Manifest Destiny Virtual Field Trip
We read the book Dandelions by Eve Bunting in a guided reading group. The students build on what they learned about our nation's birth and delve into more content about the necessity and desire for westward expansion. While reading the students make a T-chart listing the pros and cons of westward development. Then the students create an illustration of a settler and use their T-chart to write a postcard home to a family member trying to persuade them either for or against moving west. I use the Chatterpic App to animate their illustrations while the students narrate their postcards. You can see an example of this below, as well as images of the texts.
Then the students read the book Dust for Dinner by Ann Turner illustrating further challenges faced by settlers of the Time Period. We take a web quest designed by PBS that allows the kids to make their own decisions as if they were settlers themselves. The link to the webquest is here: Interactive Dust Bowl.
Then the students read the book Dust for Dinner by Ann Turner illustrating further challenges faced by settlers of the Time Period. We take a web quest designed by PBS that allows the kids to make their own decisions as if they were settlers themselves. The link to the webquest is here: Interactive Dust Bowl.