i got to use my 1890s obsession for good today!! only one of my 4th graders was at school during my last lesson so we just read a few books he had, including one about the invention of the ferris wheel. that led him to ask about the chicago world's fair which i happen to know about because of kaz rowe's youtube video and also a poptropica game i played as a kid and also because it's the 1890s and of course i love that shit! so i basically just infodumped and he was actually interested? (this student usually is super checked out) then the great chicago fire came up so he asked about that and we talked about how the 'mrs. o'leary's cow' thing was anti-immigrant propaganda! never thought i'd ever use my 19th century weirdness in my k-4 literacy tutoring job but here we are and it made my day