Online Resources
Oregon Trial Game
http://www.oregontrail.com/hmh/site/oregontrail/home/face_book;jsessionid=2868A32C59695A13CA4841F175BDEE95.ProdNode1
The Oregon Trail Game is a free downloadable computer game that
will allow children “travel” the Oregon Trail. When a student plays, they first
get to choose where they are leaving from; some of these cities include Minneapolis and Detroit, and where they are going Oregon or California. Once a student has chosen their starting place they must outfit their wagon by buying supplies. The wagon (aka student) quickly starts their journey west. During their journey questions will pop up, such as whether or not to cross a certain river, based on the way the student’s answers a consequence will occur. The student will also be exposed to messages about what is occurring to other families in the wagon train. Eventually, the student will arrive at their destination and after a few more messages about how the family is doing, the game will end and students can start a new adventure if they want. Overall, this game allows students to pretend they are traveling on the Oregon Trail, and the events that occur are real problems that the travelers faced while crossing the trail. This game will help students understand the hardships people experienced when they were moving west for what they thought would be a better life. The benefit of this game is the Oregon Trail unit will be relevant to the students who have played the game because they will have a reference point for what they are learning due to the game.
will allow children “travel” the Oregon Trail. When a student plays, they first
get to choose where they are leaving from; some of these cities include Minneapolis and Detroit, and where they are going Oregon or California. Once a student has chosen their starting place they must outfit their wagon by buying supplies. The wagon (aka student) quickly starts their journey west. During their journey questions will pop up, such as whether or not to cross a certain river, based on the way the student’s answers a consequence will occur. The student will also be exposed to messages about what is occurring to other families in the wagon train. Eventually, the student will arrive at their destination and after a few more messages about how the family is doing, the game will end and students can start a new adventure if they want. Overall, this game allows students to pretend they are traveling on the Oregon Trail, and the events that occur are real problems that the travelers faced while crossing the trail. This game will help students understand the hardships people experienced when they were moving west for what they thought would be a better life. The benefit of this game is the Oregon Trail unit will be relevant to the students who have played the game because they will have a reference point for what they are learning due to the game.
Google Certified Teacher Virtual Field Trips
http://alicechristie.org/search/trips.html#museums
Ideally, as a teacher one wants to take their students on field trips to museums, farms, local monuments and many other things, but to do budgeting and time most classes don’t get to participate in many field trips. However, virtual field trips allow students to virtually explore museums all over the country, and some museums that only exist virtually have been created. Most of these field trips are free and can be explored for 20minutes or for hours. Some of the museums that students can visit virtually instead of seeing in person are the American Museum of Natural History, and the Franklin Institute. Museums such as the American Red Cross Virtual Museum, and the Liberty Bell Virtual Museum, can only be seen virtually. Many fieldtrips on this site do not only relate to history, but can be used in a variety of subjects. These field trips are beneficial because students will enjoy learning about things such as the Liberty Bell by virtually exploring it, and learning facts through exploration instead of reading the same facts from a textbook. These virtual field trips help teachers save money on field trips, and they don’t have to take all day, but the students are still learning things through exploration instead of through a textbook.
Liberty's Kids
http://www.tv.com/shows/libertys-kids/episodes/
Liberty’s Kids is a show produced by PBS that takes place prior to, during, and right after the Revolutionary War. This show is currently on Netflix, and many episodes can be found on YouTube and around the web. The show is from the perspective of three adolescents who are helping Ben Franklin produce the newspaper using a printing press. The characters are Sarah, who grew up in England and while she recognizes America’s fight for freedom she still expresses some English sympathies. James is a young man who is too young to fight for the colonists, but completely supports the cause. Henri is a young French boy who is especially proud to be French when the French join the Colonists. Throughout the show the characters meet people such as Sam, John, and Abigail Adam, Benedict Arnold, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Lafayette, Sarah “Pitcher”, Ben Franklin and many other people who played integral role in the Revolutionary War. This show is particularly worthwhile because in forty episodes it covers the big revolutionary war events such as the Boston Tea Party and the signing of the Declaration of Independence, but it also shows some of the smaller events such as the role of the minute men. In addition this show has characters that all have different perspectives, one sees the war from the perspective of the French, Hessians, white people, African Americans, and many others. By watching this show students will realize that many different types of people participated in the revolutionary war. While this show is historical fiction it is also accurate. In my own classroom I plan to use this show to supplement the Revolutionary War unit in the textbook. Since, the show is from an adolescent’s perspective, it has catchy songs, and the events are told in a story fashion, the students will enjoy learning about the war. This link is a compilation of all forty episodes and places where one can buy individual episodes such as amazon or iTunes.
Historical Fiction Booklist
http://www.1mpages.com/HistoricalFiction.html
Adding historical fiction to a classroom library will help
students for many reasons. Some advantages of reading historical fiction are
that it helps kids put a face to history. For example, reading a story such as
Number the Stars, will help students learn about the Holocaust because they are able to relate to what they are learning to the characters within the story Number the Stars. In addition, if the historical fiction book is from a child’s perspective, than the child is able to imagine the event happening to them, this creates empathy and relevance. In addition, historical fiction books can teach children about events that the curriculum doesn’t cover, or delve deeper into a topic that the curriculum does cover. Most of all historical fiction books help history become interesting and entertaining for students. However, choosing appropriate historical fiction books for a classroom is important, there are many historical fiction booklists around the Internet and in public libraries that will help one choose appropriate historical fiction books, this site contains one of these
lists. This list is sorted by topics, and includes books for all age groups.
students for many reasons. Some advantages of reading historical fiction are
that it helps kids put a face to history. For example, reading a story such as
Number the Stars, will help students learn about the Holocaust because they are able to relate to what they are learning to the characters within the story Number the Stars. In addition, if the historical fiction book is from a child’s perspective, than the child is able to imagine the event happening to them, this creates empathy and relevance. In addition, historical fiction books can teach children about events that the curriculum doesn’t cover, or delve deeper into a topic that the curriculum does cover. Most of all historical fiction books help history become interesting and entertaining for students. However, choosing appropriate historical fiction books for a classroom is important, there are many historical fiction booklists around the Internet and in public libraries that will help one choose appropriate historical fiction books, this site contains one of these
lists. This list is sorted by topics, and includes books for all age groups.
Lesson Plan
http://www.readworks.org/lessons/grade4/genre/lesson-1
Most teachers find themselves teaching their students about different genres. It is important to teach different genres because it helps children realize how many different types of books exist. Teaching a unit on historical fiction might be one of the most important units because students often won’t pick up a book about history because they associate the word history with the word boring. However, reading historical fiction tells a story just like fantasy books do; dispelling the myth that a historical fiction book is just a book of historical facts will help students become more open to reading the genre. ReadWorks.org has created a lesson for 4th graders on historical fiction. This lesson will last about fifty minutes, and the goal is for students to be able to recognize a historical fiction book. This lesson comes with a standards alignment, blueprint of how best to teach it, and worksheet to reinforce what is being taught. This lesson uses the book Meet Addy part of the American Girl series but a teacher can use any historical fiction book. For the first chapter the teacher should guide the students in finding evidence that this is a historical fiction book, and once the class reaches the 2nd chapter it becomes individual work. This lesson is beneficial because by exploring a historical fiction book students will learn that while this genre does contain historical fact, the facts buried within the story, which will help make the facts more entertaining to learn.