Grade 8 Lesson at a Glance: Chapter 9, Lesson 2

Houghton Mifflin Social Studies
A More Perfect Union

Lesson at a Glance
Chapter 9 Lesson 2: The Urban North (pp. 261-266)

The Big Idea
Framework Concept: Change The rapid growth of cities in the mid-1800s changed the way their residents lived, and increased the need for city services.

Review which services the expanding cities needed to provide and why. Talk about protection, transportation, and sanitation. Be sure students understand why what had once been volunteer (police, firemen) now needed to be paid, and how people living so close together affected health conditions.

Create a three-column chart on the board with the labels upper class, middle class, and working poor. Have students give characteristics and examples to fill in each column, and discuss how the industrialization and city living changed the relationships between the groups.

Lesson Outline
Use the Lesson Outline to preview the content of the lesson. You may wish to print it for your students as a guide during reading.

Check for Understanding

Have each student create a before-and-after chart showing changes in municipal services from before the growth of cities to after that growth. Encourage students to include issues of health, protection, and transportation.
Divide students into groups and assign each one of the three social classes discussed in the lesson: wealthy, middle, working poor. Have each group develop a short talk describing their social class's life in the big city. Ask a spokesperson from each group to give the talk to the rest of the class.

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