Thank you for coming back for another day in the brand new series here at Mama’s Learning Corner: On This Day in American History!
On this day in American History, January 25, 1915, Alexander Graham Bell made the first transcontinental telephone call.
If you would like more details on how to use these On This Day in American History posts, please see this page: On This Day in American History in Your Homeschool
You can click here to see all of the posts in this series: On This Day in American History Series
January 25 – Bell Makes the First Transcontinental Telephone Call
On January 25, 1915, Alexander Graham Bell made the first transcontinental telephone call from New York to San Francisco.
To do:
1.) Locate New York and San Francisco on a U.S. map.
2.) The call from New York was answered by Mr. Watson, Mr. Bell’s partner. Upon Mr. Watson answering the phone, Mr. Bell uttered his famous phrase, “Mr. Watson, come here. I want you.” This was the same phrase that Mr. Bell declared on his very first ever phone call with Mr. Watson.
If you were Mr. Bell and placing the first transcontinental phone call, what would be your first statement or phrase to the person on the other end of the line? Think carefully about your answer and then write it down.
3.) Ask a grandparent or elderly friend to tell you about how telephones have changed in his or her lifetime. Ask about corded phones, party lines, dial tones, call waiting, three-way calls, and cassette answering machines. Make sure you write down their comments during your conversation. This will become a treasured memory in years to come!
If you are new to On This Day in American History
If you are new to On This Day in American History, Welcome!
Each day, I share an interesting event that occurred in our nation’s past. You will learn about famous Americans, interesting inventions and their patents, American art and music, and more.
You will also find suggested activities – labeled “To do” – if you would like to research this during your homeschool’s group time in the morning, or you can assign the activities for your children to work on independently.
If you think you will do more than one day of On This Day in American History, I would encourage you to have your child keep what I call a Notebook of Knowledge. A spiral notebook or sheets of paper stapled together is more than adequate!
Have your child write the day’s event and the date at the top of his paper. If there are writing activities, have him use his best composition, grammar, and penmanship as he completes the answers. After just a few weeks or even a month, he will have an excellent resource to read through!
If you would like to use this resource throughout the month, you might be interested in purchasing the full January Calendar. It contains:
- Access to the webpage with all of the January events listed, including all suggested activities for each daily event.
- A .pdf of the January Calendar, listed in chronological order with all suggested activities
- All necessary downloads to complete the assigned activities. These same downloads are linked on the webpage, however, they are also included here for easy access.
- The answers to any questions asked in the daily activities.
You can purchase that here:
On This Day in American History: January 24 – Forty-Niners Gold Rush Begins
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