The teacher and students may choose any one of these projects.

• Students will research and identify agencies and organizations that provide services to children in the community.
• Students will determine and produce a method of disseminating information to the general student population after interviewing agency representatives who deal with children who are homeless.
• Students will visit/perform service for a local homeless shelter or other organizations that provide services to children who are homeless.
• Students will participate in the Empty Bowls Project.

Anticipatory Set:

This is a prediction activity. Put transparency pictures of children from the Orphan Train on the overhead. (The examples I used were of Arthur Smith as a child.) Give a little background about the person and then have students write three sentences that would describe the child and his/her family. After students have shared their thoughts, explain that this child was a rider on the Orphan Train and give them a little background information concerning the Orphan Train.

• Provide background information regarding the reform movements for homeless children in the 1800s (Children's Aid Society, New York Foundling Hospital - Sisters of Charity).
• Explain the purpose of the lesson which is to compare the Children's Aid Society and the New York Foundling Hospital to current philanthropic efforts to assist homeless children.
  Distribute Homelessness: Then and Now - Reasons and Solutions (Attachment One). Arrange the class into teams of four. Each group should have a recorder, timekeeper, facilitator and reporter. Ask half of the teams to brainstorm reasons why there were homeless children in the late 1800s and speculate on what solutions were used at the time. The other half should brainstorm the reasons and solutions for homeless children today. Teams should put their answers on their charts. Take five to seven minutes for this activity. Have groups report on their findings (five to ten minutes). Fill in an overhead transparency of Attachment One during the whole class discussion.
• Hand out packets of collected articles, including, if possible, Cobblestone Magazine, April, 1998 (if no Internet access) or use the Internet sites to obtain articles. Have students read the articles and fill in the Venn Diagram. Allow 25-30 minutes for this activity.
• Define philanthropy as individuals and organizations providing their time, talent, and/or treasures intended for the common good throughout history and around the world. Have students use examples from their research showing how homelessness and philanthropy can be related.
• Closure: Pose the question: "How would you have felt about being put on an Orphan Train? Your answer to this question is your ticket out of the room today."

• Students may read the novel In the Face of Danger that is a part of the Orphan Train Quartet or other current novels regarding this topic such as Beggar's Ride or A Faraway Home: An Orphan Train Story,
• Visit a homeless shelter in the area and plan a service project for the site.
• Invite guest speakers from adoption agencies.
• Visit a local soup kitchen and volunteer at the kitchen.
• Portray the situation where a child has arrived at a station on the Orphan Train from the point of view of the child, the agent, or the receiver of an orphan. This can be done in narrative form, role-play, music, dance, or drawing.