Grade 6 Historical Fiction Research: Westward Expansion

An introductory history of the Oregon Trail and its significance in opening the west to settlers, including information on the people who opened the Trail, their reasons for going west, modes of transportation, and a description of a typical day on the Trail.

For ages 9 to 12 years. You are there as part of a family of five--from the decision to pack up and leave; to buying the supplies and outfitting the wagon in independence, MO; to the arduous journey to Oregon; and building a new life in a frontier town. Take the challenge as you consider the same hard choices and tough decisions that the 'overlanders' faced as they traversed the continent in the Great Migration of the mid-1800s. Construct you own raft, canal locks, train, paddle boat, and prairie schooner for the unforgettable trip West. Meet Daniel Boone, Lewis and Clark, Sacajawea, Kit Carson, and the other mountain men, trailblazers, and American Indians who forged the way. Experience the Gold Rush by staking a claim and panning for gold; learn to lasso like a cowboy and make your own 'brand'; 'ride the tornado', pile up 'leeverites', and host a spelling bee; build yourself a pretzel log cabin or a sod house made from brownies--and construct a huge model of Fort Laramie.

Discusses the everyday life, family roles, cooking methods, and common foods of pioneers who traveled west on the Oregon Trail during the nineteenth century. Includes recipes.

Young Moses and his family are barely scraping by. He helps his father in their fish stall selling each day's catch to passersby but times are hard in 1889 Baltimore. It's difficult to provide for a family of ten. But when they hear of free farmland out in Oklahoma, it sounds like the answer to their prayers. The family sells all they own and heads west to fulfill a lifelong dream. Their wagon journey, however, is plagued with troubles from ice storms and flooded rivers to diminishing supplies and sickness. Yet Moses and his family persevere. They arrive in time to take a place along the boundary line that marks the staging point for the Oklahoma Land Run. But after making it this far, will even more bad luck prevent them from realizing their dream of owning their own piece of America? Evocative paintings and spellbinding storytelling bring the Oklahoma Land Run to vivid life for young readers.

Follows a family's emigration by prairie schooner from the East, across the plains to Kansas.

Grandma Essie describes how her family left Missouri by covered wagon looking for a better life and lived in Kansas and Oklahoma before returning to Missouri.