The Oregon Trail
The Journey Across the Country From Lewis and Clark to the Transcontinental Railroad With 25 Projects
2017
First Published
4.00
Average Rating
128
Number of Pages
Part of Series
Westward ho! If you travel across certain parts of the United States, you can still see wagon wheel ruts where people crossed the west in search of more opportunity and better lives more than 200 years ago! The Oregon The Journey Across the Country from Lewis and Clark to the Transcontinental Railroad offers readers ages 9 to 12 a fascinating look at the explorers and settlers who traveled this route during the westward expansion of the United States. When America received its independence in 1776, the new country was made up of 13 colonies that became the United States of America. European immigrants continued to arrive in the new country, eager to make new lives for themselves and their families. By 1803, there were 17 states and a need for even more space. The United States doubled its land area with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. President Thomas Jefferson commissioned the Corps of Discovery to explore and map a territory that had only been seen by fur trappers and the Native Americans who lived there. The expedition into the American west, more popularly known as the Lewis and Clark expedition, left from Independence, Missouri for more than two years of exploration that produced a route for American settlers to take. The route was the Oregon Trail, also known as the Oregon and California Trail. In The Oregon The Journey Across the Country from Lewis and Clark to the Transcontinental Railroad, readers ages 9 to 12 can delve into the explorations of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark and other explorers. They can learn about the more than half a million people who followed during the nineteenth century. What challenges did these pioneers face on the 2,170-mile journey? How were Native American tribes and nations affected by this mass migration? Primary sources allow readers to feel like a part of the Oregon Trail experience while biographical sidebars will introduce the compelling people who were part of this time in U.S. history. Investigative, hands-on projects and critical thinking activities such as writing a treaty and researching artistic impressions of the Oregon Trail invite readers to further their understanding of life on the trail, early towns and forts, and the Transcontinental Railroad that followed the wagons into new lands and territories that would eventually become states. Nomad Press books in the Build It Yourself series integrate content with participation. Common Core State Standards, the Next Generation Science Standards, and STEM Education all place project-based learning as key building blocks in education. Combining content with inquiry-based projects stimulates learning and makes it active and alive. Nomad’s unique approach simultaneously grounds kids in factual knowledge while allowing them the space to be curious, creative, and critical thinkers.
Avg Rating
4.00
Number of Ratings
11
5 STARS
18%
4 STARS
64%
3 STARS
18%
2 STARS
0%
1 STARS
0%
goodreads
Author
Karen Bush Gibson
Author · 5 books
Karen Bush Gibson (also known as K.B. Gibson and Karen Gibson) has been writing, well, forever. She has written a little bit of everything, but got her start writing articles and features for magazines. Karen began writing children's nonfiction in 2001 with Capstone and loves bringing nonfiction to life for kids. Since then, she has worked with several publishers, including Chicago Review Press and Nomad Press. Karen has more than 30 books published (stopped counting at 30) and stays so busy that she's having trouble returning to her other love, mystery writing. "A Class on Murder" was released in 2012.
