Curated OER
The Donner Party
Who is the Donner Party? Find out why this group of pioneers lives in infamy. A lot of information is provided in this resource, but you will have to copy and paste the text to acquire the handouts. Learners will look at primary sources,...
Statistics Education Web
Saga of Survival (Using Data about Donner Party to Illustrate Descriptive Statistics)
What did gender have to do with the survival rates of the Donner Party? Using comparative box plots, classes compare the ages of the survivors and nonsurvivors. Using the same method, individuals make conclusions about the gender and...
Curated OER
Donner Online
Fourth graders participate in a simulation of the Donner Party in order to learn more about this episode in history. For this social studies lesson, 4th graders take on a role which dictates their group job; each role was assigned to...
Curated OER
My Name is America
Students read My Name is America about the Donner Party journey and create a scrapbook of what they read. In this Donner Party lesson plan, students also map out the journal they read about.
Curated OER
Patty Reed's Doll: The Story of the DonnerParty
Students explore westward movement through eyes of doll belonging to Patty Reed, member of Donner Party. They write journal entries from points of view of characters in book, Patty Reed's Doll, participate in Pack the Wagon game, and...
Curated OER
Heading West
Young scholars study the concept of the westward expansion. In this exploration of the western U.S. lesson, students participate in different activities that explain economic hardships, jobs, and land opportunities. Young scholars...
Curated OER
Pioneer Scramble
Students explore the concept of Manifest Destiny. In this Westward Movement lesson, students study why Americans emigrated west in the 1840s and 1850s. Students create interactive timelines, write exploration reports, and complete an art...
Curated OER
Westward Expansion : Mapping
Fifth graders travel along exploring the expeditions of John F. Fremont. In this Westward expansion lesson, 5th graders gain understanding of the events that shaped the west through the use of maps. Students use mapping skills to...
Curated OER
Incorporating Literature into Social Studies Teaching and Learning
Students engage in a study of incorporating literature into the Social Studies classroom. They review a variety of literature sources and then create a bulletin board with the information. Then students practice using the Reader's...
Curated OER
Westward Ho!
Young scholars participate in an Oregon Trail simulation in order to learn the hardships that the emigrating settlers faced. In this U.S. history lesson, students are required to work as a team and use the internet to research a final...
Curated OER
Wagons West
Fourth graders demonstrate knowledge of the size of a wagon by making several different predictions. They develop a list of items that pioneers would need while traveling on a wagon train.
Curated OER
Summarizing and Mapping for Comprehension
Young scholars practice summarization in order to increase their comprehension of non-fiction text. They read and summarize passages by finding the main ideas in passages from a Social Studies textbook. After silently reading the passage...