1. S.S. THEMATIC UNIT: WESTWARD EXPANSION; LIFE ON THE TRAILS KIMBERLY K. HUDSON FSC SPRING 2007

2. HISTORY HAVE “DO NOW”ON BOARD; INSTRUSTING CHILDREN TO GET OUT THEIR NOTEBOOKS FOR NOTE TAKING. TEACHER INSTRUCTED OVERVIEW ABOUT WESTWARD EXPANSION AND THE PIONEERS.

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. LANGUAGE ARTS A LIST OF POSSIBAL QUESTIONS FOR THE STUDENTS TO CONSIDER WILL BE POSTED

7. 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?

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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 pioneer’s may have faced out on the trail. Children will be able to make and use estimates of measurement from everyday experiences.

11. 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/~trimich/teacher.html#anchor785920).http://www./su.edu/~trimich/teacher.html#anchor785920

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. 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.

17. 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

18. 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. buffalo