Dynamic 2 Moms~Welcome~

Westward Hooooo

Albert Bierstadt's The Rocky Mountains Landers Peak

~ 1836~

Permission by Mark Harden - The Artchive

Time period we covered: 1803 - 1890

It was hard for us to narrow down our topics of interest since this was our first study of this time period. They all were so in depth and we just had to pick and choose so that we could get an overview of this time period.

Since we covered this as a co-op we will post more minibooks on specific topics as we cover it again. We started this study with a look at the Louisiana Purchase and went until 1890 when the U.S. Census Bureau declared the west "settled".

However, on our time line we started off with the date of birth of Daniel Boone and add in other significant dates like the birth of Tatankya Iyotake called by the whites Sitting Bull. People like this truly embody the spirit of the west and we feel like our study would not be complete in at least mentioning them on our time line.

Also, we have a separate page for Lewis and Clark .

Since these two time periods are interwoven be sure to look there for a lapbook on Lewis and Clark.

This is a picture of one of the younger one's lapbook. There are some more pictures at the end of this page of some of the of the other co-op members lapbook.

Timelines

Timeline trifold

Pony Express

Pony Express Pop Up

This picture captures the spirit and belief they had of Manifest Destiny. It is the belief that the United States is destined to expand across North America.

Flora and Fauna of the West

This download on Animals of the West has a pocket and the following fact cards. It could be used for an older child.

Pocket

American Bison & Red Fox Grizzly Bear & Pronghorn Antelope

Grey Wolf & Elk Western Badger & Western Tanager

Fauna of the West Pocket & Fact Cards - older child

This download on Animals of the West matches the baby to his momma (Where is your baby?). It has a pocket and the following fact cards. It could be used for a younger child.

American Bison Calf Big Horn Lamb Blue Grouse Chicks

Canada Goose's Gosling Coyote Pup Gray Wolf Pups

Red Fox Pup

Fauna of the West Pocket & Fact Cards - younger child

This download on Plants of the West has a pocket and the following fact cards. It can be used for an older child.

Pocket

Arrowleaf Balsam Root & Wood's Rose Big Bluestem & Black Cottonwood

Oregon Bitterroot & Blue Elderberry Western Red Cedar & Blue eyed Mary

Flora of the West Pocket & Fact Cards - older child

This is a flip book for a younger child to cut/paste.

Root, Stalk and Leaves - younger child

Frontiersmen

Buffalo Bill

Buffalo Bill tiny book and pocket

Daniel Boone

Daniel Boone tiny book and pocket

Authors

James Fenimore Cooper

James Fenimore Cooper tiny book and pocket

Artists

When we did this unit study, we found out that frontiersman really embodied the American West spirit but without art like this picture by George Caleb Bingham named Daniel Boone Escorting Settlers Through the Cumberland Gap, the pioneers would not have visualized the land of opportunity.

George Caleb Bingham and Albert Bierstadt

Download mini book and art pictures here

California Gold Rush '49

Download 49ers book here

Batte of the Alamo 1836

Mini alamo book

Government

Manifest Destiny

Download Manifest Destiny

Vocabulary

Barrel of Words

Oregon Trail

Supplies

Supplies for Trail copy/paste book

Oregon Trail Wagon

This 15 page download includes the following minibooks:

Praire Schooner Top Flap Landmarks along the Trail:

Devil's Gate, Independence Rock & Chimney Rock

Praire Schooner Bottom Flap Disease on the Trail: Cholera

Fan Book Cover Fan Book - older child Fan Book-younger (no writing)

Picture for front/back of lapbook/notebook page

15 page Oregon Trail Book

Data Dividers

Banners to divide data or for the top of your page

One Lewis & Clark Expedition

One Westward Expansion

Copywork

Pecos Bill by Steve Kellogg

Copy Work-full page trace Copywork- half page trace

Writing Prompt: Pecos Bill TALL Tale

Transportation

Transportation Graduated Book

Transcontinental Rail Road

Games

Game and game cards

Notebook Pages Coming :o)

Learning the Virginia Reel is a nice group activity to teach them. So at this first class, we started teaching them the dance. The words and music are easy to find on line. We also googled and found You Tube videos to show how to do the steps. You just need a caller, or someone who knows the steps. Since my sister does "civil war reinactments and is familar with that time period, she was a our "teacher" caller.

Then when we had our field trip or culminating activity. Everybody came in period dress and were "experts" by now at the Virginia Reel. Of course we brought an extra change of clothes and played games since we stayed all day at the park.

Here are some of our moms "period dress". Vikki one of our moms used her old wedding dress.LOL

Here is my sister in one of her period dress outfits that she had sewn for her.

Traveling Trunks

As a group, we ordered three traveling trunks from Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Museum in St. Louis, Missouri. I don't think they have a website, but here is the info:

Jefferson National Parks Association - Diane Weber-Educational Specialist. 11 North Fourth Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63102. Phone number: 314.655.1635

What is a traveling trunk? They are mini-museums bringing a little bit of history to your co-op. Each trunk contains a variety of "hands on" objects like clothing, photographs, books, CDS, tools and items from that time period. It also has activity sheets and a teacher's guides. Most museums drop ship the trunk to you and send you a shipping label so that UPS or FED X picks up the trunk at a certain date as well. They are loaned to your for a certain time period, like two weeks. The ones we ordered only costs 35.00 each.

We ordered three for our group of about 70 members, but you can decide how many you want. The trunks we ordered were "Lewis and Clark" "Moutain Men" and "Overlanders" (Oregon Trail).

We will post a picture soon of the trunk.

More Lapbook Pictures

These pictures are from Chelly, one of our other members in our co-op. It just shows the beauty of variety when you study this topic together. Her and her kids did a super job!!

For the cover she used a brown take out bag for food from Chili's Restaurant. Here is what she said:

After studying about Lewis and Clark, we decided to mimic the look of their leather covered journals for our lap book.

The cover is made from a large brown paper bag with handles, the kind you get from a restaurant. ( I think this was from Chili's To Go). I cut down each side to have a big flat surface, removed the handles (one of which will be used to bind the journal together) and cut it slightly bigger than the legal size file folder. I took it outside and used a barbecue lighter to set the edges on fire, just for a few seconds, then I stomped it out. I continued to do this until all the edges were done. Then, I burned holes in a couple of places in the middle or just wherever I wanted. Now, it was ready to glue to the legal size file folder. The kids then colored the holes in that were exposing the manila file folder with different browns and black colors.

Next, I had to cut the holes in the cover and all the remaining folders that would be the pages of our journal/ lap book. This was a little tricky, but the most important part is to start with the cover and just use it as a pattern for the other folders. You want to make sure that all the holes line up. Now it is ready to bind together. Just use one of the handles of the brown bag, it is almost the perfect length to weave in and out of each hole. The great thing about this is you can always add more folders as you need them. Just wait till the very end to glue the ends of the handle down.

Cover laid out flat