Who ARE
You????
Westward Expansion
My person is
_________________________________
PBLQ (Project Based Learning Question)
Why Did I Go West and what was it like IRL to live
in the West?
Design your own cover:
L
A R G E
I
R
L
Name _____________________________________ Block __________
1
Westward Expansion Who Packet SCORING RUBRIC
SCORE
DESCRIPTION
CATEGORY
4

CATEGORY
3

CATEGORY
2

CATEGORY
1


CATEGORY
0

BLANK
The student completes all important components of the
task and communicates ideas clearly.

The student demonstrates in-depth understanding of the
relevant concepts and/or process.

Where appropriate, the student offers insightful
interpretations or extensions (generalizations, applications,
analogies).
The student completes most important components of the
task and communicates clearly.

The student demonstrates understanding of major
concepts even though he/she overlooks or misunderstands
some less important ideas or details.
The student completes some important components of
the task and communicates those clearly.

The student demonstrates that there are gaps in his/her
understanding.
The student shows minimal or basic understanding.
The student addresses only a small portion of the required
task(s).

Responses and work completed are incorrect.
No response.
Self Check Score ________________
or
Group check Score______________
Teacher Check Score ________________
2
Unit I.1 – Reshaping of America: 1865 to 1917
Standard:
Students will be able to explain how geography and new technologies
sparked growth and movement westward in the latter half of the 19th century
Learning Progression
Advanced
I can give examples of how new technologies continue to change how people live
Proficient
Proficient
Intermediate
Beginning
I can explain how new technologies changed the way people adapt to the geographic landscape
I can explain how technology helped to overcome geographic barriers to expansion
I can identify the main physical features of the western United States
3
Unit I.2 – Reshaping of America: 1865-1917
Standard:
Students will be able to describe the impact of westward expansion on
American Indians (USII. 4a)
Learning Progression
Advanced
I can give examples of other conflicts that arise due to different perspectives (in the past,
Proficient
present or in their lives)
Proficient
I can explain what happens when two cultures have a different perspective on land ownership and use
Intermediate
I can indicate on a map where Americans Indians groups were located in the western region
of the United States and the locations where pioneers wanted to settle
Beginning
I can describe the first inhabitants of the western region of the United States
4
NAME
WILL GO

WILL STAY

REASON WHY/WHY NOT
Nathan Hammond
John and Martha Lytle
Matthew and Patience Reynolds
John and Sarah Barfield
Benjamin and Selinda Prim
Otto and Anna Shippen
Azariah and Faith Davis
Richard and Jean St. Clair
Jonas Dahl
Activity #1 Who will go?
What do all these people have in common?
5
Activity #2 Pushed or Pulled???
Economic
Opportunity
Health
Social
Freedom
Political
PULL (Positive in West pulls you to the WEST)
PUSH (Negative in East pushes you out of the EAST)
6
Adventure
Social
Activity #3 Act it OUT Project Story STARTER
Westward Expansion IRL

You are moving westward because of the Homestead Act. You are able to buy land cheaply in
the West. 160 acres for $18.00. You have never had a chance to own your own property before.
You move West and start a wheat farm because there is not a lot of rain on the Great Plains.

You are moving westward because you want to be a farmer. The Great Plains used to be
impossible to farm, but new technology has made it easier to farm such as the steel plow and
barbed wire. You will be able to sell your crops easily because of the new railroad.

You are moving westward because you want to be a cattle or a horse rancher in Texas. The
Great Plains used to be impossible due to low rainfall, but many have discovered that the open
grasslands are great to raise cattle and or horses. The railroad has made it easier for you to send
your cattle to the meat packing factories in Chicago and or to transport your horses to sell in
other big cities.

You are moving westward to get rich. You have heard a lot of people talking about finding gold
in California. You become a miner for one of the companies looking for gold; it is a very
dangerous job as you sometimes use dynamite to blast a deeper mine.

You are an African American Exo-duster. You used to be a slave before the Civil War. If you stay
in the South, you will not be able to own land or have a lot of freedom. You are a sharecropper
and soon will be deeply in debt and an economic slave. You want to move westward before this
happens as you want more freedom and a chance to have the rights guaranteed to you in the
14th and 15th Amendments. You also will be able to own your own land in the West, which is
something you would not be able to do in the South.

You are a newly arrived immigrant to American from Northern Europe. You are Irish. You hear
about a job out West building the transcontinental railroad. You move West and face lot of
discrimination at your new job, building the railroad through the Rocky Mountains.

You are a newly arrived immigrant to American from China. You come first to California and
have trouble finding a job. You then hear about a job building the transcontinental railroad. You
become a railroad builder and face a lot of danger and discrimination at your new job, building
the railroad.

You are a newly arrived immigrant to America from Northern Europe. You are Italian. You were
a gun maker at home and hear that your skill was needed in the West. You move west and open
a store in a boom town and are very successful.

You are a newly arrived immigrant to America from Eastern Europe. You are Russian. You were
a shopkeeper at home and hear that your skill was needed in the West. You move west and
open a store in a mining boom town. You sell shovels, clothing, food and mining supplies. You
are very successful.
-7-

You are the second son of a farmer in the South. There is not much opportunity for you as your
older brother will get the farm from your parents. You are looking for adventure and are
thinking that riding a horse and rounding up cattle and or horse will be a better life for you. You
move west and become a cowboy and protector of cattle or horses.

You are a man from New York, but did not achieve the success you were hoping for working in a
bank. You travel West to work in a bank in a small town. It is robbed and the bank robbers take
you to carry the bag of money. You think that this is it for you, but instead they ask you to join
their gang. You are now an cowboy outlaw.

You are a former confederate cavalry soldier and your family farm has been destroyed. You see
no point in becoming a farmer again. You instead decide to join the army in the West. There you
encounter Native Americans. You are responsible for moving them off their land and onto
reservations. The event that hits you the hardest physically and emotionally is the Battle of
Wounded Knee.

You are a former Union soldier and you miss the excitement of war. You have read many dime
store novels about the great American West. You think it will be exciting and challenging and
you are up for the adventure. You decide to become a buffalo hunter. Hunting buffalo and
selling their hides can make you lots of money. Every once in a while you think, I wonder how
this impacts Native Americans?

You are a Native American who has been taken away from your family and sent further West to
attend a boarding school. There you find out the white man wants you to be exactly like them.
The fancy name for this is assimilation. You learn their language, wear their clothes and cut your
hair. You look and talk like them, but never feel as if you are one of them. You miss your family.

You are a young Native American brave and you hear your chief say this: “I am tired of fighting.
Our chiefs are killed… The little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have
run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food… I want to have time to look for my children,
and see how many of them I can find… My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I
will fight no more forever.”
-Chief Joseph, 1877

You are a women who moves west with her husband. You discover that you have a very difficult
job as wife and mother in the west. You have many jobs and not enough time. Your jobs include
making clothing, quilts, soap, candles, and other goods by hand. You also have to cook and
preserve food for the winter, educate the children, take care of the sick and injured, help with
planting and harvesting, and help to build the sod houses.
-8-
Project Research Time: Use the following web sites and
in class resources to gather your information to complete “Who” Activities
#4-10. Each group member should take at least two.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
https://familysearch.org/blog/en/pioneers-westward-expansion
http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/people/
http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/
http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/places/
http://www.kidinfo.com/american_history/pioneers.html
http://www.ducksters.com/history/westward_expansion/daily_life_on_the_fro
ntier.php
http://www.kidinfo.com/american_history/pioneers.html
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/na-nativeamericans.html
http://www.ushistory.org/us/21a.asp
http://www.historynet.com/westward-expansion#articles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HikMKdl6Rnc
Little House Family
Are you a family? If you are not a family, you are part of the same group or neighbors.
What is your family name? What are the names of the members of your family?
If you are a group or neighbors, what are your names?
My “Who” Name is ____________________________________________
I am Male or Female ____________________________________
I am ____________________ years old.
Here is how I describe my “Who” self in 7-10 sentences.
-9-
West Project: Activities #4-11 Bonus #12
Activity #4 Causes of Westward Expansion (USII.4a)
In the late 1800s, people moved West for 5 reasons.
Write 5 detailed and complete sentences to explain
how each of these reasons conncects/applies to your
“Who” person.
L
A
R
G
If it does not conncect/apply to you, explain why it
does not.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
E
E
- 10 -
Activity #5 Look at me living on the Great Plains
experiencing FLED GEOGRAPHY! (USII.2a)
Create a picture story about life on the Great Plains as your “Who” Person
Include 6 FLED GEOGRAPHY factual details of how Geography affected you
IRL. Each picture must have a sentence caption
F
1
Caption Sentence:
2
Caption Sentence:
L
E
D
3
Caption Sentence:
5
Caption Sentence:
4
Caption Sentence:
6
Caption Sentence:
- 11 -
Activity #6 Look at me living on the Great Plains
with my INVENTIONS! (USII.2a)
Create a picture story about life on the Great Plains as your “Who” person.
Include 6 INVENTION factual details of how the people lived and worked IRL.
Each picture must have a sentence caption to describe each of the invention fact
included.
I
N
7
V
Caption Sentence:
8
Caption Sentence:
E
N
T
I
9
Caption Sentence:
10.
Caption Sentence:
O
N
S
11.
Caption Sentence:
12.
Caption Sentence:
- 12 -
Activity #7 Life on the Great Plains (USII.2a)
LP3: I can explain how new technologies changed the way people could use the
geographic landscape to live.
New technologies helped settlers adapt to the geography of the WEST. Explain how
each invention helped “Who” you or was used by you or others IRL
Inventions /
Agricultural practices
Describe it
Or
Draw it
IRL How did the invention
help your or How did you
or others use it?
Barbed wire (1870s)
Steel plows (1840s)
Dry farming (1880s)
Sod houses (1860s)
Beef cattle raising
(1860s)
Wheat farming (1830s,
1880s)
Windmills (1880s)
Railroads (1860s)
- 13 -
Activity #8 Pros and Cons
(USII.4a)
Draw your “Who” person and put two tools that you used in your hands.
Complete the PRO/CON chart below. Write three detailed and complete sentences
for PRO and three detailed and complete sentences for CON.
W
PROs about being__________ (positive)
1.
CONs about being ___________(negative)
1.
2.
2.
3.
3.
- 14 -
Activity #9 Jigsaw Who are They? (USII.4a)
Summarize what you learned about each group. Write TWO detailed sentences for each.
____________________________
1.
2.
2.
___________________________
1.
2.
2.
___________________________
1.
2.
2.
2.
___________________________
1.
2.
3.
2.
2.
___________________________
1.
2.
3.
2.
2.
15
Activity #10 Conflict over LAND in the West (USII.1i)
LP3: I can explain what happens when two cultures have different perspectives on land ownership and use.
“Who”___________________
vs.
Native Americans
Write a detailed paragraph, draw detailed pictures or locate, print and paste pictures that explain how
your “Who” person may have or did impact American Indians negatively.
16
Activity #11 What you Know Questionnaire and Game Activity
#
QUESTIONS
1. What is your favorite color?
WHO?
WHY?
2. What is your favorite dessert?
3. What is your favorite meal?
4. What is your favorite candy?
5. What is your biggest fear?
6. What bad habit would you like
to break the most?
7. What is your favorite childhood
memory?
17
8. What is the most dangerous
situation you have faced?
9. What IS the best part about
WHERE YOU LIVE?
10. Who is your role model?
11. What is your least favorite
chore?
12. How do you like to celebrate
your birthday?
{Surprise/quietly/with friends}
13. If you could go anywhere in the
world on vacation, where would
it be and why?
14. If a relative left you one million
dollars in a will, how would you
spend it?
15. What do you consider your
biggest strengths?
18
16. What is your favorite
GEOGRAPHICAL feature?
17. What is your favorite
ANIMAL?
18. What do you consider your
biggest achievement to date?
19. What is the most adventurous
thing you have ever done?
20. What is your favorite FOOD?
21. When was the last time you felt
really proud of yourself?
22. What is your favorite SAYING?
23. What is the best compliment you
have ever received?
24. What is your idea of a perfect
date/DAY?
19
25. What are the things that you
admire the most about
OTHER PEOPLE?
26. What is your favorite hobby?
27. What do you consider your
biggest weaknesses?
28. When you spend time with friends
& family, what do you enjoy
doing?
29. Life is marked by a handful of
experiences that change the
direction we take. What would
you say is one experience that
changed the course of your life
general?
30. What was your most
embarrassing experience?
31. What is your favorite word?
20
32. WHAT IS YOUR ALL
TIME FAVORITE SONG?
33.
What is a talent you wish you
had?
34. When you were little, what did you
want to be when you grew up?
35.
What is a talent you wish you
had?
36. Who would you cast to play you
in a movie? Why?
37.
Name 3 things you couldn’t live
without.
38. When you are stressed out, what
do you do to handle it?
39. What is your favorite number
AND WHY?
40.
21
#12
Bonus
Who Westward Expansion Essay:
First: 2 Choices: Pick One
Why Did I Go West and what was it like IRL?
Thesis: The West offered (Who/What) ________________ , living there was
_____________ and _________________.
Or
When painting the Manifest Destiny picture, the painter was attempting to
communicate many ideas about Westward Expansion. Write an essay that
explains three (3) of those ideas.
Thesis: The picture contains three main ideas ___________, ______________ and
the impact on Native Americans.
Second:
Then-Read/Record your “Who” Essay and upload to
Google classroom “History Showcase”.
Class Code: iylb41m
22