Share with your students a bit of presidential ice cream history: George Washington was a big fan, and had an icehouse on his farm in Virginia. That way his cooks could whip up his favorite ice cream treats all summer. And when James Madison became president in 1809, his wife Dolley became famous for serving ice cream at White House dinners.
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CULVER UNION LIBRARY
Icy History
Before there was ice cream, there had to be ice. And its background is more fascinating than you might imagine.
By Lauren Tarshis
From the May / June 2018 Issue
Learning Objective: Students will learn how a new way of collecting and preserving ice led to the mass production of ice cream in America.
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Can't-Miss Teaching Extras
Fit For a President
Ice Cream Today
For a look at how ice cream is made today, check out this video from inside the Ben & Jerry’s factory! Be sure to stop it at the 8:00 mark, which is the end of the ice cream segment and also right before a minor curse word.
Ice Cream from Scratch
If you want to make ice cream with your class, check out this simple recipe—no major kitchen equipment needed!
Fresh Food? Gee-whiz!
To drive home to students just how revolutionary the concept of keeping food fresh with a refrigerator and freezer was, show them this 2-minute 1956 commercial from Frigidaire!
More About the Article
Content-Area Connections
Social Studies: U.S. history
Science: technology, inventions
Key Skills
compare and contrast, summarizing, draw conclusions, key details, inference, problem and solution, main idea, vocabulary
Step-by-Step Lesson Plan
1. PREPARING TO READ
Preview Text Features/ Set a Purpose for Reading (10 minutes)
- Have students look at the spreads on pages 10-11 and 12-13. Ask volunteers to read aloud the title and subhead of both articles. Then ask students to identify the topic of both texts. (how ice and ice cream changed life in America)
- Point to the photos and captions in both articles. Call on a volunteer to read the captions.
- Direct students to the photos of ice cream cones on pages 12 and 13. Call on students to read aloud the caption that accompanies each one. Ask: Which fact is the most surprising?
Introduce Vocabulary (15 minutes)
- We have highlighted in bold five words that may be challenging and defined them on the page. Preview these words by projecting or distributing our vocabulary activity and completing it as a class. You may also play our Vocabulary Slideshow.
- Highlighted words: rare, pried, insulation, spoil, exhausting
2. CLOSE READING
Reading and Unpacking the Text
- First read: Students should read each article one time for general comprehension.
- Second read: Distribute Close-Reading and Critical-Thinking Questions to the class. Preview them together. Ask students to read the articles again and answer the questions as a class or in small groups.
Close-Reading Questions (20 minutes)
- Read “For Rich People Only.” Why were icehouses so important? (summarizing) They kept ice cold all year long, so foods were able to stay fresh during hot months.
- Why do you think only rich people had icehouses? (draw conclusions) They could afford to build them.
- How did Frederic Tudor change the way ice was collected and kept cold? (key details) He had horses drag a sled with a sharp blade across a frozen pond. This created a checkerboard of ice blocks. Workers pulled out the ice blocks and packed them together. They used sawdust to keep the ice cold.
- Read “The Ice King.” How did the ice delivered in Tudor’s ships help make ice cream so popular in America? (inference) His ships delivered ice all over the world, and some of this ice was used to make ice cream.
- Read the first section of “Ice Cream for All!” Why did Jacob Fussell decide to build an ice cream factory? (problem and solution) He was tired of throwing out the spoiled cream that he didn’t sell.
- Read “A Treat for the Rich.” Why didn’t many Americans eat ice cream in the 1700s? (summarizing) Only rich Americans could afford the expensive and rare ingredients. Also, it took a long time to make ice cream by hand.
- Read “New Invention.” How did Fussell change the way ice cream was made? (main idea) He made large batches of ice cream in America’s first ice cream factory.
- Why do you think his business became so successful? (draw conclusions) He sold his ice cream for a low price, and people loved the way it tasted.
Critical-Thinking Question (10 minutes)
- What is the same about the way these two inventions changed life in America? What is different? (compare and contrast) Tudor’s new tool for collecting ice, his shipping methods, and his way of keeping it cold meant that all Americans—not just the rich—could have ice all year round. In the same way, Fussell’s ice cream factory enabled most Americans to afford ice cream. However, Tudor’s invention isn’t used today: By the 1940s, most Americans used refrigerators and freezers instead of blocks of ice. But ice cream continues to be very popular in America today.
3. SKILL BUILDING
Distribute our compare and contrast activity.
Discuss the task in the Think and Write box on page 13. Then have students complete the task in class or as homework.
Differentiate and Customize
For Small Groups
As they read the articles aloud, have students use sticky notes to mark key dates. Ask them to make a timeline of the events that took place on each date. Groups can share their timelines in class.
For Reading Partners
Pair students to read the articles together. They can take turns reading each section. Ask them to list details about the problem each inventor solved and how their invention changed people’s lives.
For ELL Students
First play the Vocabulary Slideshow to help familiarize students with unfamiliar words. Then have them listen to the lower-Lexile audio version of the article as they read along.
For Advanced Readers
Have students write a headline and the first paragraph of a newspaper article about the opening of the first ice cream factory in 1851. Remind them to use details from the article. Ask them to share their writing in small groups.
For On Level Readers
How are these men's ideas similar? How are they different? Answer in a well-organized paragraph, using detail from both texts.
Text-to-Speech