If You Traveled West in a Covered Wagon (Ellen Levine)

Teacher's Guide Author: Jessica Alvarez, 3rd grade teacher, Clyde C. Cox Elementary School, Clark County School District

_________________________________________________________________

This teacher's guide is for the book If You Traveled West in a Covered Wagon by Ellen Levine. Additional teacher's Guides are available for Patty Reed's Doll, Sallie Fox, Sarah, Plain and Tall, and other exploration children's books.

_________________________________________________________________

Book Overview: If You Traveled West in a Covered Wagon by Ellen Levine is a great resource for students who are learning about life traveling West in a covered wagon. There is a large amount of information on how, and why a family would travel with all their belongings to a land far away. The book gives a vivid description of the life of the pioneers from clothing, food, etc. The book gives an inside look into why the pioneers would move west and preparing for the trip. There is also a large amount of background on the Oregon territory and what the pioneers were trying to accomplish in this new area.

Book Themes: American Adventure, Teamwork, Difficult Journeys, Survival

Suggested Activities

• Language Arts
  
• Vocabulary Activity
• Choose words from the story that may difficult for students to understand. Give groups of students a word to discuss. Groups will find a definition of the word, draw a picture to represent the word, and act out the word for the class.
• Students will take vocabulary words fold a paper the current vocabulary word written in the middle. The four corners of the paper will be folded over. On each folded piece students will write a piece of information (homophone, synonyms, antonyms, part of speech, etc.)
• Standards Addressed
• 3.1.3 Decode words in text using phonics and structural analysis: short/long vowels, r-controlled vowels, base words, prefixes, suffixes, digraphs, dipthongs, compound words, and syllables.
• 3.3.4 Comprehend, build, and extend vocabulary using homphones, homographs, synonyms, antonyms, context clues, and structural analysis..
• Writing
• The whole class will discuss current modes of transportation. (car,plane, bus, train). Students will then use thinking maps (circle) to describe current modes of transportation and travel in a covered wagon. Then class can create a double bubble map to compare and contrast the different forms of transportation. Students will then write about which type of transportation would be best and why?
• Students will write letters home about life on the trail. Students will use all they have learned about travelling in a covered wagon and write a letter.
• Standards Addressed
• 3.6.6 write an opinion statement
• 3.6.7 Write freindly letters following an established format.
• Make Predictions
• Students will work in their groups to make predictions about each chapter/section. Students will record their predictions on one side of a folded paper. After the section has been read students will write the outcome on the other side of the folded paper.
• Standards Addressed
• 3.8.4 contribute to conversations and discussions about a given topic. (e.g., share ideas and opinions.)
• 3.4.6 A. Make and revise predictions based on evidence
• 3.4.6 D. Confirm/negate preidictions
• Reenact a scene
• Students will reenact a situation read about in the book . Students will choose situation out of the book they will meet together and discuss how to act that situation out.
  
• Standards Addressed
• 1.3.1 Standard read text aloud with fluency and accuracy appropriate intonation and expression.
• 5.9.2 Use appropriate public speaking techniques such as volume control and eye contact.
• Mathematics
• Area activity.
• The teacher will mark with tape on the carpet the actual size of a covered wagon. Students will measure the area of the wagon. Students will be given measurements for examples of things that pioneers might have taken with tehm. Students must pack things in the wagon according to the area and measurements of each item. Leaving room for the family.
• Standards Addressed
• 5.5.1 pose questions that can be used to guide the collection of categorical and numerical data
• 3.3.2 Select and use appropriate units of measure.
• 3.3.2 B. Measure to a required degree of accuracy (to the neares 1/2 unit)
• 3.3.1 Compare, order, and describe objects by various measureable attributes for area and volume/capacity.
• Periods of Time
• Students will convert periods of time spent on the trail. They will convert months to weeks, weeks to days, days to hours, hours to minutes, and minutes to seconds.
• Standards Addressed
• 3.5.6 recognize the number of weeks in a month, days in a month, and hours in a day.
• 3.5.6 determine equivalent periods of time, including relationships between and among seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, and years.
• Reconstruct a covered wagon
• Students will use construction paper, rulers and ¼ inch toilet paper rolls to reconstruct a covered wagon.
• Standards Addressed
• 3.3.2 select and use appropriate units of measurement to measure and record a required degree of accuarcy to the nearest 1/2 unit.
• 3.3.2 Estimate and use measuring devices with standard and non-standard units to measure length.
• Social Studies
• Create a Model
• Students will create a model of the clothing worn by the pioneers or the Native Americans using Play-Do.
• Standards Addressed
• 3.4.7 describe Native North American life prior to European contact (e.g. clothing, communication, family, food, shelter, transportation, tools)
• Make your own map
• Students will make their own map or chart of the Oregon Trail using play doh.
• Standards Addressed
• 3.3.1 use maps, map features, and map symbols to identify and locate major geographical features in the U.S.
• 3.3.3 read and derive geographic information from maps; construct maps.
• Diorama
• students will create a diorama of a Native American Village.
• Standards Addresse
• 3.3.9 identify traditions and customs that families practice
• 3.4.5 Identify Native North American life prior to European contact
• Science
• Buffalo Project
• Students will research the different uses of the buffalo.
• Standards Addressed
• L.5.b students understand that living things have specialized structures that perform a variety of life functions
• L.2.b Students understand that living things have identifiable characteristics.
• students understand that living things live in different places.
• Making Butter
• Students will attempt to make butter by putting milk in a small bucket and shaking it vigorously.
• Standards Addressed
• P2A students understand that matter has observable properties
• P8A students understand the properties and changes of properties in matter

Historical Overview of Book Themes

The overall theme of this book was the bravery of the pioneers and their families. They were leaving everything behind to move to a place where they had never been. They loaded their whole life into a covered wagon and moved across the county. The book tells the students what the pioneers had to overcome to reach their goals in their new homes. Oregon was full of promise and hope for the pioneers. The pioneers would plan and time the trip according to weather. The pioneer families would put their whole life in a covered wagon in order to find their new life in the new land that promised big things for all.

Additional Resources

• Children of the West by Russell Freedman
  
• The Oregon Trail by Elizabeth D. Jaffe
  
• Pioneers by Dennis B. Fradin

_________________________________________________________________

Note: This teacher's guide was developed as part of one of the Clark County School District's Teaching American History grants. In this grant module, teachers focused on using children's historical literature to teach cross-curricular concepts relating to 19th century westward movement. For more information about this blog, related teacher's guides, or the grant module, please contact Dr. Christy Keeler.