Who made the doorbell camera, and how do we know? This ready-to-teach packet turns a one-minute song into three lessons on reading, history and engineering.
In Somebody Before Me: Marie Van Brittan Brown & the Home Security System, a curious child meets Marie Van Brittan Brown, a Black nurse from Queens, New York. She often worked late and wanted to see who was knocking before opening the door. With her husband, Albert, she invented a home security system with peepholes, a camera and a TV screen. Students then look at their real 1969 patent to find out how we know.
What's inside (24-page printable PDF):
3 sessions of 30–40 minutes each: Who Made This?, How Do We Know? and What Will YOU Make?
A Patent Detective page built on the Browns' original patent drawing. Students find the maker, date and place, like real historians.
Two reading levels (K–1 and grades 2–3) with comprehension questions
Peephole Heights: a hands-on measuring activity. Where should the peepholes go so everyone can be seen?
Sing-along lyric sheet, word cards, a problem-and-solution page, a timeline to cut and sort, and a then-and-now page
My Invention Plan and a Classroom Patent certificate
Standards: Common Core RI.2.1, RI.2.3, RI.2.7, W.2.2 and SL.2.1; NGSS K-2-ETS1-1 and K-2-ETS1-2; Math 2.MD.A.1; C3 Framework D2.His.2.K-2 and D2.His.11.K-2
Teacher background, teaching-with-care notes, differentiation, a family page, an answer key and full source links
Works with the free video on Teach Between the Lines TV (about 1 minute, captions on screen).
License: one teacher, for use with their own students. Please do not share, post publicly or resell.