Getting Around: How Transportation Shaped the City
Pre-visit Activity
Goal: To gain an understanding of how transportation in New York City has changed over time
and connect the importance of modern-day transportation to our daily lives.
Content Objectives: Students will:
• Connect the significance of transportation to students’ own lives and experiences
• Learn how to use maps and legends
• Use images to note change in transportation above, on, and below ground
• Be able to discuss and reflect on the pros and cons of the innovations in transportation.
Time: 1 hour
Materials:
• Timeline
• Paper
• Pencils
• Colored pencils
• Markers
• Computer
• How Little Lori Visited Time Square by Amos Vogel
Activity 1
1. Begin by reading How Little Lori Visited Times Square by Amos Vogel. As you read,
encourage students to note different forms of transportation they see throughout the story.
2. After reading the book, ask students to think about how they get to school each day. Do they
take a bus, car, subway, or walk? Maybe they take more than one form of transportation. Make
a list on the board of the different forms of transportation the students use.
3. Encourage students to sketch out a route one morning on the way to school using a pencil
and piece of paper. What do they see? How long does it take? What streets do they pass? Note
that this is an initial sketch and will be used only as a reference for the final when they get to
class.
4. Introduce students to a legend. Ask if anyone has heard that word before and what it might
mean. Explain that a legend is a key to all the symbols on a map. Students will create a legend
Pre- and Post-visit Materials: Getting Around How Transportation Shaped the City
The Museum of the City of New York
1220 5th Avenue at 104th Street
www.mcny.org
to show buildings, streets, and forms of transportation on their final sketch of their route to
school. Demonstrate on the board how a legend can be used.
5. When students get to class, have them create a map of their route, using the initial sketch as
a guide. Students should use a piece of paper, colored pencils, and markers to make each
map. Briefly demonstrate how the materials can be used to create the maps. Have students add
a legend to their maps.
6. After completing the map, students will create a label explaining the route they take to
school and share their route with the class, noticing the variation of ways to travel today.
Activity 2
1. Use the MCNY Collections Portal, an online resource that offers nearly 95,000 images of New
York City to explore transportation. Using the classroom smart board or computers, focus on a
few images to explore in depth. Go to www.mcny.org. Click on “Collections” located on the
top of the screen. This will bring you directly to the MCNY Collection Portal. In the “Search”
box type in “Transportation”. Scroll through the images to find:
a. Automobile (Cars). Bryon Company, New York, N.Y., 1919. Museum of the City of New
York.
b. Wells Fargo & Co’s Overland Express Stage Coach. George P. Hall and Son, ca. 1900.
Museum of the City of New York.
c. Public Trolleycars about 1897 Brooklyn to Coney Island Going to the Races. 1897.
Museum of the City of New York.
d. 6th Avenue and Broadway, with El Train. 1909. Museum of the City of New York.
2. Each image shows a different form of transportation. Have students observe each image,
paying close attention to details. After a few minutes ask students to raise their hands when
they are ready to share any reactions. Use a worksheet to help students organize the
differences in each image.
3. After the class discussion, have students write about which mode of transportation they
would take and why. Which looks most efficient? Least efficient?
Note: On the way to the Museum, have students pay close attention to the transportation they
see around them. What do they see going by? Are there buses, cars, bicycles, or people
walking? Which form of transportation do they see the most of?
Pre- and Post-visit Materials: Getting Around How Transportation Shaped the City
The Museum of the City of New York
1220 5th Avenue at 104th Street
www.mcny.org
Getting Around: How Transportation Shaped the City
Post-visit Activity
Goal: To apply what students know about how transportation in New York City has changed
over time. Students will create their own model of transportation (above, below, or on) based
on past and present examples.
Content Objectives: Students will:
• Apply previous knowledge gained from the MCNY visit
• Use materials and images to create a model of transportation
Time: 1 hour
Materials: Materials should be provided for students on each table
•
Timeline
•
Cardboard boxes with wheels
•
Pencils
•
Colored pencils
•
Markers
•
Tape
•
Scissors
•
String
•
Glue
•
Popsicle sticks
•
Plastic bottles
Activity:
1. Following the Museum visit, briefly review the timeline that was created at MCNY and
introduce the in-class activity.
2. Students will be creating their own model of transportation (above, below, or on) based on
past and present examples, using the timeline as a guide. Students will have already
viewed primary sources of modes of transportation during the Museum visit so they should not
need to see additional examples.
3. Demonstrate how the materials ate each table can be used to create a model. Put a list of
suggested questions to think about on the board while students complete the activity.
Encourage students to sketch out an initial idea before beginning.
4. Depending on time, give students approximately 45 minutes to work on the model.
Pre- and Post-visit Materials: Getting Around How Transportation Shaped the City
The Museum of the City of New York
1220 5th Avenue at 104th Street
www.mcny.org
5. After students finish, they should create a label for their model including a title, what it might
be used for, and the materials used. Students will then share their model with the rest of the
class.
6. Create a display of models and labels. Invite other classes and guests to view their work.
Vocabulary:
Transportation
Horse Drawn Omnibus
Horse Drawn Streetcar
Elevated Train
Electric Trolley
Electric Streetcar
Subway
Automobile
Bridge and Tunnels
Motor bus
Cable Car
Map Legend
Resources for Teachers:
1. Burrows, Edwin, G. Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898. (Oxford University Press,
2000)
2. Homberger, Eric. The Historical Atlas of New York City: A Visual Celebration of 400 Years of
New York City’s History. (Owl Books, 2005)
3. Jackson, Kenneth T. The Encyclopedia of New York City. (Yale University Press, 1995)
This fact-filled reference, containing more than 4300 alphabetical entries and hundreds of
illustrations, covers all five boroughs.
Resources for Students:
1. Bloom, Suzanne. The Bus for Us. (Boyds Mills Press, 2001)
2. Brimner, Larry Dane. Subway: The Story of Tunnels, Tubes, and Tracks. (Boyds Mills Press,
2004)
3. Brown, Margaret W. Two Little Trains. (HarperCollins, 2003)
4. Jacobs, Paul DuBois. My Subway Ride. (Gibbs Smith, 2004)
5. Swender, Jennifer. My Taxi Ride. (Gibbs Smith, 2006)
Pre- and Post-visit Materials: Getting Around How Transportation Shaped the City
The Museum of the City of New York
1220 5th Avenue at 104th Street
www.mcny.org