TEACHER:
CLASS: 5th Grade
DATE: December 14-15
M T W TH F
FRAME THE LESSON
Trails to the West
Student Expectations Bundled in Lesson
Noun=Underline Verb=Italicize
Resources/Materials
Pearson’s 5th Grade
Building Our Nation
TE
4C: identify reasons people moved west
(p. 350-357)
8A: identify and describe the types of settlement and patterns of land use in the United States
23C: explain how scientific discoveries and technological innovations in the fields of medicine, communication, and transportation have
benefited individuals and society in the United States
Closing Product/
Question/
Informal
Assessment:
Objective/Key Understanding:





Identify the economic and social reasons that led settlers to risk moving west.
Summarize the impact of western settlement on the lives of American Indians.
Identify important individuals and their contributions to westward settlement.
Analyze how geography influenced the location of trails and settlements in the West.
Identify the variety of routes to the West and why people traveled them.
Got it Questions
1-9 (p. 350-357)
Rigor & Relevance: (Real World Connection)
Vocabulary
On an archeological dig on a section of the Oregon Trail, you help dig up an
abandoned wagon. It is about 10 feet long, much smaller then you thought it would be.
How does knowing the size of the wagon help you imagine the pioneer’s journey?
Persecution
Wagon trail
Prairie schooner
Stop and Check for Understanding- High Level Questions
The Westward Trail (p. 350-351)
 What details do you see in the image that corresponds with what you learned in the text?
 How did the prairie schooners, as nineteenth-century advancement in transportation, help settle the West?
 What is one fact about the kinds of items that pioneers brought with them on the westward trail?
 To explain how the westward expansion affected American Indians, describe how they reacted to the wagon trails.
The Oregon Country (p. 352)
 What present-day states were parts of Oregon Country?
 Why did the United States get the southern part of Oregon in 1846?
 What is one question you would ask a pioneer in the Oregon Territory?
 What did Marcus and Narcissa Whitman want American Indians to do?
 How did the Whitmans shape the growth of the Oregon Territory?
 In what ways are prairie schooners and modern SUVs most different? Explain.
“Oregon or Bust” (p. 353)
 What path did the Oregon Trail follow?
 To describe the hardships of the settlers along the overland trails to the West, discuss some of the problems they faced along the Oregon Trail.
 What were the costs and benefits for settlers who traveled west along the Oregon Trail?
 What is one question you have about traveling along the Oregon Trail?
 Why did it take so long to travel the trail?
The Mormon Trail (p. 354)
 Who are the Mormons?
 Why did the Mormons move west?
 To identify roles and contributions of significant people during the period of westward expansion, explain Brigham Young’s accomplishments.
 What is one fact about the Mormon Trail?
 What are some differences between the Oregon Trail and the Mormon Trail?
Trails to the Southwest (p. 355)
 What goods did traders sell in Santa Fe, and what did the y bring back to Missouri?
 Compare prairie schooners and Conestoga wagons.
 How did American Indians react to Texan settlement after the Mexican War?
 What were the costs and benefits of traveling along the Santa Fe Trail?
 What details do you notice about the image of the Governor’s Palace in Santa Fe?
 How is it different than the image of the wagon train image on page 350?
Reaching California (p. 356-357)
 What did traders who traveled along the Old Spanish trail sell?
 What did they bring back from California?
 What existing paths were used to help establish Old Spanish Trail?
 What is similar about the Santa Fe Trail and the Old Spanish Trail?
 What trail would people use to get to the area around Great Salt Lake
Engage
Explore
Explain
Elaborate
Evaluate
Introduce the Key Idea & Vocabulary (p. 350)
 Read to the class the Key Idea: “I will know that traveling on the westward rails had costs and benefits.” Tell students in this lesson they will be learning about
this quote and what it means to American History.
 Go online to access the Lesson Introduction and discuss the Big Question and lesson objective (p. 350).
 Students are to complete the Using the Words to Know Worksheet before reading the lesson.
Remind students that they will know that traveling on the westward rails had costs and benefits. Each group is to read a section and be prepared to discuss and share
findings with the class. Students are to read assigned sections and be prepared to share findings with class.
 The Westward Trail (p. 350-351)
 The Oregon Country (p. 352)
 “Oregon or Bust” (p. 353)
 The Mormon Trail (p. 354)
 Trails to the Southwest (p. 355)
 Reaching California (p. 356-357)
Remind students that they will learn that new inventions and forms of transportation had costs and benefits.
The Westward Trail (p. 350-351)
 A few migrants rode horses along the trail. But many pioneers heading west walked much of the way because their wagon were already heavy with supplies.
Riding in the wagons would put more strain on the oxen or mules pulling it.
The Oregon Country (p. 352)
 In the early 1800s, many pioneers headed for Oregon Country. This region included the present states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, as well as lands to
the north. In 1846, the United States and Great Britain split the region. The southern part, where most Americans had settled, went to the United States. It was
called Oregon Territory.
“Oregon or Bust” (p. 353)
 For settlers, the Oregon Trail was 2,000 miles of rough travel. It was an exhausting trip. But many pioneers had the attitude “Oregon or Bust!” That meant,
“I’ll make it to Oregon or die trying.” The Oregon Trail started in Independence, Missouri. Pioneers gathered there I the spring. They bought nay supplies they
needed, including prairie schooners, and signed up with the leader of a wagon train.
The Mormon Trail (p. 354)
 One group of settlers moved west to seek religious freedom they were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as Mormons.
Joseph Smith founded the church in 1830 in New York State. Smith and his followers soon moved to Ohio. From there, some Mormons established homes in
Missouri and Illinois.
Trails to the Southwest (p. 355)
 The Santa Fe Trail was about 900 miles long. A wagon train could make the trip to what was then Mexico in about two months. However, few settlers crossed
the Great Plains by this route. It was a trail followed mainly by traders. Starting in 1821, they used it to move cargo to and from Santa Fe.
Reaching California (p. 356-357)
 In 1829, a Mexican trader forged a new trail from Santa Fe to California. Traders could earn money in California markets selling woolen goods from New
Mexico. In return, they brought horses and mules from California back to New Mexico. The trail, later called the Old Spanish trail, followed a series of
American Indian and early explorer’s trails.
Questions from the Stop and Check for Understanding- High Level Questions are to be used here. (Please see this from above).
Students will demonstrate mastery by completing the Got It Questions:
 Identify three details to support the main idea.
 Interpret the chart, which vehicle should be able to climb a mountain more easily? Identify and circle the statistic in the chart that explains your answer.
 Identify how the parts of the prairie schooner helped travelers.
 Label two geographic features in this painting of Salt Lake City, Utah. Then explain why you think the Mormons chose this location for their settlement.
 Travelers used different trails on their journeys west. On a separate piece of paper, construct a chart to compare and contrast the routes listed on the map.
Include starting and ending points, and landforms and bodies of water encountered.
 Identify the main difference in reasons for moving west between people on the Oregon Trail and people on the Mormon Trail.
 On an archeological dig on a section of the Oregon Trail, you help dig up an abandoned wagon. It is about 10 feet long, much smaller then you thought it
would be. How does knowing the size of the wagon help you imagine the pioneer’s journey?
 Describe why people moved to Oregon Country in the 1840s.
TEACHER:
CLASS: 5th Grade
DATE: December 16
M T W TH F
FRAME THE LESSON
Fact and Opinion
Resources/Materials:
Student Expectations Bundled in Lesson
Noun=Underline
Verb=Italicize
24D: identify different points of view about an issue, topic, or current event
Pearson’s 5th Grade
Building Our Nation
TE
(p. 358-359)
Objective/Key Understanding:



Distinguish between facts and
opinions.
Determine the facts of a paragraph.
Identify opinions or points of view
of an author.
Stop & Check for Understanding—High Level Questions
Preview the Sill (p. 358)
 Can you think of a subject that you have a personal feeling about? What is it?
 What are facts?
Practice the Skill (p. 358)
 Is the second sentence an opinion or a fact? How do you know?
 Which sentence expresses a fact? Explain how you know?
Vocabulary:
Closing Product/ Question/ Informal
Assessment:
Apply the Skill (p. 359)
Rigor & Relevance: (Real World Connection)
Apply the Skill
Vocabulary:
(p.359)
Reread the sections titled Trails to the Southwest and Reaching California and answer the following questions about
facts and opinions.
 What is a fact about Conestoga wagons?
 What is an opinion about Conestoga wagons?
 Use the chart to identify a fact about the Old Spanish Trail to California, and an opinion about that fact.
 Interpret the chart and think of your own travel experiences. Orally tell a classmate your opinion about which
method of travel should be used on the Old Spanish Trail.
Engage
Explore
Explain
Elaborate
Evaluate
Preview the Skill (p. 358)
Before students read page 358, ask them if they know the difference between a fact and an opinion.
 Can you think of a subject that you have a personal feeling about? What is it?
Explain to students that this person al feeling is called their opinion. Then explain that opinions are different than facts-in a way, they are opposite.
 What are facts?
Distinguishing Facts from Opinions (p.358)
Build background knowledge on distinguishing the difference between facts and opinions. Use the following ideas to differentiate instruction for
students when discussing how to give an effective presentation
Special Needs:
 Ask students to state one fact and one opinion about a topic that is relevant to them, such as what they did on a recent field trip or classroom
activity.
Extra Support:
 Have students suppose go back into Lesson 3 and look for a fact they they found fascinating. Then have them express an opinion about that fact.
On-Level:
 Have students work with a partner and find one fact and one opinion from either Lesson 1 or Lesson 2. Ask them to compare their findings with
another pair. You may wish to hall pairs share their selections with the class.
Challenge/Gifted:
 Ask students to use another source and find more information about one of the trails taught in this lesson. They should come up with a list of
facts and opinions, based on what they read.
Practice the Skill (p. 358). Ask students to read the information on page 358 to learn about ways to distinguish facts and opinions. Students are to fill in
the chart, Children Traveling West, distinguishing facts from opinions.
After students learn about distinguishing facts and opinions, use the ELPS support note on page 350b to help the English Language Learners. Begin
working in some new expressions as you go about your daily instruction of (and interaction with ) students. For example, you might say, take
out your books instead of open your books; engage with your partner instead of talk to a partner, and so forth. Try to find more challenging
ways to say the ordinary classroom instructions you already use.
Beginning
 Ask students to repeat after you the expression you use when you instruct them to do something.
Intermediate
 Write on the board a few of the new expressions you plan to use. Ask students to say them aloud. Ask them to tell what they mean-they may
relate them to expressions they’ve heard you use in the past.
Advanced
 Ask students to work with a partner and note any new expressions you use during the day. At the end of the day, ask them to say the new
expressions they heard and tell what they mean.
Advanced High
 Ask students to form small groups that will note all your instructional expressions during one week. After compiling a list, they should come up
with new expressions that give the same information and say them aloud for you.
Have students work in groups to complete the Apply Activity. Alternatively, this activity can be assigned as homework.
Apply the Skill (p. 359)
Reread the sections titled Trails to the Southwest and Reaching California and answer the following questions about facts and opinions.
 What is a fact about Conestoga wagons?
 What is an opinion about Conestoga wagons?
 Use the chart to identify a fact about the Old Spanish Trail to California, and an opinion about that fact.
 Interpret the chart and think of your own travel experiences. Orally tell a classmate your opinion about which method of travel should be used
on the Old Spanish Trail.
TEACHER:
CLASS: 5th Grade
DATE: December 17
M T W TH F
FRAME THE LESSON
The California Cold Rush
Student Expectations Bundled in Lesson
Noun=Underline Verb=Italicize
Resources/Materials
4D: identify significant events and concepts associated with U.S. territorial expansion, including the Louisiana Purchase, the expedition of
Lewis and Clark, and Manifest Destiny
(p. 342-349)
Pearson’s 5th Grade
Building Our Nation TE
8A: identify and describe the types of settlement and patterns of land use in the United States
Closing Product/
Question/ Informal
Assessment:
Objective/Key Understanding:





Analyze the causes and effects of the California gold rush.
Identify the tools and methods used by miners during the gold rush.
Analyze the variety of economic opportunities that developed out of the gold rush.
Identify the roles and contributions of significant people in the settlement of California.
Describe the events that made California a state.
Rigor & Relevance: (Real World Connection)

Your archeological team has research a gold-rush town. They ask you to identify
and describe how the town used the land and how this was different from other
land uses in the United States.
Vocabulary
Gold rush
Entrepreneur
Discrimination
Pony Express
Got it Questions
1-9 (p. 360-365)
Stop and Check for Understanding- High Level Questions
Gold Fever (p. 360-361)
 What were the events that led to the California gold rush?
 Why did people rush to California after the carpenter’s discovery?
 Why were gold rush miners called “forty-niners”?
 What ways did people travel to California?
 How might John Sutter have felt about the results of the discovery?
 Examine how nineteenth-century advancements in transportation benefited the gold rush.
 What does the population chart show on page 361?
Searching for Gold (p. 362)
 Describe the “simple” way people panned for gold at first and how California’s geography made it possible.
 What was a sluice?
 What were the costs and benefits of finding gold in California?
 What details do you notice about the image of miners using a sluice?
The Profit Motive (p. 363)
 What economic opportunities developed because of the gold rush?
 What does demand mean when it is used as a noun?
 To identify the roles and contributions of significant people of westward expansion, explain who Levi Strauss was and what he did.
 How is Luzena Stanley Wilson an example of how the California gold rush benefitted people?
 What questions do you have about the profits people made during the California gold rush?
 What were other needs the forty-niners probably had in addition to those mentioned in the Worktext?
California Becomes a State (p. 364-365)
 How did the discovery of gold in California help it become a state?
 What were the costs and benefits of California’s growing population?
 Do you think the tax on foreign miners was fair? Why?
 Examine how nineteenth-century advancements in communication, such as the Pony Express, contributed to the period of westward
expansion.
 What is one question you have about the Pony Express?
 How many years after the start of the gold rush did California become a state?
 Why did the telegraph replace the Pony Express?
 How did the gold rush affect California’s economic growth?
 What opinion do you think California’s citizens had about the new railroad that reached across the United States? Why?
Engage
Explore
Explain
Elaborate
Evaluate
Introduce the Key Idea & Vocabulary (p. 360)
 Read to the class the Key Idea: “I will know that the California gold rush had costs and benefits.” Tell students in this lesson they
will be learning about this quote and what it means to American History.
 Go online to access the Lesson Introduction and discuss the Big Question and lesson objective (p. 360).
 Students are to complete the Using the Words to Know Worksheet before reading the lesson.
Remind students they will know that the California gold rush had costs and benefits. Divide the class into groups. Each group is to read a
section and be prepared to discuss and share findings with the class. Students are to read assigned sections and be prepared to share
findings with class.
 Gold Fever (p. 360-361)
 Searching for Gold (p. 362)
 The Profit Motive (p. 363)
 California Becomes a State (p. 364-365)
Remind students they will know that the California gold rush had costs and benefits.
Gold Fever (p. 360-361)
 Gold is yellowish metal, soft enough to be formed into beautiful objects. It will not tarnish or discolor. It is also scarce. For these
reasons, it has great value. The possibility of finding lots of gold can excite people. The California gold rush proved that.
Searching for Gold (p. 362)
 By 1853, the gold rush had drawn more than 250,000 people west to California. The gold fields attracted people from all over the
world. White Americans, African Americans, Chinese, Latinos, and others staked out claims to land.
The Profit Motive (p. 363)
 Where there were gold miners, there were profits to be made. In fact, some of the largest gold-rush fortunes were made by people
who never lifted a pan or a pick. They were the merchants who sold the pans, picks, shovels, kettles, tents, blankets, clothing, and
food to the miners.
California Becomes a State (p. 364-365)
 Many gold seekers left for home after a few months, but many more stayed. As a result, California’s population soared. In 1850, just
two years after gold was found, California had enough people to become the nation’s thirty-first state.
Questions from the Stop and Check for Understanding- High Level Questions are to be used here. (Please see this from above).
Students will demonstrate mastery by completing the Got It Questions:
 This picture shows how San Francisco looked in 1849. Write a caption that describes San Francisco at this time.
 Contrast this picture of San Francisco in 1860 with the one on the previous page. What differences do you see?
 Analyze the timeline, and then write information about California’s history to complete it.
 Summarize an opinion that you think someone outside of California might have had about the forty-niners.
 Your archeological team has research a gold-rush town. They ask you to identify and describe how the town used the land and how
this was different from other land uses in the United States.
 Analyze the effects the gold rush had on economic development of the United States.
FRAME THE LESSON
TEKS Practice
TEACHER:
CLASS: 5th Grade
DATE: December 18
M T W TH F
Resources/Materials:
Student Expectations Bundled in Lesson
Noun=Underline
Verb=Italicize
Pearson’s 5th Grade
Building Our Nation TE
4C: identify reasons people moved west
(p. 366-369)
8A: identify and describe the types of settlement and patterns of land use in the United States
13C: analyze the effects of immigration, migration, and limited resources on the economic development and growth of the United States
:
Objective/Key Understanding:
~ After studying this topic, students will demonstrate the following enduring understandings:
 Changes in technology have costs and benefits.
 Technological advances can change how and where people live.
 Nations can gain or lose territory through war, treaties, and the movement of people.
 People move for economic, political, and social reasons.
 People may undergo personal hardships to obtain economic opportunity or personal freedom
~Students will answer questions about every TEKS on the TEKS Practice pages 366-369.