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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Look Through My Antonia's Eyes

For Teachers 9th - 12th
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...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Math for the Frontier

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
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...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Frontier Life Story

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
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...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Frontier Life Story

For Teachers 4th - 6th
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.
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Homesteaders Push and Pull

For Students 5th - 6th
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.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Wagon Train

For Teachers 3rd - Higher Ed
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...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Time Out!!!

For Teachers 5th - 7th
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.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Women's Roles: Then and Now

For Teachers 4th
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...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Moving to the Frontier

For Teachers 4th - 7th
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.
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Lesson Plan
US National Archives

Herbert Hoover Presidential Library: Pioneer Life With Laura

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
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...
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Primary
University of Wisconsin

University of Wisconsin: Wisconsin Pioneer Experience

For Students 9th - 10th
Collection of primary source journals, letters, etc. on pioneer life in Wisconsin.
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Website
Other

Arabia Steamboat Story

For Students 9th - 10th
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...
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Primary
Library of Congress

Loc: Nation Expansion and Reform: Traveling on the Overland Trails, 1843 1860

For Students 9th - 10th
Primary source information about traveling the Overland Trails, both to Oregon Country and California.
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Article
Christian Science Monitor

Christian Science Monitor: What Kids Did on the Western Frontier

For Students 9th - 10th
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.
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Website
PBS

Wnet: Thirteen: Frontier Life: "Hardship Without Glory": Life on the Trail

For Students 9th - 10th
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.
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Website
PBS

Wnet: Thirteen: Getting Started: Packing and Preparing for a New Life

For Students 9th - 10th
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.
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Website
PBS

Wnet: Thirteen: Largest Agricultural & Environmental Miscalculation in Amer History

For Students 9th - 10th
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...
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Website
Other

Doing History/keeping the Past: Farmers and Ranchers of Colorado

For Students 4th - 8th
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.
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Handout
Curated OER

Bureau of Land Management: Basic Facts About the Oregon Trail

For Students 4th - 8th
Learn basic facts about the Oregon Trail and the early pioneers who used it in their move West.
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Interactive
Other

Web Quest: Little House on the Prairie: Grades 4 6

For Students 3rd - 5th
This WebQuest (internet based project) asks students to "Persuade people that they should build a museum about Laura Ingalls Wilder in 'your state.'"
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Website
Other

Illinois State Museum: Native American Food

For Students 3rd - 8th
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...
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Handout
Library of Congress

Loc: America's Story: Laura Ingalls Wilder

For Students 3rd - 5th
Site provides some historical information on early prairie life through the eyes of Laura Ingalls Wilder.
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Website
PBS

Wnet: Thirteen: Frontier Life

For Students 3rd - 8th
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.