Teaching Resources

Teaching Resources

Created by Toni Stevens-Oliver,
4th Grade Teacher at Thornell Road Elementary School

Teaching Guide

Topic: The Little Falls Textile Strike
Issue: Fall 2025
NYS Social Studies Framework:
4.6f Between 1865 and 1915, rapid industrialization occurred in New York State. Over time, industries and manufacturing continued to grow.
7.7 REFORM MOVEMENTS: Social, political, and economic inequalities sparked various reform movements and resistance efforts. Influenced by the Second Great Awakening, New York State played a key role in major reform efforts.
8.2e Progressive reformers sought to address political and social issues at the local, state, and federal levels of government between 1890 and 1920. These efforts brought renewed attention to women’s rights and the suffrage movement and spurred the creation of government reform policies
Social Studies Practices:
Gathering, Interpreting and Using Evidence.
Chronological Reasoning

Understanding the Online Resources:
Take a Closer Look & Learning Activity Differentiated - activities that use the same documents as in the print version, but are scaled more to 7th grade.
Learning Activity Extensions - resources that are directly related to the Learning Activity on page 4 of the magazine.
Learning Activity Extras - resources that are related to the topic, but can be done separately.
Document Teaching Resources - resources that are standard and could be used with any any issue.

Big Ideas in this Issue: After the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, the Jackson Law was passed to improve working conditions. The law stipulated that women and children could only work 54 hours a week. Factory owners cut wages to align with theses more limited hours. Angry workers went on strike to protest, and eventually brought about change.

Activities in this Issue
Page 3 - “Take a Closer Look”
Students will first do a little math as they think about the hours typically worked by people now. They will then study a time card for a worker from 1911, and draw conclusions about the number our hours she worked. Finally, they will write a diary entry from the point of view of a worker in 1911, using the article and the document.
Page 4 - “Learning Activity”
Students will go back to the main article and find a chain reaction of cause and effect events. They will write these out in order on this page, then use them to create a paper chain linking the events together in order.
Learning Activity Extensions - Online
Paper chains- Blank colored strips to cut out and use for the Learning Activity. Students will write the events they recorded on page 4 of the magazine on these strips and put them together to form a chain.
Chain Reaction Sorting Activity - Differentiation - This activity has the 10 steps in the chain reaction printed out, one per strip. Students cut out the strips and then use the text to help them put the events in order. Once the strips are in order, they can assemble them into a paper chain.
Learning Activity Extras - Online
The Jackson Law - Students will used what they know from the Jr! article and what they learn in the provided newspaper article to explain the two main points of view in regards to the Jackson Bill/54-Hour Bill, the workers and the employers.

Connections

ELA:
Books About Unions and Organizing
The Teachers March! by Sandra Neil Wallace & Rich Wallace.
Union Made: Labor Leader Samuel Compers and His Fight for Workers’ Rights by Norman H Finkelstein.
Memphis Martin, and the Moutaintop: The Sanitation Strike of 1968 by Alice Faye Duncan.
Farmers Unite! Planting a Protest for Fair Prices by Lindsay H Metcalf.
Thanks to Frances Perkins: Fighter for Workers’ Rights by Deborah Hopkinson
I Like, I Don’t Like by Anna Bacceliere
Click, Clack Moo: Cows that Type by Eoreen Cronin (This one may seem out of place, but it’s a simple and fun introduction to workers (the cows) asking for what they need/want).
On Our Way to Oyster Bay: Mother Jones and Her March for Children’s Rights by Monica Kulling

Websites:
https://rememberthetrianglefire.org/learn/resources/
https://www.mission-us.org/teach/city-of-immigrants-archive/resources/epilogue/triangle-firesurvivors-accounts/

Podcast:
The Bowery Boys - Where they LIved: Remebering the Victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire (background for the teacher). https://www.boweryboyshistory.com/2025/03/lived-trianglefactory-fire-105-years-later.html

Video:
The Fire of a Movement - PBS. Background for teacher. https://www.pbs.org/video/the-fire-of-amovement-wwhbxf/