Second graders recently finished up their CKLA Knowledge domain over Westward Expansion. During this domain, students learned that many families moved west to Oregon and California to find more farmland since the original 13 colonies were getting crowded. We also learned why the first steamboat, the Erie Canal, the Oregon Trail, and the Transcontinental Railroad were important means of transportation during this time.
On top of the benefits of more space and a better life, students also learned that the Cherokee were forced to leave their homes and walked along a miserable trail to the Indian Territory which was later named the “Trail of Tears.”
Throughout the unit, students created quilt squares to summarize each story. They drew pictures and added facts about the main topic. At the end of the unit we glued all the quilt squares onto construction paper to make a small quilt for each student.
To conclude our domain, we spent the day dressing like settlers, making butter, building covered wagons out of paper bags and construction paper, and playing the classic game “The Oregon Trail.”
