Sodbusters
Learning Target: I will be able to evaluate the long-term impact of human migration and settlement to the American west after the Civil War.
Illinois Social Science Standards
Human Population: Spatial Patterns and Movements
SS.G.3.6-8.LC: Explain how environmental characteristics impact human migration and settlement.
SS.G3.6-8.MdC: Explain how changes in transportation and communication influence the spatial connections among human settlements and affect the spread of ideas and culture.
SS.G3.6-8.MC: Evaluate the influences of long-term human-induced environmental change on spatial patterns of conflict and cooperation.
Key Terms
Homestead Act - laws in the United States by which an applicant could acquire ownership of government land or the public domain, typically called a homestead.
migration - movement from one part of something to another.
Sodbuster - a farmer or farm worker who plows the land.
Sodhouse - sod house or soddy was an often used alternative to the log cabin during frontier settlement of the Great Plains.
Bell Ringer Discussion
What makes a home comfortable? What does every home need?
Lesson Notes
Sodbusters
Homestead Act set up a program where 160 acres were given or sold to Americans
The land was free if farmed for five years.
Each acre was sold for $1.25 if not farmed for five years.
Settlers build homes made of sod, or dirt with grassroots.
Steel plows, windmills, barbed wire, and the Transcontinental Railroad made this migration of Americans easier.
Nebraska Sodhouse vs. Wooden Home.pdf1a: Sodbusters Invade the Great Plains (Heartland).pdf