End of Year Events

Pioneer Project

All wagons made it to Fort Choice where the next trail decision had to be made. Three wagons chose to take the safer but longer route, Long Trail. One risk taking wagon train chose Massacre Canyon Trail, which Gracie questioned..."Why would you take a trail called Massacre Canyon Trail, massacre literally means an abundance of death!"  They immediately regretted that decision when Native Americans attacked their wagon train which lead to death and loss, and to follow that there was an avalanche!  

Coming up, wagon trains should make it to Paradise where student's will make the final but major decision of the Pioneer Project. Let's hope no one dies...:( 

Here are some great Challenge Projects we've gotten in. 

Pioneer Project

This week student wagon train members have gone through a lot of hardships. Broken limbs, falling in a fire, snake bites, pioneers wondering off, and equipment failures.  Student wagons had to decide this week to go shorter Burial Grounds Trail which crosses sacred Native American lands, or to go the Cheyenne River Trail which is much longer but has water and grasses for the animals. All of our wagons chose the longer, less dangerous trail. Here are a couple of examples from this week's work.

Math Review Folders 2

This week we added information on Fractions to our Math Review Folder. We've learned soooo much about fractions this year including ordering, comparing, adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing. Here are some quick pics of this week's work.

We also added information on Coordinate Graphs, Mean-Median-Mode-Range, as well as hundreds charts to show percents,-decimals-fractions. 

Reading

Students are doing book groups starting this week. The books we are reading all relate to Westward Expansion. Ask your child about which book they are reading and to tell you about what they've read so far. 

With only a guide book to show them the way, the Todd family sets out from their Arkansas home on a two thousand mile trek to claim unchartered Oregon Territory. Crossing rough terrain and encountering hostile people, the Todds show their true pioneering spirit. But as winter draws near, will the Todds have the strength to complete their journey? And if they make it, will Oregon fulfill their dreams?

Set in the late nineteenth century and told from young Anna's point of view, Sarah, Plain and Tall tells the story of how Sarah Elisabeth Wheaton comes from Maine to the prairie to answer Papa's advertisement for a wife and mother. Before Sarah arrives, Anna and her younger brother, Caleb, wait and wonder. Will Sarah be nice? Will she sing? Will she stay?

It isn′t easy being a pioneer in the state of Washington in 1899, but it′s particularly hard when you are the only girl ever born in the new settlement. With seven older brothers and a love of adventure, May Amelia Jackson just can′t seem to abide her family′s insistence that she behave like a Proper Young Lady. She′s sure she could do better if only there were at least one other girl living along the banks of the Nasel River. And now that Mama′s going to have a baby, maybe there′s hope.

Thirteen-year-old Hattie Campbell records the details of her family's harrowing migration to Oregon in a covered wagon and describes the many challenges, both joyful and tragic, that mark the journey.

In this fast-paced, courageous, and inspiring story, readers adventure with Charlotte Parkhurst as she first finds work as a stable hand, becomes a famous stage-coach driver (performing brave feats and outwitting bandits), finds love as a woman but later resumes her identity as a man after the loss of a baby and the tragic death of her husband, and ultimately settles out west on the farm she'd dreamed of having since childhood. It wasn't until after her death that anyone discovered she was a woman.

Annie Rising Fawn, a young Cherokee girl living in Georgia in 1838, and a slave girl, Righteous Cry, undertake a dangerous journey to escape the brutal Indian Removal of 1838. 

Caroline and Jess struggle to get along with their prim grandmother, who has come to their prairie home to help take care of them while their father recovers from an accident.

Fourteen-year-old Francis Tucket is heading west on the Oregon Trail with his family by wagon train. When he receives a rifle for his birthday, he is thrilled that he is being treated like an adult. But Francis lags behind to practice shooting and is captured by Pawnees. It will take wild horses, hostile tribes, and a mysterious one-armed mountain man named Mr. Grimes to help Francis become the man who will be called Mr. Tucket.

Caddie Woodlawn is a real adventurer. She'd rather hunt than sew and plow than bake, and tries to beat her brother's dares every chance she gets. Caddie is friends with Indians, who scare most of the neighbors -- neighbors who, like her mother and sisters, don't understand her at all. 

 The last thing Logan West wants is to move away from his grandparents and comfortable home in St. Louis to the wilds of Kansas. Convinced that his father want him to be like "every other boy in the West," Logan is intent on following his own path, which leads him to many adventures- including a new job and an unexpected truth about his father.

Writing Projects TO BE DONE AT HOME

Dear Families,

You are invited to attend our Westward Expansion presentations on Tuesday, May 23rd, at 8:15 a.m. in the Randall cafeteria. We hope you will be able to attend!

These presentations will be based on the research and writing that students have done in school, but the presentation will need to be done at home. There are many many choices for how students can present, it is very open ended to allow students to use their own talents and preferences when deciding how to present. The requirement is that the student presents their information in a visually appealing way. Here are some things that students could do, but these are only possibilities, students can come up with other great ideas.

Non Digital	Digital
Poster Diorama Triorama Quadrama Board game Brochure Picture Book Interview Advertisement Reenactment Scrapbook Display	Google slideshow Prezi PowToon Glogster Video Scratch Stop Motion Jeopardy game Other

If your child doesn’t know what one of those formats is, don’t chose that one!  The presentation needs to be relevant to the topic. If your student studied clothing, for example, their visual presentation should be on clothing. If your student studied Lewis and Clark, their visual should be about Lewis and Clark. At school the students are preparing all the research they should need in their paper, they simply need to transfer it to another format for presentation purposes. Students should also be prepared to convey this information to people observing their presentation. They should be able to clearly verbalize and share what they know and have learned!  We’ve talked with the students about the value of making the presentation interactive.  While this is not a requirement, it engages the audience and is a way students can go beyond expectations.

We are requesting that all visuals be brought to school on Wednesday, May 17th, so that we can make sure we are organized and ready to present!

Thank you for your support,

Mrs. Shorette,  Ms. Sugar, Mrs. Hamel and Ms. Leah

Pioneer Project

This week has been a slurry of action on the Hacker Trail. Wagon trains started out early this week and right away ran into trouble because they didn't bring enough water and firewood. Many delay points were accrued, and some groups lost Energy Factors.  Both EFs and delay points can hold the wagon trains back on the trail. But students worked hard on Diary Entry 1, family portraits and Trail Decision 1. Ask your child about what happened when their wagon train got to Prairie Wells, and which decision they made to get water and move along. 

 



Wagons made headway along the trail. Here is the map showing how far each wagon train has gone. Ask your child which train is their train, and how they did on the assignments to help their wagon train move forward, as well as discuss challenge projects they could do at home to help. (see Google Classroom for list).