Curated OER
Frontier Life Story
Students explore American frontier life. In this history lesson, students participate in a series of activities that challenge them to discover what pioneer life was really like.
Curated OER
Pioneer Women of Florida's Frontier
Fourth graders read the passage, "Florida's Fabulous Frontier Females" and write two narrative essays, one expository, using examples of differences in life in Florida during frontier times and today. They then complete one descriptive...
Curated OER
Westward Expansion: The American Indian Experience
Students complete a brief presentation documenting the life of an American Indian. In class, students discuss the pros and cons of placing American Indians on a reservation. After their discussion, students choose a issue in Native...
Curated OER
Wagons West: Native Americans
Students examine interactions between Native Americans and settlers. In this Westward Expansion lesson, students analyze select passages from Plains Indians by Dana Newmann and The World of Native Americans by Marion Wood. Students...
Curated OER
Westward Expansion
Students locate California and New York on a map and explore available means of travel in the 19th century. Students explore the role of trade in pioneer America and simulate various barter transactions.
Annenberg Foundation
Masculine Heroes
What were the driving forces behind American expansion in the nineteenth century, and what were its effects? Scholars watch a video, read biographies, engage in discussion, write journals and poetry, draw, and create a multimedia...
Curated OER
Travel the Trail: Nebraska quarter reverse
The life of the pioneers was much different than the life a family today. Pupils use a "Now and Then" worksheet to compare and contrast how travel has changed over the last 100 years. Worksheets are included.
Curated OER
Moving West
Students research the Westward Movement and struggles encountered by the pioneers as they moved from Nebraska, Westward along the Oregon Trail. For this Westward Expansion lesson, students read an Oregon Trail poem and visit 5 different...
Curated OER
Westward Ho!
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...
Curated OER
Pushing the Boundaries: The Pioneer Spirit
Eleventh graders recognize how social reform occurred at the turn of the century. Through a debate, 11th graders determine advantages and drawbacks of traveling west using original sources and descriptions of the attitudes, beliefs, and...
Curated OER
The American West-Knowledge Test
In this American West instructional activity, students complete a 24 questions test about the American West. Answers are included beneath questions on instructional activity.
Curated OER
Pioneer Perspectives-Diverse Opinions on Westward Migration
Students examine the Westward Migration and expansion of the United States from the perspective of a family migrating westward. They analyze pictures, and in small groups write and present a script based on a photograph, expressing the...
Reed Novel Studies
Little House On The Prairie: Novel Study
Laura Ingalls Wilder memorialized life in the American West with her Little House on the Prairie series. Readers explore the first book in the series using a novel study guide. Along with standard text-based questions, scholars complete...
Lesson Planet
Black History Month: Celebrating Diversity and Progress
Black History Month is a time to recognize the achievements of our civil rights heroes while looking toward the future with a vision of equality for all.
Shell Education
Althea Gibson
What would it like to be the first person to achieve something? Read about Althea Gibson, the first black tennis player to win a Grand Slam title, to win at Wimbledon, and more. Class members respond to questions to demonstrate their...
Curated OER
Pioneering Principles: Why Character Matters
What does it mean to "be of good character"? What are the qualities that define such a person? The 1825 Colonization Law of Coahuila y Texas required that all new immigrants into Mexican Texas present documentation that they were of good...
Curated OER
Going West
Students examine the lives of early pioneers who traveled west for better opportunities. They listen to story "Josafina and the Story Quilt", and discuss hardships encountered by traveling families. Students then complete research and...
Curated OER
Discovering the Oregon Trail
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...
Curated OER
Jamestown
Fifth graders research the Jamestown settlement and examine life in the colonies from 1607-1610. They explore websites, develop a timeline, select two settlers to research, and write three letters written from the point of view of their...
Curated OER
Wagon Train
Students use educational software to examine the hardships and problem solving skills needed by the pioneers as they endured frontier life. They work as teams while using the game simulation. They work a number of project while not on...
Curated OER
Sadorus Lesson Plan: The American Farm as Portrayed by Artists
Students describe how artists painted American farms in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. They identify idealized, nostalgic, and realistic views of farming through discussion, bringing into play their own knowledge of farms today.
Curated OER
Sail Through History: American West and History of Medicine
In these reading strategies worksheets, students learn reading hints, tips and the S.A.I.L. reading strategy. Students use the methods to learn about American history and the history of medicine.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
One Land, Many Trails: English Language Development Lessons (Theme 5)
English is not the only subject that requires its own set of vocabulary words—geography does too! A series of language development lessons designed to be used with Theme 5: One Land, Many Trails helps introduce readers to key vocabulary...
Curated OER
Western Expansion or Eastern Invasion?
Fifth graders read from their textbook a story about the pioneer settlement of the Western Frontier. They review the pioneer standpoint, but also discuss how the Homestead Act of 1862 affected Native Americans. They write another story...