S'S' THEMATIC UNIT: WESTWARD EXPANSION LIFE ON THE TRAILS

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S.S. THEMATIC UNIT WESTWARD EXPANSION LIFE ON
THE TRAILS

• KIMBERLY K. HUDSON
• FSC
• SPRING 2007

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HISTORY

• HAVE DO NOWON BOARD INSTRUSTING CHILDREN TO
  GET OUT THEIR NOTEBOOKS FOR NOTE TAKING.
• TEACHER INSTRUCTED OVERVIEW ABOUT WESTWARD
  EXPANSION AND THE PIONEERS.

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LANGUAGE ARTS

• DISCUSS OREGON TRAIL WITH STUDENTS.
• EXPLAIN WHAT JOURNALS ARE, WHO WRITES THEM, AND
  WHAT IS WRITTEN IN THEM.
• STUDENTS WILL HAVE OPPORTUNITY TO LOOK AT JOURNAL
  ENTRIES FROM PEOPLE WHO TRAVELLED THE TRAIL
  STUDY PHOTO OF WHAT PIONEERS LOOKED LIKE

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LANGUAGE ARTS

• STUDENTS WILL CREATE A JOURNAL FROM THE PAST
• KIDS WILL USE THEIR IMAGINATION TO WRITE AT LEAST
  3 JOURNAL ENTRIES AS IF THEY AND THEIR FAMILY
  JOURNEYED ALONG THE OREGON TRAIL ON THEIR WAY TO
  A NEW HOME IN THE WEST

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LANGUAGE ARTS

• ART WILL BE INCORPORATED AS WE WILL USE TEABAGS
  TO STAIN PAPER TO MAKE IT LOOK OLD
• CHILDREN WILL ILLUSTRATE THEIR JOURNALS WITH A
  PICTURE OF THEMSELVES AND THEIR PIONEER FAMILY
  MEMBERS, ESSENTIAL SUPPLIES, ANIMALS, AND WHAT
  THEIR WAGON LOOKED LIKE

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LANGUAGE ARTS

• A LIST OF POSSIBAL QUESTIONS FOR THE STUDENTS TO
  CONSIDER WILL BE POSTED

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LIST OF QUESTIONS FOR JOURNAL

• HOW DID YOU TRAVEL?
• WHO TRAVELED WITH YOU?
• HOW WERE YOU DRESSED?
• WHAT PROVISIONS DID YOU BRING?
• WHAT JOB OR DUTY DID YOU DO?
• WHAT DID YOU SEE ALONG THE WAY?
• WHO DID YOU MEET ALONG THE WAY?
• DID ANYTHING HAPPEN ALONG THE WAY?
• DID ANYONE GET HURT OR SICK? IF SO HOW WERE THYE
  TREATED? ANY DOCTORS?
• WHAT DID YOU EAT?
• WHAT DID YOU DO FOR ENTERTAINMENT?
• WHAT WERE YOU FEELING?
• HOW LONG WAS YOUR JOURNEY?
• WHAT WAS YOUR NEW HOME LIKE?

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LANGUAGE ARTS

• EXTENSIONS
• Dress up as a pioneer and portray a pioneer. Go
  into the younger classrooms and read a journal
  entry to the children.
• Display journals outside the classroom for other
  school members to read.
• Take home assignment To understand what life was
  like for the pioneers try going through an
  evening without any modern conveniences. No
  electric lights, TV, or radio, etc. Make a
  complete list of things you gave up and be ready
  to share your experience with classmates
  tomorrow.

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MATH

• In the westward expansion unit students will
  incorporate the history of the pioneers in their
  study of mathematics. During this 50 minute math
  class, students will put their measurement
  abilities to the test. I will bring in a real
  wooden wagon wheel for students to see and touch.
  We will use this wheel for a series of fun math
  problems that will be completed outside in the
  schoolyard.

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MATH

• Students will be able to see and touch a real
  wagon wheel and describe its shape and
  measurements. Students will be able to estimate
  distances and use tools to take measurements. A
  connection between distance measurements and
  travel will be made as children actively work out
  problems in the schoolyard that pioneers may
  have faced out on the trail. Children will be
  able to make and use estimates of measurement
  from everyday experiences.

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MATH

• As the pioneers traveled, they would measure
  distances by the revolution of their wagon
  wheels. Using a wagon wheel or bicycle wheel,
  have students measure distances by counting
  revolutions of the wagon wheel between various
  points. You can use masking tape to mark the
  wheel to make noting the revolution easy.
  Students can then compare this distance with that
  of more standard measurement such as tape
  measures, meter or yard sticks, rulers, etc.
  Which form of measuring distance is the easiest
  to do? Measure the circumference of a wagon
  wheel. Have students determine how many
  revolutions of a wheel it would take to cover
  approximately one mile of ground.
• In areas where no trails or roads existed,
  pioneers depended on rivers as their highways
  through the forests. Pioneers floated down the
  Ohio River on crafts like these flatboats, which
  could carry one family, a wagon, and several
  horses or other animals. Once they reached their
  new home, a family might take its boat apart and
  reuse the wood (p.4 Kids Discover. Vol. 17,
  issue 4).The pioneers would have to estimate the
  distance across a river in order to cross it
  safely. Use pacing to have students estimate the
  distance between two points in the schoolyard.
• Figure out how many steps it took for a 49er to
  walk to California. First, measure one of your
  normal steps from front heel to back heel. How
  many inches is it? Next, divide 63360 (the number
  of inches in a mile) by that number. Now you have
  figured the number of steps in a mile. Now,
  multiply the number of steps by 2,000 miles--the
  distance to California. The answer is the number
  of steps it would take for you to walk from
  Missouri to California. (http//www./su.edu/trimi
  ch/teacher.htmlanchor785920).

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MATH

• EXTENSION
• If time is permitted we as a class will estimate
  different distances around the school. We will
  then measure these distances and see how close
  our estimates were.

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COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY

• Students will use their continuing knowledge of
  the Westward expansion and bring technology into
  their learning environment. During this 50 minute
  technology/science block, kids will have the
  opportunity to navigate a computer with a partner
  as they delve into the educational computer game,
  Oregon Trail. As students experience life on
  the trail through the movements of a computer
  generated pioneer character they will have to
  encounter and face problems and dangers along the
  way. Students will make choices as they guide
  their pioneer character along the trail and will
  face consequences for decisions made. This modern
  time travel will allow children to see what
  struggles, hardships, losses, and rewards were
  possible on the Oregon Trail.

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COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY

• EXTENSION
• During free choice students will have the option
  to play the educational Oregon Trail computer
  game. They may also take their list of web links
  on the unit and explore and do some internet
  research on Western expansion. The students will
  also have links to play other fun educational
  games, listen to music, look at pictures, do word
  searches.

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COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY

• I think it is so valuable to get children on the
  computer at a young age and snow them how to
  navigate and use it responsibly and safely.
  Computer skills are essential in this day in age
  for internet research, word processing, and
  recreation and discovery. Still there are many
  who do not have the privilege to computer access
  outside of school or the local library, so it is
  valuable time in school to teach and explore
  technology of today.

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HISTORY, SCIENCE, GYM

• Have the children gain a real sense about what
  life was like on the frontier by planning and
  going on a trail trip of our own. Students will
  have a first hand account and learn how to plan,
  experience what pioneers ate, walk a trail, pull
  a wagon full of supplies, and entertain each
  other along the way.

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HISTORY, SCIENCE, GYM

• Prepare the class for an expedition of our own.
  Take the day to bring the children with parental
  permission to a remote location to set up camp.
  Recreate what life was like for pioneers living
  on the frontier. With prior preparation the class
  will come up with a list of supplies and
  provisions needed to sustain our class of
  pioneers on their journey west. Children will be
  asked to bring in or make something from the list
  the class came up with for our trip. Once on site
  we will construct our own covered wagon using red
  flyer wagons as a base. We will load up the wagon
  and head on down our own Oregon Trail. After a
  little hike we will stop and set up camp,
  preparing for a meal. We will fix food similar to
  what the pioneers ate. We will have conversations
  around a campfire where interesting facts about
  the pioneers are shared. After we are rested we
  will play a game of buffalo dung Frisbee but with
  just a plastic Frisbee. The class will then pack
  up and head home with an experience that they can
  relate to life on the trail

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GAMES

• Fun with Buffalo Dung If you think frisbees were
  invented in the 1960s, you're wrong--by about a
  hundred years. Children on the Oregon Trail threw
  frisbee-like devices back in the mid-1800s. But
  they weren't made of plastic--they were made of
  buffalo dung.During the great western migration,
  the entire Great Plains region was covered with
  buffalo chips--they were unavoidable. And yes,
  kids occasionally tossed them about in a
  frisbee-like manner. But the chips had a much
  more practical purpose for the emigrants--they
  were burned for fuel.There was no firewood along
  much of the Trail, so the only alternative was
  dried buffalo dung. Even though the pioneers were
  hardy, they didn't much enjoy gathering up
  bushels of chips every night.The chips burned
  surprisingly well, and produced an odor-free
  flame. Usually, each family had its own campfire,
  but sometimes everyone contributed their chips
  for one big bonfire.