Wagon Wheels Keep On Rolling!
The Oregon Trail came to life in second grade! Learning about the Westward Expansion took a fun twist for our second grade students with the addition of a fascinating project. Their teachers anchored this social studies unit with a historical fiction book titled Wagon Wheels, which tells the first-hand story of a family traveling west and the hardships that occur.
In order for the students to get an understanding of what it might have been like to live during that time, the second-grade team put together a hands-on activity where students used what they learned from their reading and then put themselves in the Pioneers’ shoes.
“The students worked with a partner to create their own wagon,” Jessica Hanzsche said. “They were responsible for filling it with a limited number of items and agreeing on what they thought was most important. Afterwards they presented what they came up with and it was interesting to see what the different partnerships valued and the reasoning behind their items!”
Braydon Albrecht partnered with Asa Beckett and they had quite the list of essentials, “We had medicine, coffee to keep us awake, Blacksmith tools to fix wheels, gun powder, and bacon!”
Next up, second grade will dive into learning about the Pony Express and how the Pioneers communicated as the country began to expand.