Here is a picture from the Town Hall Meeting, if you missed it, the class did a great job! They showed the three wagons that they would travel on to the west, stopping along the way to have each student talk about some hardship, and challenges they would overcome on their way to either California or Oregon.

 

 

The class looked great for the Halloween Parade!  We continued the theme by looking at ghost towns, that have been abandoned due to the loss of transportation.  All week and leading into this week we have been discussing how Economic development changes the physical environment of a region, by looking at how transportation really shaped the lay out and communities we have today.

 

 

This Unit is flying by and we are already halfway there.  Students did a great job at the Town Hall Meeting this last friday!  If you couldn’t make it please ask them what part they played and how they did, they all did a great job and I am very proud of them.  This week we are moving on from the just talking about the people who traveled westward to the economics that it played.  We are going to get into the how economic development changes the physical environment of a region.  Today we talked about the National Road, and the economic reasons to which it was build, but also to why more roads took longer to be build after it.

 

I have a lot of good pictures of your kids, during the Town Hall Meeting but I will have to put them up later this week! Have a great week!

The class is know expanding Westward, as we are learning about what the causes of this expansion were as well as what obstacles they would have had to overcome.  They are learning about what courage, ingenuity, and collaboration that it took to go out West as we are packing our own covered wagons and heading their ourselves.  We will look into what obstacles will face us on the way to give the students a good idea as to what they may have had to overcome.

 

Homework:

Writing-Students are working on using writing to create their own tall tales using the “How to Write a Fictional Story” chart.  This won’t become homework unless not completed in class.

Math- Homelinks 3.8, 3.9, 3.10

Inquiry-Students have their Town Hall Meeting this friday and have grouped up to decided and collaborate as to what they will bring on their covered wagon.  They will make pictures or write out some items they will bring with them on this long trip.

This week was the start of a new unit.  We started where we left off with looking at how the U.S. was formed but looking at it from different perspectives.  We used maps to understand what land was acquired, and when it was acquired in relation to when Native American tribes were known to be around. We looked at two interactive sites that helped us create timelines that would show this relationship.  We read about some of these tribes, and watched a video that helped us understand some of the conflict, courage, and collaboration that had to be overcome during hardships and challenges.  We were able to go outside and look for what might draw people to want to migrate to Ohio, we also looked at why they changed locations with their own territories, as the class started with a small area that they called their territory.  They have since relocated and divided into smaller groups based on certain resources.

Next week we will look at the struggles that those who migrated out west had to overcome.  We will talk about why they may have moved and what they needed in order to move.

Homework due next week:

Thursday (no school friday)

-Booklet of Story Arc scene by scene (some finished in class)

-Math Homework 3.2, 3.3, 3.5, 3.6

-Conestoga Wagon (hopefully finish in class)