Is your book club reading The Many Reflections of Miss Jane Deming? Here’s a one-page round-up of discussion questions to get you started!
Want to use The Many Reflections of Miss Jane Deming in your history or language arts class? This classroom discussion guide includes a range of questions intended to address a variety of learning styles, levels of interest, and levels of ability. The content is designed for grades 4-8 and aligned to Common Core and the National Council for the Social Studies‘ Thematic Standards for this age group. It is also suitable for use in Washington State History curricula.
The guide includes maps and resources, which you can also view or download:
To supplement the guide, here are some resources and links:
The Pacific Northwest
- US Forest Service
- Encyclopedia of Puget Sound
- Puget Sound Weather & Climate
- Department of Ecology
- Western Regional Climate Center
- Plants of Western Washington (University of Washington)
Childhood in the 1800s
- USDS Children’s Bureau
- Children’s Activities – Daily Life (National Parks Service)
- Rural life in the late nineteenth century (Library of Congress)
- Ida Sparkman’s account of a pioneer childhood (University of Washington)
Currency Converter
School in the 1800s
Chinook Trading Language
Note: This was an entirely invented language that often varied from region to region, so there is no one standard dictionary. These examples are just a few of many intended to give an idea of what the language looked and sounded like in the mid-nineteenth century in and near Washington Territory.
- From the 1864 Seattle Weekly Gazette – (scroll to page four)
- The Chinook Jargon and How to Use It (1909)
Homesteading in the Puget Sound Region
- Homesteading (via the Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest)
- Life in Washington Territory
- “Generous Bounty of Nature”
- “Food and Fashion”
- “Our Mild Winters”
- Flora (Pearson) Engle’s account of pioneer life
Native Seattle
- Coast Salish Villages
- Landscapes and Waterlines
- Duwamish Tribe
- Suquamish Tribe
- Lushootseed Research (includes an online dictionary)
Jane’s Seattle
- Asa Mercer
- Yesler’s Cookhouse
- Yesler’s House
- Yesler’s Mill
- Yesler’s Wharf
- The “White Church”
- Commercial Street
- Pinkham’s Store
- Occidental Hotel
- Libbie Peebles’ trunk
- Prices of basic goods (scroll to page three)
- Inez and Madge’s House
- The Territorial University
- Elliott Bay
Puget Sound Regional History
These are great sites for teachers who would like students to do primary source research to supplement or further investigate the historical setting of The Many Reflections of Miss Jane Deming.