Curated OER
A Look Through My Antonia's Eyes
Thoroughly delve into My Antonia by Willa Cather with a plethora of activities. Engage scholars with videos and web sites in this week-long unit that explains the historical context and creates pioneers in the field of research. An...
Curated OER
Math for the Frontier
Make history come to life by using the Frontier House series to engage students in the past. Your class will "prepare" for a trip to 1833 Montana. They will learn about homesteading, frontier life, inflation, and cost of living. Using...
Curated OER
Frontier Life Story
Students undertake a similar (but not quite as drastic) adventure as that of Frontier House as they explore the day-to-day realities of frontier life through a Laura Ingalls Wilder story, and reflect on which time period suits them...
Curated OER
Frontier Life Story
Students explore American frontier life. In this history lesson, students participate in a series of activities that challenge them to discover what pioneer life was really like.
Curated OER
Homesteaders Push and Pull
For this American West worksheet, students review the factors that made the homesteaders leave their homes in the East to live in the plains. Students sort the factors into push and pull factor categories.
Curated OER
Wagon Train
Students use educational software to examine the hardships and problem solving skills needed by the pioneers as they endured frontier life. They work as teams while using the game simulation. They work a number of project while not on...
Curated OER
Time Out!!!
Students explore life in the 1800s and become aware of events and inventions that shaped the era as they compare and contrast real life families to fictional characters. They perform webquests based on life in the frontier in the 1880's.
Curated OER
Women's Roles: Then and Now
Fourth graders investigate women's roles during the frontier era in what is today's West Virginia. In this US history activity, 4th graders discuss similarities and differences of women's roles in the past with what women's roles are in...
Curated OER
Moving to the Frontier
Students explore the Frontier House website, examining the challenges of frontier settlement in the American West in the late 1800's. They develop budgets, and create displays based on their own research.
US National Archives
Herbert Hoover Presidential Library: Pioneer Life With Laura
This site is an integrated teaching unit on pioneer life and Westward Movement of the United States, using books by author Laura Ingalls Wilder. It includes suggested read-alouds, a wealth of large and small group activities, a pioneer...
University of Wisconsin
University of Wisconsin: Wisconsin Pioneer Experience
Collection of primary source journals, letters, etc. on pioneer life in Wisconsin.
Other
Arabia Steamboat Story
The story of the Arabia is tragic; however, the adventure of the rediscovery of the steamboat is fascinating. Take a glimpse back in time at the cargo brought back to life: French perfume, guns, bottles, buttons, and bells; all items...
Library of Congress
Loc: Nation Expansion and Reform: Traveling on the Overland Trails, 1843 1860
Primary source information about traveling the Overland Trails, both to Oregon Country and California.
Christian Science Monitor
Christian Science Monitor: What Kids Did on the Western Frontier
An interesting article addressed to students discusses the life of children on the western frontier, about the time of the "Little House" stories of Laura Ingalls Wilder.
PBS
Wnet: Thirteen: Frontier Life: "Hardship Without Glory": Life on the Trail
From the PBS series, "Frontier House," read about the struggles that pioneers experienced as they made their ways west to new lands via wagon trains.
PBS
Wnet: Thirteen: Getting Started: Packing and Preparing for a New Life
From the PBS series, "Frontier House," learn about how potential homesteaders prepared to move their families and their lives to homesteads in Montana in the late nineteenth century.
PBS
Wnet: Thirteen: Largest Agricultural & Environmental Miscalculation in Amer History
From the PBS series, "Frontier House," this essay examines "the myth and legacy of the frontier." The writer strongly suggests that within the next one or two generations, much of the land which homesteaders settled in the late...
Other
Doing History/keeping the Past: Farmers and Ranchers of Colorado
An essay on how farmers and ranchers lived and created communities in Colorado in the late nineteenth century. This was the period following the initial migrations of pioneers and homesteaders into the West.
Curated OER
Bureau of Land Management: Basic Facts About the Oregon Trail
Learn basic facts about the Oregon Trail and the early pioneers who used it in their move West.
Other
Web Quest: Little House on the Prairie: Grades 4 6
This WebQuest (internet based project) asks students to "Persuade people that they should build a museum about Laura Ingalls Wilder in 'your state.'"
Other
Illinois State Museum: Native American Food
Experiences during the colonial years certainly were not the same for different cultural groups. This site compares and contrasts the housing, clothing, food, religion and family life of Native Americans, French settlers, and African...
Library of Congress
Loc: America's Story: Laura Ingalls Wilder
Site provides some historical information on early prairie life through the eyes of Laura Ingalls Wilder.
PBS
Wnet: Thirteen: Frontier Life
This is the accompanying website for the popular PBS reality show, The Frontier House. Includes historical essays, quotations, and illustrations. Reading level suitable for upper elementary and middle school.