Jumping Off to Oregon
Guided tour—Shawnee Indian Mission State Historic Site, Fairway
Grades—Fourth
Teachers this is an opportunity to provide your students with a unique educational experience! Through the use of primary source documents students will become familiar with six families who actually experienced life on the Oregon-California Trail. In addition to learning about the hardships and trials of the trail, students will participate in loading and pulling their "wagon" with supplies, playing a pioneer game, and autographing "Independence Rock."
Students will be divided into six groups or "families." Throughout the tour they will read diary entries from these emigrants, which will give students an understanding of the hardships and benefits of the move west. Will the families make it safely to their new homes? Only their decision-making skills will allow them to arrive safely.
This tour addresses Kansas and Missouri grade specific standards. Teachers will receive pre- and post-visit materials to help prepare the students for the adventure. Included in the pre-visit materials is a lesson about six families who actually traveled the trail. Also included are two Read Kansas! lessons--I-6 "Trade and Travel on Overland Trails" and I-7 "Life on the Trails". These lessons not only compare the Santa Fe Trail and the Oregon Trail but also give the students an opportunity to read primary source materials about two children who traveled these trails. The post-visit assessment piece involves journal writing.
Download PDF with tour information - Kansas Standards
Download PDF with tour information - Missouri Standards
See what others have said about this standards-based tour.
Kansas standards addressed:
History: Benchmark 1, Indicator 4: The student describes how communication and transportation systems connect Kansas to other regions, past and present (e.g., trails, Pony Express, telegraph, steamboats, railroad lines, highway systems, air transportation, Internet).
History: Benchmark 1, Indicator 5: The student compares and contrasts the purposes of the Santa Fe and Oregon-California Trails (e.g., commercial vs. migration).
History: Benchmark 1, Indicator 6: The student describes life on the Santa Fe and Oregon-California Trails (e.g., interactions between different cultural groups, hardships such as lack of water, mountains and rivers to cross, weather, need for medical care, size of wagon).
Economics: Benchmark 1, Indicator 1: The student knows that every spending and saving decision has an opportunity cost.
Economics: Benchmark 5, Indicator 2: The student analyzes the costs and benefits of making a choice.
Common Core Reading: RI 4.3 The student will explain events, procedures, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text, including what happened and why, based on specific information in the text.
Common Core Writing: W 4.3 The student will write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.
Missouri Standards Addressed:
Social Studies 2 continuity and change in the history of Missouri, the United States and the world
Social Studies 4 economic concepts (including productivity and the market system) and principles (including the laws of supply and demand)
Social Studies 5 the major elements of geographical study and analysis (such as location, place, movement, regions) and their relationships to changes in society and environment
Social Studies 7 the use of tools of social science inquiry (such as surveys, statistics, maps, documents)
Communications Standards 3 reading and evaluating nonfiction works and material
Communications Standards 4 writing formally and informally
Communications Standards 6 participating in formal and informal presentations and discussions of issues and ideas
Performance Standards:
Goal 3 - 3.8 assess costs, benefits, and other consequences of proposed solutions
Goal 4 - 4.6 identify tasks that require a coordinated effort and work with others to complete those tasks
Multiple intelligences included within the tour
Verbal-linguistic
Kinesthetic
Intrapersonal
Logical-mathematical
Interpersonal
Naturalist
Cost per student is $2. One adult enters free for every 10 students. Additional adults pay the student rate.
Length of tour: approximately two hours.
Number of students in a group: For the best experience, we recommend no more than 30 students per tour.
Registration and scheduling: Contact the site administrator at 913-262-0867; or email Shawnee Indian Mission. Tours must be scheduled at least two weeks in advance.
Other guided tours available at the Shawnee Indian Mission:
American Indian Homes in the Central Plains
Manifest Destiny and Its Impact on American Indian Culture
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