WESTWARD HO! TRANSPORTATION:
THE HORSES, WATER WAYS, COVERED WAGONS, AND RAILROAD TRAINSValerie Pula
June 2000
Grade 3 and Up
WESTWARD HO! TRANSPORTATION:
THE HORSES, WATER WAYS, COVERED WAGONS, AND RAILROAD TRAINS
PURPOSE: How did people move from east to west? What causes affected people's decision to move? What methods were used to move west? Why did people move west? What government incentive was used to move west?
In the 1800's, crowded cities, disease, violence, famine, poor/or no employment, government incentive: the Homestead Act of 1862, resettlement and explored new land were some of the reasons families moved west. The modes of transportation were few and travel was difficult. Strong animals like the horses, oxen, and mules were used to sustain life and move west across the nation. Materials like covered wagons, trains, canoes, snowshoes, and sleds, flatboats, steamboats, railroad system, and canals were also used to move about the country. Life was difficult.
A young country, unfamiliar to many, brought hope to people and gave them strength to make changes in their lives. People came from all walks of life, they hired guides to protect and direct people to their new destination, famine from their homeland, resettling of the Indian Nations, Gold rush, escape for religous sake, a promise for free land. But, these guides could not protect them from the lost of precious things, children, and adults due to illness, poor preparation for travel, or timing against the weather. Better transport of people and products takes time and it is through time that man develops this nation of the west to the great country it is today.
Primary Question: How does transportation affect the physical features of the western part of a nation?
Secondary Question: How does transportation affect the human system of the western part of a nation?
Hawaii Content and Performance Standards & Benchmark
1. World in Spatial Terms: Students use geographic representation to organize, analyze, and present information on people, places and environments.
* Collect organize, and analyze data to interpret and construct geographic representations.
2. Places and Regions: Students understand how distinct physical and human characeristics shape places and regions.
* Use physical and human characteristics to compare places and regions in the United States.
Geographic Standards:
The geographically informed person knows and understands:
Standard 1: How to use maps and other geographic representations, tools and technologies to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective.
Standard 4: The physical and human characteristics of places.
Graphic Skills:
Ask geographic questions
Acquire geographic information
Organize geographic information
Analyze geographic information
Answer geographic questions
Geographic Themes: Place, Human Environment Interaction, Movement and Region.
Lesson can be used with a unit on: Biodiversity, Population, Settlements
Materials Need:
Books:
". . . If You Traveled West In a Covered Wagon" by ellen Levine and illustrated by Elroy Freem
"Westward Ho!"
"The Illustrated Book of Transportation"
"Everything You Need to Know About AMERICAN HISTORY" by Anne Zeman and Kate Kelly"
Laminated Maps
Geo Terms
Wordlist
Bingo
Pictures of forms of transportation
Performance Indicators: The student will be able to:
(Opening the lesson)
1. GeoTerms on a Bingo Card created by the student acknowledges the mental illustrations of a geographic map
2. An interpretated geographic map of the Western Region of the United States drawn by the student uses colors to / and including geographic tools such as a legend and labels illustrate clear understanding of maps.
3. On a horse, covered wagon, or train, the student will generalize a list of things people took as they moved across the west.
4. The list inquires why people choice these things to travel with to the west.
(Developing the Lesson)
5. A written diary creating the real-life experiences of a person goes through during their travels west of the nation.
Procedure:
Opening the Lesson
1. Distribute "Words" card and envelope. Students will plot their words. Students will play bingo, with each word on a geo-map illustrates how it term look like.
2. Show overhead illustrations of the land that show how 3 modes of transportation changed the country west.
3. Using the comparison and contrast chart, encoutrage students to utilize previous explanations for each item with its mode of chosen mode of transportation, and categorize the similarities and differences of each.
Limited space or too much space determines what items and mode of transport is best. However, does the physical features of the nation make transprt easy or difficult? Using a map, what form of transport would be wiser to used and why.
4. Divide group into pairs, issue out different event cards and graphic organizer. Students are to sequence the story. After the sequence, ask students to write the physical and human characteristics of the region are told.
Real life experiences provide color, feelings, clear picture of how and what people did through out the westward movement.
Developing the Lesson
We have developed an understanding of how people use resources and adapt to the physical and human changes that are required as people move from one place to another. We will now focus on the affect(s) change of the physical systems and the adaptations of the human system that is brought about because of transportation.
5. Issue out a Find & Search puzzle that will build the vocabulary we will use in this class session. Each word has a dramatic affect upon the westward movement, ask students to use prior knowledge to define each word. Leave those that they are unable to do for class discussion. Group words into specific categories. How does each human interaction affect change in the physical and human system of this time range. During this area of time land purchase were conducted, expeditions were assigned to map the country by the government to build a united nation. However, there were two types of movements:
Whites were moving west for better opportunites, a promise of free land, and adventure of the unknown. Trails were used to move about.
Inventions created faster methods of movement. The Pony Express delivered by mail carriers made many stops. Changing horses every 20 miles and traveling miles of uncomfortable regions. Stagecoaches moved some people and some freight, but teams of horses of 4 - 8 horses were changed every 10 miles. However the railroad had to be laid, engineers move about the terrain to determine the best way to set up the tracks, mountains were dug or blasted open, great deserts were hot and difficult, vast prairies with thousands of buffalo roamed the earth, a staple source of food for the native americans in the west, but a moving target for the rich tourist.
2. Native Americans were forced off their land and put on to reservations.
Losing land just so that others can take it were unfair practices in so much that President Jackson had Congress pass the Indian Removal Act. Is understanding ones culture, its laws and government so different from of the Constitution of the United States important? Can we do anything we want to other people at the cost of others? Looks like it, did these changes help the country? Can the "Trail of Tears" be an unforgotten event?
What changes happened to Native Americans, how does the land help or hinder the people? How different are these peoples to others? Describe the terrain of these settlements and how the environment affected these people.
Closing
1. Sing the song, "Home on the Range" to demonstrate how music has geoterms and this enriches our mind, that may be song by a cowboy.
2. Pass out a hotcake that pioneers eat on a praire trail.
3. Sing "I've Been Working on the Railroad" have students sing and do a hand action.