Students will begin this lesson by viewing a map of the United States and learning why the first colonies were based in the East and then the reasons for the US expansion to the West. Students will develop this new knowledge by completing a series of activities and studying maps, creating posters, watching videos, and analyzing songs in order to gain a more complete picture of what life was like for those pioneers.
Created by Estela Soberón, October 2006
NOTE: Material has been translated into English but not edited
Subjects: History, Geography, Literature
Time: Six weeks
Materials: Notebooks, thin cardboard, books related to the subject, computers with access to the Internet, map of the United States of America.
Objectives:
NOTE: Meets Mexico Education Standards
Abilities:Know and understand the causes that led to the pioneers to make their trip. Investigate the routes they followed and the means of transport that they used. Analyze how the preparation, organization and division of work were fundamental for their survival. Learn about the different relations, from friendly periods to hostile ones, that occurred between native and pioneer. In addition, analyze how the life and culture of the natives were threatened as colonization kept expanding. Recognize that the territory of the United States was not as vast as is today. See how the 1803 Louisiana Purchase from the French, the annexation of Texas in 1845 and the annexations of California, New Mexico, Nevada and Utah in 1848, at the end of war with Mexico, extended the border of the United States west to the Pacific Ocean.
Elaborate on relevant questions. Collect, organize and process data. Summarize. Analyze. Compare. Know and respect different points of view. Use maps to locate different places. Develop the four basic abilities of communication: write, listen, read and speak.
The search for new territories, the necessity to have cultural freedom, the desire to have better living conditions, or simply the adventurous spirit inspired thousands of people to undertake long and laborious trips towards the west.
The discovery of gold John A. Sutter’s mill in the California territory gave rise to the famous Fever of the Gold in 1849, which increased the number of people who decided to travel west to a great extent.
The pioneers were people of great worth, who decided to undertake a new life They had to leave most of their possessions because of the conditions in which they traveled; they only could take that which was indispensable to survival.
The trip was generally made in groups. Several families, each one in a wagon which carried food, water, clothes and firearms, crossed many miles to arrive at their destination. When supplies were reduced, the space left in the wagons was enough for injured pioneers to travel inside, others made great part of the passage on foot.
Working as a community was extremely important in this era. All the members of a caravan, including the children, had tasks to fulfill to obtain a better quality of life.
The pioneers followed several routes to arrive in the west. These routes were not well made, like roads we have today, but simple tracks marked by the carts that journeyed them. Some of those routes were: National Road, Oregon Trail, Trail Santa Fe, Old Spanish Trail, California Trail, Overland Trail and Mormon Trail.
The encounter with the natives of those territories were frequent; some were friendly, but others were difficult, since sometimes the Indians felt threatened by the presence of the pioneers. Therefore, when pioneers made contact with the natives, they reacted in an aggressive way.
Other adversities that the pioneers had to face were diseases, wild animal attacks, bad climate, and crossing rivers, mountains or deserts. Nevertheless, nothing managed to stop them, and by the end of 1900 the pioneers had managed to colonize not only the west, most of the territory of the United States.
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make a large poster elaborating what the already knew, what they would like to learn later and what they have learned on the subject. use a map to locate the different routes that the pioneers used to travel to the west. They will write a paragraph to answer the following questions: If you had been a pioneer what route would you have chosen to travel to the west? Why? think about some representative symbol of the subject to design a pennant. They will write a paragraph to explain why they chose this symbol for its design. investigate about gold fever in California and will write a summary. read and analyze the song Clementine, later in teams, they will write songs on the life of the pioneers. create a pamphlet inviting to people to travel to the old west. pretend to be an Indian boy or a pioneer boy and will write a diary in which they will describe five days of their lives. see the video The Ingalls Family (Little House on the Prairie) and will write a comparison on the ways the pioneers took care of their surroundings and the way we do it today. make a comparison between the obligations and duties of pioneer boy and their own. debate on the different points of view between Indians and pioneers on the possession of land. read a text on colonization in Texas. They will create, in teams, a large poster which will list differences and similarities between the way in which colonization was carried out in Texas and the West of the United States. choose books throughout the unit, relative to the subject, whose titles are listed below. In order to encourage the experience of reading, the student will have the freedom to only read the books chosen according to their interests and level of reading. As part of the evaluation of the subject they will present/display a report of the book they liked most.
Jimmy Spoon
Kate’s House
The First Four Years, Wilder, Laura Ingalls
Prairie Visions: the life and times of Solomon Butcher, Conrad, Pam
The students will read the article Anglo-American Colonization in The Handbook of Texas Online. They will make a list of similarities and differences of colonization between Texas and the eastern border of the United States. The students will read the Cattle articles in The Handbook of Texas Online; in teams, they will discuss how some traditions and customs at that time are still effective in our days.
Cattle Brands in The Handbook of Texas Online
Cattle Feeding in The Handbook of Texas OnlineThey will look at the Benjamin Franklin Duren Common Book, and will try to find documents that talk about how the people took care of their health in those days.
Flux prescription by Dr. Meriweather, 1865. Transcript
Recipe for curing rheumatism, 1867. Transcript
Remedy for snakebite and cancer salve. Transcript
Horse remedy. Transcript
A Recipe for curing rheumatism, 1883. Transcript
The teacher will ask the students to use what they have learned throughout the unit to write a team presentation over the life of the pioneers; they will present/display to the rest of the class.
In teams, the students will pretend to be pioneers having to organize their trip to the west. They will create large posters in which all the details in the preparation of their trip will be written, such as:
A list of food and utensils.
A map in which they will locate the route that will be followed to arrive in the west.
The cities in which they will stop to rest and to re-supply food and water.
Qualities that will be considered to name the leader of the caravan.
Reasons to travel to the west.
Division of the work between the different members of the caravan.
Ways that will be used to take care of their health.
The team will share the conclusions with the rest of the group.
Bibliography:
Dixon, Robert J., The Land and the People, Ed. Regents Publishing Company, Inc., 1975.
Scholastic Banners, Growing up on the Frontier, Ed. Scholastic Inc., 1993.
