scarcity, opportunity costs, and tradeoffs for individuals, businesses, and governments.
- SSEF2 Give examples of how rational decision-making entails comparing the marginal benefits and the marginal costs of an action.
- SSEF3 Explain how specialization and voluntary exchange influence buyers and sellers.
- Explain how and why individuals and businesses specialize, including division of labor.
- SSEF4 Compare and contrast different economic systems and explain how they answer the three basic economic questions of what to produce, how to produce, and for whom to produce.
Suggested Reading: How Slavery Became the Economic Engine of the South, The Slave Economy, The Water and the Blood
Possible Activity: Create a political cartoon that advocates for slaves’ rights as individuals, and write a letter to President Lincoln persuading him to stop abolition.
US History Tours
War, Politics, and Money in the Early 20th Century
The modern American Economy was the creation of four men: Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould, and JP Morgan. They were the giants of the Gilded Age, and two of them were members of the Jekyll Island Club. Students will investigate the Monopolies of the 1920s and the growth of Labor Unions in the United States.
- SSUSH10 Identify legal, political, and social dimensions of Reconstruction.
- Compare and contrast Presidential Reconstruction with Congressional Reconstruction, including the significance of Lincoln’s assassination and Johnson’s impeachment.
- Investigate the efforts of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (the Freedmen’s Bureau) to support poor whites, former slaves, and American Indians.
- SSUSH11 Examine connections between the rise of big business, the growth of labor unions, and technological innovations.
- Explain the effects of railroads on other industries, including steel and oil.
- Examine the significance of John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie in the rise of trusts and monopolies.
- Examine the influence of key inventions on U.S. infrastructure, including but not limited to the telegraph, telephone, and electric light bulb.
- Describe Ellis and Angel Islands, the change in immigrants’ origins, and their influence on the economy, politics, and culture of the United States.
- Discuss the origins, growth, influence, and tactics of labor unions including the American Federation of Labor.
- SSUSH16 Investigate how political, economic, and cultural developments after WWI led to a shared national identity.
- Examine how mass production and advertising led to increasing consumerism, including Henry Ford and the automobile.
- Describe the effects of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Amendments.
- Examine how mass production and advertising led to increasing consumerism, including Henry Ford and the automobile.
- ELAGSE11-12SL3 Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric, assessing the stance, premises, links among ideas, word choice, points of emphasis, and tone used.
- ELAGSE11-12SL4 Present information, findings, and supporting evidence, conveying a clear and distinct perspective, such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning, alternative or opposing perspectives are addressed, and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and a range of formal and informal tasks.
- ELAGSE11-12SL6 Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating a command of formal English when indicated or appropriate.
Suggested Reading: Labor Union Lesson, Child Labor Lesson
Possible Activities: Speaking as one of the tycoons, a unionist, or a child, create an argument either for or against monopolies. Can be written, with extra credit for spoken. Labor History Assignment
Jim Crow, Chitlin’ Circuit, Civil Rights, and Jekyll Island
What do rock and roll and Jim Crow have in common? The Chitlin Circuit, a network of Black-owned nightclubs, dance halls, juke joints, and theaters in the South, on the East Coast, and parts of the Midwest provided entertainment for African American audiences. Students will explore how The Chitlin’ Circuit put artists and music genres on the map when segregation was legal, investigating the innovative music genres that shaped music both then and now.
- SSUSH8 Explore the relationship between slavery, growing north-south divisions, and westward expansion that led to the outbreak of the Civil War.
- SSUSH21 Analyze U.S. international and domestic policies including their influences on technological advancements and social changes during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations.
- Investigate the growth, influence, and tactics of civil rights groups, Martin Luther King, Jr., the Letter from Birmingham Jail, and the I Have a Dream Speech.
- SSMGS7 Use a map to explain the impact of geography on historical and current events.
- SSMGS11 Compare maps with data sets (charts, tables, graphs) and /or readings to draw conclusions and make generalizations.
Suggested Reading/Viewing: NPR Chitlin’ Circuit, Safe Space for Black Performers, Keeping the Chitlin Circuit Alive, YouTube Chitlin’ Circuit, Pennies to Millions, Photos, The Scrub to the Twist
Possible Activities: Create a timeline of the history of rock and roll and align it to a timeline for Civil Rights, while pinpointing specific sites on the Chitlin Circuit; Tour St. Andrews Beach.
World History Tour
The Wanderer: The Jekyll Island Slave Ship
Step back in time to 1858 when The Wanderer anchored off the southernmost end of Jekyll Island with a cargo of over four hundred African slaves, fifty years after the slave trade had been made illegal. Why Jekyll Island? A history of the DuBignons, their immoral and illegal acts, and personal accounts of enslaved Africans.
- SSWH10 Analyze the causes and effects of exploration and expansion into the Americas, Africa, and Asia.
- Examine the effects of the Transatlantic Slave Trade on Africa and the colonies in the Americas.
Suggested Reading: WPA Writers Project-Ex Slaves, The Water and the Blood
Possible Activities: Walking tour of DuBignon Cottage, a self-guided walking tour of the Wanderer Memory Trail, and writing journal entries through the eyes of one of the slaves aboard the ship, either real or imagined.
Architecture Tour
Cottage Construction
Students will explore cottages and their floor plans, comparing/contrasting two of them. Students will also discuss the differences between houses in the Gilded Age and today and explore the cottages to that of other homes of the time in the South. Students will explore the “rules of the club” regarding how the cottages were to be designed and built.
- AC-ADDI-2 Identify components related to the architectural design process.
- AC-ADDI-6 Prepare elevations for residential drawings.
- AC-ADDI-5 Research roof systems, styles, and terminology.
- AC-ADDI-8 Demonstrate preparing foundation plans.
- AC-ADDII-6 Create a project presentation for a building.
Suggested Readings and Research: Research the following architectural designs: Gothic Revival, French Baroque, Italian Renaissance, and Roman Classical.
Possible Activity: Create a floor plan or an elevation for a cottage of the Gilded Age keeping in mind the rules of the Jekyll Island Club.
Engineering Tour
Hollybourne Cottage Engineering: Building a Bridge to Build a House
Students will explore Hollybourne Cottage and its unique open floor plan design, one of the few of its time, creating their version of the open floor concept.
- AC-IDD-5 Create technical freehand sketches. Demonstrate orthographic sketches. Demonstrate pictorial sketches.
- AC-IDD-8 Demonstrate the ability to read and draw using the proper scale. Demonstrate the ability to measure using the architect’s scale, engineer’s scale, and metric scale. Select the proper drawing scale.
- AC-IDD-10 Create and dimension single-view drawings while applying geometric construction.
- AC-IDD-11 Utilize orthographic projection to create and dimension multi-view drawings manually and using CADD.
Suggested Reading and Lesson: Parts of a Bridge, Building a Bridge
Possible Activity: Build a structure using trusses and piers for support.
Culinary Arts Tour
The Decadent Lives of the Rich and Famous on Jekyll
Research the founders of the Jekyll Island Club, the famous chef from New York who would travel down for the season, and the menus served daily at the Club: breakfast, lunch, tea, and dinner.
- HOSPCAII3 Demonstrate competency in the commercial food preparation of all menu categories to produce a variety of food products.
- HOSCAII7 Identify and create a conceptual food-service operation and identify the requirements needed for successful operation management.
Suggested Reading: Extreme Dining, Place Settings for an Afternoon Tea, Dinner Place Settings, Photos of Menus
Possible Activities: Compare and contrast the kitchens of the Gilded Age and those today, create dishes from the menus provided in the menu link, create a high tea menu, and create a low tea menu, noting the differences between the two.
Commercial Fishing Tour
History of Shrimping
- AFNR-CFMFS-3 Describe and discuss the history, types of fish, and modern practices in the commercial fishing industry.
- AFNR-CFMFS-6 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information on the physical and chemical properties of seawater and how they influence the structure of the ocean.
- AFNR-CFMFS-11 Research and interpret information regarding the biological and life history of southeast Atlantic Ocean commercial fishing species.
- AFNR-CFMFS-12 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information on how waves and tides are created and their influence on coastal processes.
Suggested Viewing: Shrimping in Coastal Georgia, A Century of Fishing
Possible Activities: Boat tour to oyster beds and Atlantic fishing areas.