tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8534098419256433512.post1480450855722698505..comments2016-02-29T06:07:05.288-08:00Comments on Exploring America: Picture Book Teacher's Guides: Daily Life in a Covered Wagon (Paul Erickson) — "On the Trail" through "Crossing a River"Christy G. Keeler, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12090510919477425733noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8534098419256433512.post-27553327402221293892008-11-20T19:44:00.000-08:002008-11-20T19:44:00.000-08:00You mention some seemingly great resources in your...You mention some seemingly great resources in your "Wagon Train Math" activity section. Could you link to the books with the worksheets so we know where and what to purchase?<BR/><BR/>I really like the idea of having students study an explorer. When studying westward expansion, I tend to think only of the explorers living during the 19th century. Your activity gives students permission to relate 19th century exploration with other eras - including today.<BR/><BR/>Including the glossary is a great idea!Christy G. Keeler, Ph.D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/12090510919477425733noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8534098419256433512.post-91137422926043707992008-11-20T17:51:00.000-08:002008-11-20T17:51:00.000-08:00I feel for you and your "all boys" class! I think ...I feel for you and your "all boys" class! I think the more kinesthetic activities the better! The hard part is ensuring that your are keeping their bodies engaged in true learning opportunities as opposed to teaching them craft projects. You seem to do a nice job of this in your Covered Wagon activity by focusing on following instructions. I think you could even strengthen the learning by focusing on engineering issues. For example, why did they use the materials they did? How did they get the metal rims on the wooden wheels and why did they do this? What was involved in suspension and how does this compare with cars today? How would you determine how much weight a Conestoga could carry? It might also be nice to have students compare creating the wagon from set instructions to putting together "assembly required" items at home. <BR/><BR/>What about inviting some of the boys' parents to help build an authentic Conestoga wagon? If there are children in your class whose parents work in construction or engineering, this may be a wonderful activity to do as an entire class. I bet you could even a quire a small grant to pay for the materials.<BR/><BR/>I love your recommendation of using technology to determine distances. You may consider using Google Earth and having students actually see the topographic regions traveled by the wagons and determine where (geographically) the trains could go more quickly or more slowly.<BR/><BR/>Again, I like the idea of the flier - a great way to bring in more technology and primary sources. Have students find fliers from the time period so they can see primary sources like what they will be creating. This would be a good time to teach them about changes in publishing, printing, typesetting, etc.<BR/><BR/>Your ideas work seamlessly together to create a beautiful unit plan. I'd love to see this plan mapped out into days/times for doing each of the activities. For thematically focused classrooms, this would be an incredible week!Christy G. Keeler, Ph.D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/12090510919477425733noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8534098419256433512.post-4390614903730351882008-11-17T18:15:00.000-08:002008-11-17T18:15:00.000-08:00The lessons used to teach the book were hands-on a...The lessons used to teach the book were hands-on and kid-friendly. I especially liked the project: building a covered wagon, writing out directions, and measuring all the pieces. This activity covers many subject areas and allows the students to get real life exposure to a covered wagon. An extension for this activity might be to actually measure out the dimensions of a real covered wagon, tape it out in the classroom, and see what really could fit in the wagon. Kids can then get an idea of how little space the pioneers had when moving from one place to another. Another idea to use with questioning is to go over the different levels of questioning with students and asking them to make up their own questions to the parts they read. They can do this in teams. You can find examples of the key words for students to use when making up these questions. You did a great job!pamfosterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12139570877301192572noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8534098419256433512.post-86940351448709492162008-11-17T18:11:00.000-08:002008-11-17T18:11:00.000-08:00Your activities are very detailed therefore they c...Your activities are very detailed therefore they can be easily followed. The Building a Wagon activity is definitely a creative way to engage your all-boy class. It is important for all students to learn how to follow directions, and what an imaginative way to do this. I also like the Create a Flyer activity - as an extension to this activity you could have the students vote in the end to see whose wagon train they would join according to how clever they though each other's flyers were.Kristin Karyczakhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07350450103147805974noreply@blogger.com