Grade 4: Unit 8 – PBL Westward Expansion

Think back to your most positive experience as a student — a time that was meaningful to you. Why did this leave a lasting impression? How did your teacher make this experience possible? What learning was embedded in this experience?

Talk with your colleagues about your experiences and memories. It’s likely you’ll find some consistent themes: working with peers, independence, choice, engagement, content-specific learning, and applying learning in a real-world context. Project-based learning offers all of this
and more!

Watch this video from PBLWorks to see project-based learning in action. The teacher is knowledgeable and passionate about the topic. The children are making choices about what they do and how they do it, they’re asking questions, reflecting, and interacting with peers and adults by discussing their ideas and feedback.

Project Based Learning (PBL) is a critical aspect of Success Academy’s (SA) school design. Our scholars learn the thrill of becoming experts in a subject when they have extended time to immerse themselves in a fascinating topic from a cross-disciplinary perspective — including through field studies; art projects; and classes in science, reading, writing, and/or math. The culmination of PBL studies are museum presentations scholars can share with others; this
allows scholars to demonstrate the learning and engagement they have achieved.

The 19th century saw a huge increase in the physical boundaries of the United States and vast movement of people to the new territories. These migrants faced remarkable hardships in moving across the country. The expansion of the United States and the pioneers’ movement
westward displaced many Native Americans and decimated their way of life.

Before launching the unit with your scholars, read all of the texts in the unit to ensure you have the necessary content knowledge to facilitate this study.

• Study and discuss the following books with your grade team, with the guided questions below in mind:
• The Sioux: True Book by Kevin Cunningham and Peter Benoit
  • This is accessible for free via the NYPL website with a library card number.
  • You can also sign up for a free trial on Scholastic, which will give you a personalized log in you can share with families and access for six weeks.
• Westward Expansion and the Oregon Trail: True Books via the NYPL and Scholastic
  • This series of True Books on Westward Expansion can be accessed via the NYPL website with a library card number.
  • You can also sign up for a free trial on Scholastic, which will give you a personalized log in you can share with families and access for six weeks.
• Study the levels T and U from Understanding Nonfiction Texts and Readers by Jennifer Serravallo.

• Use information gained from words and text features (e.g., maps, photographs) demonstrate understanding (e.g., where, when, why, and how key events occur)
• Explain events, procedures, ideas, or concepts in a historical text, including what happened and why, based on specific information in the text
• Conduct short research projects that build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic
• Explain events or ideas in a historical text, including what happened and why, based on specific information in the text
• Write informative texts examining a topic and developing the topic with facts, details, or other information and examples related to the topic
• Produce clear, logical, and organized writing
• Compose informative/explanatory writing, requiring students to articulate and support their ideas

Every week, scholars think about these guiding questions and pose, refine, and confirm their ideas about the answers to these questions. By the end of the unit, scholars draw conclusions resembling the Essential Understandings below.

• How did the United States change after the Revolutionary War?
  • The Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the country in 1803.
  • U.S. leaders wanted to expand to greater territory for land, resources, and profitable trade routes.
• Why do people emigrate?
  • Emigrants moved west for different reasons: manifest destiny, religious freedom, land opportunities, gold, health, adventure, family.
  • The U.S. Government encouraged settlers to move to unsettled territories through propaganda and land grants.
• What risks did emigrants face while moving west?
  • Pioneers were willing to endure great hardships including material, health, and emotional sacrifices to improve their circumstances.
• What advantages and disadvantages did the prairie provide for pioneers and settlers?
  • People relied on the prairie to provide the basic needs of food and shelter.
  • The prairie provided natural resources and wildlife for people to survive when their goods spoiled or ran out.
  • The vastness and mystery of the prairie provided hope and optimism for people looking for a better life.
  • The prairie environment presented challenges with its unpredictable weather and climate.
• What can we learn from the pioneers’ encounters with Native American tribes like
  the Sioux?
  • Different cultures have different beliefs about how natural resources are owned, used, and shared, and these differences will cause changes in both cultures.
  • Prejudice influences interactions between two cultures.

The texts listed below can be accessed by scholars digitally. Throughout the unit, scholars can read and annotate copies of the texts using Google comments.

• “The Ships of the Plains” from Pioneers
• Appleseeds: Growing Up on the Oregon Trail
• Journals from the Oregon Trail
• How Native Americans Used the Buffalo
• “Uses of the Buffalo” from Mystic Warriors of the White Plains by Thomas Mails

Books:

• Heading West: Oregon Trail and Westward Expansion by Virginia Loh-Hagan
• Dandelions by Eve Bunting
• If You Traveled West in a Covered Wagon by Ellen Levine
• A Walk in the Prairie by Rebecca L. Johnson
• We the People: The Sioux and Their History by Mary Englar
• Picture the Past: Life in a Sioux Village by Sally Senzell Isaacs
• The Sioux: The Past and Present of the Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota by Donna Janell Bowman
• How Would You Survive as an American Indian? by Scott Steedman
• The Oregon Trail and Westward Expansion by Kristin Marciniak
• Viewpoints on the Oregon Trail and Westward Expansion by Kristin Russo
• Manifest Destiny and the Journey West by Cynthia Kennedy Henzel
• Sioux by Valerie Bodden
• The Sioux: True Book by Kevin Cunningham and Peter Benoit
• Westward Expansion True Books by Teresa Domnauer

Study Journals

The study journal will contain student notes, student-created maps and drawings, along with information, for example, maps, you will give them. Additionally, you may choose to have the students trim some of their worksheet, for example, trip sheet, to paste into their notebook.

Suggestions for how to organize study journals can be found here.

Projects are not the dessert; they are the main course of project based learning. Below are several options for projects to complete with your class and display in your PBL museum. We recommend completing a minimum of three projects with your class by the end of the unit.

• Landmarks Project
  • Scholars create a map of the Oregon Trail to show and describe the landmarks pioneers used along the journey.
•  Poster Project
  • Scholars demonstrate their understanding of how the government encouraged people to move west by creating a poster that persuades local townspeople to move west.
• Packed Wagon Diagram
  • Scholars demonstrate their understanding of how pioneers prepared for the journey of a lifetime by creating a large diagram of the inside of a wagon.
• Prairie Illustration
  • Scholars demonstrate what they have learned about the prairie in an authentic (visual) manner.
  • They must use specific information they know to add detail to their work and convey their understanding of the value and beauty of the prairie.
• Diaries from the Trail
  • Scholars demonstrate how much they have learned about the life of a pioneer by describing the daily life and challenges of the journey in first person.
• Buffalo Mural
  • Scholars demonstrate their understanding of the ways in which the Sioux used all parts of the buffalo by creating a life-size drawing or painting.

• Click here for supplemental PBS documentaries you can share with scholars about Westward Expansion.
• Museum of the Frontier West – National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum
• Outdoor Adventurers – National Women’s History Museum