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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

If You Were a Pioneer on the Oregon Trail

For Teachers K - 2nd
Students examine what it was like to travel west on the Oregon Trail. They develop a list of questions about the trip, explore various websites, and create a story about the experiences of a 19th century family travelling on the Oregon...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Go West: Imagining the Oregon Trail

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students access the Oregon Trial website to find information on what it was like to experience traveling the Oregon Trial. Then, in groups, they create dioramas depicting events that could have happened along the Oregon Trail.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Study History through Journal Keeping

For Teachers 8th - 12th Standards
Journal writing can be a fun way to bring history to life. Upper graders read a series of journals from the time of the westward expansion, specifically the pioneer journey along the Oregon Trail. They compose an ongoing journal from the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Westmoreland Trail

For Teachers 7th
Seventh graders complete a unit of lessons on the Westward expansion of the U.S. They play the computer game, Oregon Trail III, read primary source documents, conduct Internet research, write diary entries from the pioneer viewpoint, and...
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Curated OER

Oregon Trail Maps

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders explore the Oregon Trail. In this Oregon Trail lesson, 4th graders collaborate to conduct Internet research regarding states along the Oregon trail route. Students present their findings to their peers.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Oregon Trail Art

For Teachers K - 6th
Students describe events that happened on the Oregon Trail and in the daily lives of Native Americans by writing a narrative essay of a family traveling through Nebraska based on Thomas Hart Benton's paintings.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Studying History through Journal Keeping

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students read and write journals to relate to events of the past, in this case the Oregon Trail travels. They watch a video and read journal accounts dealing with the trip to the West as they attempt to keep a journal of what the trip...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Manifest Destiny

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Learners explore the Manifest Destiny. They interpret quotations, study point of view in writing, research English words that derived from Mexico, and analyze reasons why settlers moved west. After writing journal entries in first-person...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Oregon Trail Diary

For Teachers 5th - 11th
Students write a diary. In this writing and creativity lesson plan, students pretend they are moving west and keep a diary about their adventures. Students study real-life scenarios about families who made the trip out west before...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Wagon's West: Life on the Trail

For Teachers 5th - 6th
Young scholars investigate what life on the Oregon Trail was like. In this Westward Movement lesson, students eat foods that were eaten by settlers on the trail as they read textbook pages about the trial. Young scholars then draw an...
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Curated OER

Wagons West: Report

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Have your middle schoolers choose a topic about the Oregon Trail to research for an informative report. They are given a list of report ideas and the components required when composing an informational report. Then, they choose one of...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Westward Ho!

For Teachers 3rd - 12th
Students explore what life was like on the American frontier. They participate in a simulation of frontier life using Oregon Trail computer software, create an Oregon Trail newsletter, develop a timeline, and conduct interviews with...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Adventures along the Oregon Trail in Nebraska

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students discover how the land and people we develop relationships with in Nebraska affect our survival--past, present, and future. They write about and interview their grandparents, parents and peers and compare them with people on the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Adventure Writing: Oregon's Landscape as a Setting

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Students identify geographical features of different regions encountered by migrants on the Oregon trail. Students research how the Oregon landscape may have affected life and 19th century westward migration. Students write a narrative...
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Curated OER

Let's Party like its 1849

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students explore prairie life. In this Oregon Trail lesson plan, students read literature regarding the move west and participate in cross-curricular activities. Students should take digital photographs of the participation in activities...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Wagon's West

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Students travel to the American West. In this Westward Expansion lesson, students discuss the Oregon Trail and then play the computer game of the same title. Students take on the roles of those who travelled the trail.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Webquest - Westward Ho!

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Learners investigate life on the trail West. In this Oregon Trail lesson, students collaborate to research the pioneer life and then role play a family's life on the trail. Learners author an essay regarding their research finding and...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Oregon Trail

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students discuss migration and reasons people came across the Oregon trail. Students create a time line of important events along the Oregon trail. A Historical Time Line is included for student use. Students work in small groups to...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Cultural Lit. 18: The Oregon Trail & Native Americans

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders name the American Indian people by tribe who lived in the lands which the Oregon Trail traversed. They investigate and describe some impacts of western expansion upon the American Indians.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Writing a Fantasy Story - Time Travel

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students write a fantasy story about time traveling back to the time of the Oregon Trail. In this Oregon trail lesson plan students gather information from their Social Studies textbook about life during the time of the Oregon Trail.
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Curated OER

Discovering the Oregon Trail

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students explore U.S. history by researching the Oregon Trail. In this American exploration lesson, students read the story On the Shore of the River and define the exact path early settlers took to find the state of Oregon. Students...
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Curated OER

Western Expansion and Native Americans

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders research the Oregon, Old Spanish, California, and Mormon trails, and the impact western expansion had on the Native Americans living on those lands.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Trade and Travel on the Overland Trails

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Students compare and contrast trade routes. In this trade route lesson, students explore the Oregon Trail and the Santa Fe trail. Students compare and contrast the purposes for these trails.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The U.S. Westward Movement

For Teachers 4th - 7th
Students, working in groups, research and write about one of the trails that were used during US Westward Movement. They create a travel brochure for their trail keeping in mind the era in which the travel took place.

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