The Fourth Grade has been learning about Westward Expansion through an integrated unit of study combining Social Studies, Geography, Reading, Writing & Math. Students began by studying Lewis and Clark’s Expedition of the Louisiana Purchase Territory. They did extensive reading about the difficult journey of the pioneers on the Oregon Trail. They ‘packed’ their wagons (with a weight limit of 2000 pounds), kept track of supplies on an invoice, calculated the weight of their wagons, illustrated their wagons and set off on their own journey west. Students wrote their own historical fiction! Just this past week they completed their Oregon Trail Journals. They ‘tea stained’ their journal covers to make them look authentic and old. This is truly one of the favorite units of study in 4th grade as evidenced by the fantastic journal writing the kids enthusiastically created. They were required to mention several important landmarks along the way, they wrote about the hardships encountered by these brave travelers and immersed themselves in what it must have been like to travel west in the mid-1800’s!

Conanicut Island Sailing Foundation helps bridge classroom learning with real life experiences.