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A
Day in the Life of a Pioneer - WebQuest
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You
are traveling west with two other family members. Each family
member witnesses many wonderful things and is responsible for
different tasks while traveling on the wild frontier.
With your two
other group members, decide which family member role you would
like to explore (Father, Mother, Child).
Once you establish
your role, you will record your fascinating frontier findings
in your journal. Then you and your family members will write
letters to send to your extended family members: Uncle Charlie,
Aunt Martha, and Cousin Bobby, warning them of the dangers
and encouraging them to join you out west.
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Oregon
Trail Unit |
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Folklore
and Tall Tales |
In this lesson, students are
introduced to the folklore of the pioneers; specifically, the tall
tale. Students learn about the characteristics of tall tales through
creative writing and improvisational activities. They also learn
how authors use figurative language, such as similes and metaphors,
to engage readers in a story. |
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Life
on the Oregon Trail - WebQuest |
The lesson is designed to accompany
a unit on Westward Expansion and the Oregon Trail. The students
will use a variety of internet resources to learn about the hardships
faced by pioneers, people the pioneers may have encountered along
their journey, and the routes taken by those traveling West.
Students will put themselves in the position of a family of pioneers and
work in groups of three to create a five-day travelogue of their journey.
The presentation will include a daily log of the students' progress
toward completion of the project, a Power Point presentation of their
travelogue, and a map of the Oregon Trail created by a team member.
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Westward
Ho! Project Based Learning |
Load those wagons........kiss
the kin goodbye.........get ready for adventure, drama, comedy,
tragedy, and fantastic learning as we hit the Oregon Trail and
head out west! Back for its fifteenth year, this simulated journey
allows classes to travel the trail as part of the Westward HO!
Wagon Train. In classrooms across the country, collaborative families,
based on real families from America's past, make daily decisions
(travel and fate scenarios are provided by the project moderators)
that will influence their safe arrival in Oregon. |
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Oregon
Trail Adventure |
You are living in the year
1848, on the east coast. You have been asked to lead a wagon train
that will be heading out west for the Oregon territory. In order to do a good job as Wagon Master,
you will need to make many decisions along the way.
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Oregon
Trail Map Lesson Plan |
Using resources
found on the Internet such as maps, documents, and photos, students
will construct their own class map of the Oregon Trail. |
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Pioneer
Living Lesson Plan |
In this lesson,
students will learn about what life was like for early American
pioneers. After reading about pioneers in Laura Ingalls Wilder's
Little House on the Prairie, students will conduct independent
research on one aspect of pioneer life. They will write a letter
to a friend revealing five things they have learned about their
assigned topic. This lesson culminates in the creation of tableaux
depicting various pioneer scenes. |
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The
Way West: A Duet of Plays |
Students will explore the pioneers'
and settlers' ways of life through drama and song. Crossing the
prairie, living in a sod house, and experiencing the growth of
Abilene, Kansas, will be explored using drama games, role-play,
written text, and songs. |
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Why
Did the Pioneers Go West? |
The student will be able
to:
1. understand that pioneers
used different modes of transportation.
2. understand that pioneers'
destination depended upon the purpose of their move.
3. understand that pioneers endured many hardships along the way to achieve
their goals.
4. understand that life on the prairie was difficult for all family members.
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Build
a Pioneer Log Cabin |
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Sodbusters! |
After completing this lesson,
students will be able to:
Identify where and when
American settlers lived.
Describe how settlers used available materials to build sod houses.
Explain how sod houses helped settlers adapt to the environment of the
plains.
Compare living in a sod house with life in a typical home today.
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Pioneer
Games |
Students will
be introduced to games that date back to pioneer children and will
improve certain skills. |
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Fortune Telling Apples |
Pioneer children played apple
games, such as "fortune telling," with apple seeds. Every
child in the game placed a single apple seed on each cheek. One
seed was called home, the other travel. If the travel seed fell
off first, the child would never travel anyplace. If the home seed
fell off first, the child would get to go wandering around the
world! (http://www.teachnet.com/lesson/seasonal/apples1005.html) |
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Searching
for Gold: A Collaborative Inquiry Project |
In this collaborative inquiry activity, the real gold in the inquiry
skills and content area knowledge that students develop. Students
study the Gold Rush using a collaborative inquiry strategy: each
of several small groups research one aspect of the topic and teach
that topic to the rest of the class. Students create a project to
aid in their oral presentation of their researched topic. |
