Daily Life in a Covered Wagon (Paul Erickson) — "Disaster" through "Glossary"

Teacher's Guide Author: Kathleen DeBeer 3rd Grade, Tartan Elementary, CCSD

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Teachers' guides exist for Daily Life in a Covered Wagon separated by book section:

1. "Going West" through "Rolling the Train"
   
2. "On the Trail" through "Crossing a River"
   
3. "Disaster" through "Glossary"
   

Additional teacher's Guides are available for Patty Reed's Doll, Sallie Fox, Sarah, Plain and Tall, and other exploration children's books.

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Section Overview: In the picture book, "Daily Life in a Covered Wagon", is a description of a family's journey, the Larkin family in a covered wagon during the Westward Movement in the 1800's . The Larkin family's accounts of their journey are documented through journals & diaries they kept while on the trail to the west.

Disasters were many, threw the grueling, hardship filled days and nights. Rumors of Disasters spread quickly on the Oregon Trail, during the Great Westward Movement. Disasters of death, disease, famine, outbreaks, taking shortcuts and getting lost, attacks, from Indians. The Donner Party made mistakes from maps made by men, who had never seen or scanned the area.

Once the rough mountains were scaled,the next stop for the Larkins were be Fort Laramie, to stock up on supplies for the last leg of their journey. Most of the forts at this time had built into a booming businesses.

Special occasions were rarely celebrated, but very welcomed. Weddings, Fourth of July Feasts, and Sunday services were among the occasions celebrated during the long travel.

Sickness and death were ghastly events that happened along the trail. There were some doctors that were travelling west to begin a new life, but very rarely, were they travelling in the same wagon party. Cholera, Measles, Typhoid, Dysentery were among the most common atrocities that affected the travelers. A doctor's medical case carried such items as Quinine, Laudanum, Camphor, and Citric Acid. Many of the remedies often calmed the situation, but rarely curred diseases.

Section Themes: Disaster, Forts, Religion, Special Occasions, Sickness & Death, Setting up Camp, Entertainment, Finding Oregon

Suggested Activities

• Language Arts
• Journal/Diary Writing on the Westward Trail
• SW Journal/Diary write about the daily life on the trail to Oregon. SW create and act out life on a trail from the viewpoint of a pioneer in the 1800's . SW incorporate writing to describe their lives and hardships along the trail. SW also incorporate art to draw scenes in their journal about the scenery and describe the setting of camp and the wagon train.
• Standards Addressed
• Recall essential points; make and revise predictions. [2.2, 2.5]
  Restate facts and details in text to share information and organize ideas. [2.13]
  Interpret information in new contexts.
• Use title, table of contents, chapter heading, glossary, index, charts/maps, and diagrams. [4.1]
  Distinguish cause/effect, fact/opinion, main idea, and supporting details in text. [4.2]
  Draw conclusions about text and support them with textual evidence. [4.4]
  Read and follow multi-step directions to complete a task. [4.5]
  Writing Genre
  Locate and use at least three sources to write an informative paper. [5.2]
  Write friendly and formal letters. [5.3]
  Write responses to literature, drawing upon experiences. [5.5]
  Composition
  6.3.3
  Write simple compositions and persuasive essays that address main idea and supporting standards

• Homesteading on the Frontier/ Compare and Contrast
• SW create a compare and contrast chart comparing children of today, and pioneer children. SW use the following questions to compare the daily lives of both children's lives. (How do they get food?, How do they get clothes?, How do they travel?, How do they help friends?, What is school like?, What chores are done at home?, How do they get news about other people and places?") SW will they write a paper comparing both lifestyles, then state an opinion on if they would like to try living during the Westward Movement?

• Standards Address-Power Standards-LA-Nevada
  Use title, table of contents, chapter heading, glossary, index, charts/maps, and diagrams. [4.1]
  Distinguish cause/effect, fact/opinion, main idea, and supporting details in text. [4.2]
  Draw conclusions about text and support them with textual evidence. [4.4]
  Read and follow multi-step directions to complete a task. [4.5]
  Writing Genre
  Locate and use at least three sources to write an informative paper. [5.2]
  Write friendly and formal letters. [5.3]
  Write responses to literature, drawing upon experiences. [5.5]
  Composition
  6.3.3
  Write simple compositions and persuasive essays that address main idea and supportin Type in an objective from the CCSD CEFs or a standard from the Nevada Standards or NCSS Standards]
• Mathematics
• Wagon Train Math- ( How to calculate the pounds of supplies needed for the journey to the west.)
• SW incorporate math to determine how math to determine how much money to spend on supplies needed for their journey, using addition and multiplication. SW choose supplies based on weight and necessity to carry in their covered wagon for a five month journey. SW use the "General Store" worksheet created by, "The Cowboy Eye Witness Book", Thematic unit on Cowboys. SW also use "The Supply List" worksheet created by, Creative Teaching Press.
• Standards Addressed-Power Standards
• Identify, use, and model place value positions of 1’s, 10’s, 100’s, and 1,000’s [1.1]
  Identify the value of a given digit in the 1’s, 10’s, 100’s, and 1,000’s place. [1.2]
  Identify and model the unit fractions 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/6, and 1/8 as equal parts of a whole or sets of objects. [1.5]
  Read and write unit fractions with numbers and words. [1.6]
  Read, write, compare, and order numbers from 0 - 9,999. [1.7]
  Read and write number words to 100. [1.8]
  Immediately recall and use addition and subtraction facts. [1.13]
  Immediately recall multiplication facts (products to 81). [1.14]
  Add and subtract two- and three- digit numbers with and without regrouping. [1.19]
  Add and subtract decimals using money as a model. [1.22]
  Generate and solve two-step addition and subtraction problems and one-step multiplication problems based on practical
  situations. [1.26]
  Model addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division in a variety of ways. [1.24]
  Use mathematical vocabulary and symbols to describe multiplication and division. [1.27]

• Counting Mileage From Beginning Destination To The End Destination.
• SW will calculate mileage from different beginning destinations, to different ending destinations in Oregon.
• Standards Addressed
• Compare, order, and describe objects by various measurable attributes for area and volume/capacity. [3.3]
  Select and use appropriate units of measure. [3.6]
  Measure to a required degree of accuracy (to the nearest 1/2 unit). [3.5]
  Describe, sketch, compare, and contrast plane geometric figures. [4.1]
  Identify, draw, and describe horizontal, vertical, and oblique lines. [4.7]
  
• Social Studies
• Explorer Report/Bibliography on Famous Explorers Discovered the West for the Westward Expansion
• SW create a written report based upon the historical facts of different explorers of the west. (Lewis & Clark; James Bridger, Sacajawea, William Henry Ashley, etc.) SW use the Internet to search for their explorers. SW look for their accomplishments, and why they are remembered in history. SW also use resources from books, to cross reference their information for validity. SW also and create a poster with intersecting facts and pictures of their explorer. SW then give an oral report on their explorer.

• Standards Address
  History 1.0- Chronology-Students use chronology to organize and understand the sequence of events.
  History 6.0 1700-1865 Students understand the people, events, ideas, and conflicts that led to the creation of new nations and distictive cultures
  Geography 1.0 The World in Spacial Terms; Students use maps, globes and other geogrphic tools and technologies to locate and derive information about people, places, and environments.
• Technology CEF (3)3.1: select a research topic using technology
  Technology CEF (3)2.5: use a wide variety of media and technology resources

• Native American Tribe Report on tribes that inhabited the areas of the Oregon Trail.
• SW research a Native American tribe that the pioneers could have encountered upon the Oregon Trail. SW research different tribes and their locations on the Internet. SW find background knowledge of their tribe describing if they were friendly or hostile. SW also use resources from books, to cross reference their information for validity. SW also and create a poster with interesting facts and pictures of their tribes. SW then give an oral report on their tribes.
• Standards Addressed
• History 1.0- Chronology-Students use chronology to organize and understand the sequence of events.
• History 6.0 1700-1865 Students understand the people, events, ideas, and conflicts that led to the creation of new nations and distictive cultures
• Geography 1.0 The World in Spacial Terms; Students use maps, globes and other geogrphic tools and technologies to locate and derive information about people, places, and environments.
• Technology CEF (3)3.1: select a research topic using technology
  Technology CEF (3)2.5: use a wide variety of media and technology resources

• The Discovery of Gold that were found in Oregon. The examinations of minerals
• SW examine minerals based upon their categories: crystal, igneous rock, metamorphic rock, mineral, sedimentary rock. SW use FOSS Kit on Rocks and Minerals to discover the unique differences between all minerals. SW use the Internet to also research were different mineral are found, and specifically Gold, which was the mineral many people were seeking when crossing the west during the westward movement. SW use science journal created by teacher for students to document their research. SW also draw pictures of the different types of minerals.
• Standards Addressed-Earth & Space Science
• E5C4- Explain that rocks are composed of different combinations of minerals.
• E5C5- Explain that soil has biologocal and mineral components an varies from place to place.

• Growing Seeds-What is the best terrain to grow seeds to start new crops when settling in t o their new homestead.
• SW experiment with different types of materials to grow seeds in. SW use 4 different pots for planting seeds. SW use cotton, standard soil, sand, and rocks to fill the pots and plant seeds. (Any type of seed is good, but pea seeds are best) SW be divided into groups of 4 to track the growth and development of their seeds. SW begin with a hypothesis of which pot will grow the seeds the best. SW track the growth of their plants every couple of days in their science journals. SW water seeds every 3-4 days, depending the temp. of the room. SW measure the growth of their plants in centimeters, and journal their findings. After a 4 week period SW test their hypotheses and share with the class.

• Standards Addressed-Life Science
• L5B1: Desccribe the structures of that enable plants and animals to grow and survive.
• [L5B2 & L5C2- Compare and contrast the life cycles of various living things. Identify examples of organisms that interact with each other and with the non-living parts of their ecosystem.

• Historical Overview of Section Themes
  Sickness and Death
• Sickness and death was a ghastly epidemic on the Oregon Trail. Not having modern medicine and rarely a doctor in their wagon train many pioneers suffered from several different deadly diseases. Among the most common were: Measles, typhoid, mountain fever, the "bloddy flu", dysentery and cholera. Most pioneers carried a few remedies with them while travelling the long disatnce to Oregon. Some of the most common medicines were: Laudanum for pain, camphor for cholera, harrtshorne for snakebites, citric acid for scury, castor oil for bowel disorders, borax and alum for boils and sores, and various dried herbs. Many pioneers came in contact with friendly Indians, who were more than generous when sharing their medicinal remedies to heal certain diseases. Unfortunately the White Man brought many of the fatal diseases into the West, which killed hundreds of Indians.
  The disease that was most fatal to the overlanders was CHOLERA!The cholera outbreak along the Oregon Trail was part of a worldwide pandemic which began in Bengal. Cities throughout the United States were struck, and the disease reached the overland emigrants by traveling up the Mississippi River from New Orleans. Cholera was spread by unsanitary conditions along the trail. Cholera could start in the morning with a stomache ache, and a person could be dead by nightfall. If death did not occure in the first 12-24 hours, the patient usually lived, after excuriating pain.
• Many odf the accidents that occured on the trail were usually from negligence, exhaustion, guns, animals, and the weather. Shootings were common, especially accidental shooting of oneself. Deaths along the trail were especially common among women during chidbirth, and young children because of the fragile immune systems. Unfortuantely these deaths were the most heartbreaking to the overlanders.

• Vocabulary Needed: For additional vocabulary please check glossary at the back of Daily Life in a Covered Wagon.

Emigrant:
A person who is leaving one country to enter another. Pioneers in the early years of the Oregon Trail were called emigrants because most were leaving the United States to enter the unorganized "Oregon Country." Later, Oregon became a part of the U.S., but the word "emigrant" stuck.
Cholera:
An infectious disease caught by many emigrants on the Oregon Trail. It spread rapidly because of unsanitary water. There was no cure and most died within a day. There is almost no Cholera in the United States today because of better living conditions, but there have been epidemics recently in poor countries.
Manifest Destiny:
Belief that the United States had an innate right to settle the entire West. Most Americans believed the British, the Mexicans and the Indians should be driven out because the United States had the real 'right' to expand to the west.
Pioneer:
An early settler in a new territory. All the people on the Oregon Trail were pioneers, but there were many other pioneers who did not go to Oregon.
Blacksmith:
Worker who shapes heated iron by pounding it with a hammer. Blacksmiths were common on the Oregon Trail because the iron rims of the wagon wheels were often in need of repair.
Ford:
To cross a river on foot or horseback. Often the pioneers forded streams or small rivers. However, many rivers were too deep to ford, so they floated their wagons across or hired a ferry. On rare occasions a toll bridge was available.
Pass:
A gap in a mountain range. Most passes are narrow gorges, but South Pass on the Oregon Trail was a large `saddle' in the mountains--many miles wide.
The West:
Term used to describe the part of the United States that lies beyond the Mississippi River.
"Oregon Country:"
Refers to a large territory that was originally not a part of any other nation. Oregon Country encompassed all of what is now Oregon, Washington, and Idaho; much of British Columbia; and small parts of Wyoming and Montana. Later, Oregon Country was jointly held by Britain and the U.S.; eventually it became a part of the United States.

Additional Resources

• www.socialstudiesforkids.com/subject/westwardmovement.htm: This is a website created for kids that is very user friendly, and has great factual information on the Westward Movement. This is an interactive website as well.
  
• Going West: Jean Van Leeuwen 1992 [This is a Juvenile Fiction, that follows a a family's journey from East to West, and the challenges they face.]
  
• Roughing it on the Oregon Trail, Diane Stanley 2000 [This is a Juvenile Fiction that takes a family back in time to the pioneer days on the Oregon Trail, experiencing the perils of life with their own ancestors.]
  
• Across the Plains in the Donner Party, Karen Zeinhert 1996 [Diary excerpts from some of the remaining survivors of the Donner Party, told by children and adults.]

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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.