Task:

1. Research the Oregon Trail taking notes while using a URL site, an encyclopedia and a picture book.
2. As a character along the Oregon Trail, use the notes to create an illustrated journal containing 6 - 7 entries which reveal important incidents and discoveries. (Student characters 1 and 2 interpretations)
3. Organize a focused narrative which:
   • includes background information about how and why the Oregon Trail came about
   • contains information of what happened along the Oregon Trail
   • uses supporting details to explain how the use of the Oregon Trail affected the growth history of the United States!
4. Create an artifact packet (use a gallon plastic bag) which includes primary source documents, miniature props, and a descriptive index of the contents related to the Oregon Trail.

Online resources:

1. Follow the route of the Oregon Trail using maps and your wagon to begin at Independence, MO to Lake McCaonaughy, NE; persevere through the desert to Windlass Hill, NE and Robidoux Pass, NE; continue over the Rocky Mountains from Fort Laramie, WY to South Pass, WY; trek across the parched land from South Pass, WY to Bear River Valley, ID; pass through Soda Springs, ID to Fort Boise, ID; plodding onward from Keeney Pass, OR to The Dalles, OR; ending in Oregon City, Oregon. Take the image quiz of the Oregon Trail sights!!
2. Read the diaries of people reaching Oregon after traveling the Oregon Trail
3. Oregon Trail challenge and student-created interpretative work 1 and 2 based on suggested readings to support the readings.
4. In Search of the Oregon Trail
5. Oregon Trail Going West)
6. Consider looking into seeing the West through the eyes of artists Albert Bierstadt, Frederic Remington, Charles Marion Russell

Books:

1. Stein, R. Conrad. The Oregon Trail (description)
2. Van Leeuwen, Jean. The Fourth of July on the Plains . NY: Dial, 1997. (Pict V Turner)(1852)(description) [Indiana to Oregon]
3. Schlissel, Lillian and Knight, Amelia Stewart. The Way West: Journal of a Pioneer Woman. NY: Simon & Schuster, 1980. (description)
4. Coerr, Eleanor. Josefina Story Quilt. (1986) [1850 to California] (description)
5. Ackerman, Karen. Araminta's Paint Box (1990) [1847 Boston to California] (description)
6. Harvey, Brett. Cassie's Journey: Going West in the 1860s (1988) [Illinois to California] (description)
7. Gerrard, Roy. Wagon's West (description) . (1996) [1850s]
8. Levine, Ellen. If You Traveled West in a Covered Wagon (description)
9. Hoobler, Dorothy. Julie Meyer: The Story of a Wagon Train Girl (description)
10. Kudlinski, Kathleen. Facing West: A Story of the Oregon Trail (58 ps.) (description)
11. Van Leeuwen, Jean. Bound for Oregon (description)
12. Littlefield, Holly. Children of the Trail West. (description)
13. Cushman, Karen. The Ballad of Lucy Whipple . (195 ps) (Adams/CodSq/Lower Mills/Mattapan) (description)
14. Gregory, Kristiana. Prairie Dust: The Oregon Trail Diary of Hattie Campbell (164 ps.) (description) (1992)

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As of December 4, 2003, you are visitor to share the Oregon Trail.

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Last modified: January 9, 2004

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