I was pleased to get to go into the museum, where we learned about Lewis, Clark, York, Seaman the dog, and outside (in the rain) was a lovely memorial to the incredible woman, Sacajawea. In the museum, there was some cool interactive activities for the kids that referenced primary sources. Altogether it was a very valuable experience.
Consequently, as I teach American history this year I was able to teach the kids about the amazing explorers. I created a roleplaying-scavenger hunt-choose your own adventure that kids performed in our quad area, travelling all along Sedona's own, paper-columbia river.
Lesson: The Oregon Trail
For 7th and 8th Grade
Designed on 2/25/2016
By Kyla Palmer
Objective:
Students will analyze the discoveries and hardships of westward expansion by participating in a simulation of the Oregon Trail, utilizing primary sources to formulate an understanding of the trials and successes of the explorers at the time.
Lesson Scaffolding:
Students should have been familiarized with before hand the significant characters involved in Lewis and Clark’s journey to the Pacific Coast and played the classic video game Oregon Trail on computers.
Vocabulary:
Oregon Trail, Expedition, Westward Expansion, Missouri River, Fort, Pacific Ocean, Cartographer, Interpreter
AZ State History Standards:
S1/2. Co1:
PO 1. Construct charts, graphs, and narratives using historical data.
PO 7. Analyze cause and effect relationships between and among individuals and/or historical events.
PO 8. Describe two points of view on the same historical event.
S4. Co1.
PO 1. Construct maps, charts, and graphs to display geographic information.
PO 3. Interpret maps, charts, and geographic databases using geographic information. PO 4. Locate physical and cultural features (e.g., continents, cities, countries, significant waterways, mountain ranges, climate zones, major water bodies, landform
S4. Co2. Concept 2:
PO 1. Describe the human and physical characteristics of places and regions.
PO 2. Explain the concept of regions and why they change.
PO 3. Compare the historical and contemporary interactions among people in different places and regions.
S4. Co4.PO 2. Describe the push and pull factors (e.g., need for raw materials, enslavement, employment opportunities, impact of war, religious freedom, political freedom) that cause human migrations.
Materials:
-Name Cards for each of the main travelers in Lewis and Clarke’s journey. Include Sacagawea, Lewis, Clarke, Seaman the dog, York, Toussaint Charbenneau, Sgt. Floyd, and Jean Baptiste Charbenneau.
-Printed picture cards for each location.
-Camp River Dubois (the starting point of the Journey)
-St. Louis and the St. Louis Arch (doorway to the west)
-Sioux City, Iowa (modern and relevant to the time period)
-Fort Mandan (Stanton, North Dakota)
-Columbia River Wildlands (to send back first report)
-Lemhi Pass (We’re going the wrong way!)
-Shoshone Tribe (Sacagawea decides whether or not to stay)
-Lolo Trail (Most difficult part of the trail, potential starvation)
-Clearwater, Snake and Columbia rivers (points of successful events)
-Pacific Ocean (Whale! Harsh Winds! Cold Rain!)
-Final Fort Clatsop (devise a plan to get back.)
-Printed Primary Sources detailing perspectives of the expedition for each station.
-Boxes (or the “boats”) to hold group supplies
-Blue paper taped to the ground to represent various rivers the men travelled
-A small deck of event cards for each table- cards reflect good and bad random events that happen while travelling, they permit a more individualized experience.
-Poles or meter sticks for travelling “Up river”
-Clipboards for each student with individual job cards:
-Leader (Lewis)
This student keeps everyone on task and directs students to complete tasks.
-Cartographer
Draws and keeps a map to approximate the student journey.
-Interpreter (Sacagewea)
Reads cards for the group.
-Artist (Clark)
Draws a picture to reflect on the situation.
-Retriever (Seaman)
Goes to the table to get supplies.
-Young Child (Jeanne Baptiste)
Writes from a baby’s point of view
-Student Journals and writing utensils
Anticipatory Set:
Review with students the prominent characters that they will roleplay through this event. Include: Sacagawea, Lewis, Clarke, Seaman the dog, York, Toussaint Charbenneau, and Jean Baptiste Charbenneau.
Set up:
Have students readily divided into groups of 5-6 students. If needed students can play multiple roles.
(preferably before class) Set up around the room, or in a large open space, such as a gymnasium or playground the different stations. Each station represents a different point on the Lewis and Clarke Journey.
In each location should be a photograph of the location, an explanation of what happened there, and a small deck of cards, as well as any unique resources.
Summary of Tasks:
Explain the different roles to students, and have them divide into their groups, and select their roles. Students should wear the name card of the historical figure they are representing. Some of the character cards will be given later on, so students may not have a character card yet.
Give students their supply cards, and tell them that their goal is to have enough supplies to survive throughout the trip.
Have students write a journal entry to reflect on the beginning of their journey. They should date each entry as “Day 1, Day 2, etc”.
Each student completes their job as necessary for the first stop on the trip.
Students will then go sequentially through the stations following laid out directions. At each stop they will follow the itinerary:
-Read about surroundings, and view the image of what it looked like.
-Interpreter reads aloud the primary source
-Pull an event card.
-Add or remove supplies/characters as the event card instructs (note: if a character dies, the student still continues as a workman.
-Complete assigned job.
-Reflect in daily journal about what they experienced.
After students have gone through each location they will end at Fort Clatsop, where as a team they will discuss and write a plan for how to return home.
Assessment:
Students will review their “daily” journals to write a short account of their experience for the President. They will express their successes, their troubles, and their feelings on the experience.
Rubric:
3
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2
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1
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Comprehension
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Student reflected effectively on their experience showing that they understand the significance of the Oregon Trail Expedition, as well as the successes and hardships they travelers faced.
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Students reflected on the experience of the Oregon Trail, but may have left out key components.
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Student expressed little to no comprehension of the experience of the Oregon Trail.
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Personal Reflection
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Student expressed their own opinions on the Oregon Trail in their reflection, with information to justify their feelings.
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Student expressed their own opinions on the Oregon Trail, but did not couple with information to justify their claim
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Student expressed very little of their opinion.
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Conventions
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Writing is professional, using all appropriate conventions, is clearly edited and contains no error.
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Writing is professional, contains minor errors.
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Writing may be incomprehensible, or include many errors.
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Participation
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Student participated attentively during the activity and was an effective team member
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Student had to be redirected two or three times to remain on task. Worked with group to achieve the objective.
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Student had to be redirected excessively, was not working with group to achieve their goal.
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Resources:
Character pages: http://www.ndtourism.com/articles/legendary-lewis-and-clark-expedition-characters
Journey Outline and Summary:
http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/lewisandclark/intro.htm
Primary Sources:
https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/lewis-clark/#documents
Additional Source for Outline/Primary Source:
http://lewisandclarkjournals.unl.edu/read/?_xmlsrc=lc.toc.xml
Internet Archive (Free Stream of the Oregon Trail Game):
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos_games/v2
