Yes, a vintage red truck can fit in with a social studies lesson!

Ellen Ferrier’s sixth-grade social studies class has been learning about artifacts and their importance to the study of humans and civilizations throughout the course of history. Students were asked to bring an artifact to school from a past era.

When presenting to the class, each student identified the year the artifact was created, its owner, how it was used in the past, and what the artifact tells about life in the time period that it was created.

Student Kayleigh Bakke asked Jeff “Pop” Brown, her grandfather, to bring in his 1979 special edition Dodge “Lil’ Red Express” pickup truck for her presentation, as his truck fit the assignment’s criteria of something from a past era.

Students took a very short field trip to the parking lot where they got a first-hand look at this vehicle, which was meticulously restored to its exact factory specifications.

Kayleigh and Pop shared where the trick was purchased, why they were made, its original cost of $7,500, and how many were produced.  The students discussed the differences in vehicles and their prices from 1979 to the present.

“It was a fun and educational way for our students to make connections and understand how artifacts reveal important information about specific time periods,” said Mrs. Ferrier.

Other items shared included a 1975-issued passport; a stuffed giraffe made in 1979, a book about clothing styles and etiquette written in 1980, a Thumb piano from the 1920s, a 1959 wedding photo of one student’s grandparents, and a teapot from the castle of Lord Woodhouse of Switzerland, among many others.