I N F O R M A T I O N M A S T E R A Tour Site 3: Learning About Western Mining in Leadville, Colorado Step 1: Miners sometimes wrote songs about life in the mines. Listen while your teacher plays the song below. Then discuss the questions on Student Handout B with your group and write answers to them. The Honest Miner’s Song I’m sitting on a big quartz rock, Where gold is said to grow; I’m thinking of the merry flock, That I left long ago. My fare is hard, so is my bed, My claim is giving out. I’ve worked until I’m almost dead, And soon I shall peg out [leave]. I’m thinking of the better days, Before I left my home; Before my brain with gold was crazed, And I began to roam. Those were the days, no more are seen, When all the girls loved me; When I did dress in linen clean, They washed and cooked for me. But awful change is this to tell, I wash and cook myself; I never more shall cut a swell [be attractive], But here must dig for pelf [wealth]. I ne’er shall lie in clean white sheets, But in my blankets roll; An’ oh! the girls I thought so sweet, They think me but a fool. Step 2: With your group, write a miner’s song of your own by following the directions on Student Handout B. Then rehearse your song. Step 3: Share your song with the rest of the class. © Teachers’ Curriculum Institute A Van and Airplane Tour of the West 1 I N F O R M A T I O N M A S T E R B Tour Site 6: Learning About the Decline of Salmon Along the Columbia River Step 1: Listen while your teacher reads this short story. Sammy the Salmon was born 150 years ago, in a beautiful stream that fed into the Columbia River. He was very small at birth, but he quickly grew in the fast-moving waters of the river. Like his father and grandfather before him, Sammy started on a grand adventure. He was going to the Pacific Ocean! As he made his way downstream, Sammy encountered rocks and rapids. He plummeted over waterfalls. But when he was two years old, he found the mouth of the Columbia and headed into the Pacific. He spent three years in the cold ocean water, eating well and growing strong. Sammy felt a longing. Like all salmon, he felt a pull to go back to the stream of his birth. So Sammy headed back up the Columbia. He was joined that year by 15 million other salmon. He had to fight to get over the rocks in the shallows. The waterfalls also presented a great challenge for Sammy. He had to jump and jump to get over them. Some of his friends could not get over the falls. A few were captured in nets and dragged to shore or snatched by bears and eaten. Not Sammy. Sammy reached his birthplace. Not much had changed. The stream was still very beautiful. There, Sammy became a father. And his children began their own adventures on the Columbia River, adventures that were almost certain to end where they had started— in the stream where Sammy was born. © Teachers’ Curriculum Institute A Van and Airplane Tour of the West 2 I N F O R M A T I O N M A S T E R B Step 2: In this activity, you will discover how the Columbia River Basin has changed in the past 150 years and how the changes have affected the salmon population in the river. Send one of your travel partners to get one copy of Student Handout C: Tour Site 6: Learning About the Decline of Salmon Along the Columbia River for each student and one copy of Student Handout D: Information About the Columbia River Basin for the group from your teacher. Step 3: You will find a map of the Columbia River Basin on Student Handout C. Read about each of the seven topics on Student Handout D. After you read about each topic, illustrate the map with symbols and illustrations that represent the changes in the basin. Step 4: Discuss these question with your travel partners: • How has the Columbia River Basin changed in the last 150 years? • What challenges have these changes presented to the salmon in the Columbia? • If you were to write the story of a salmon’s life today, how would it be different from the story about Sammy? Step 5: Examine your illustrated maps. Discuss this question with your travel partners: If you could remove one change from the map, which one would it be and why? Be prepared to defend your proposal in a class discussion. Be sure you can tell who would be affected by your proposal. © Teachers’ Curriculum Institute A Van and Airplane Tour of the West 3 I N F O R M A T I O N M A S T E R C Background Information About Salmon Along the Columbia River The citizens of the West want to help the salmon. In fact, people have spent more than $3 billion since 1990 to increase salmon numbers in the Columbia River. Here are some of the ways that this money has been spent: • Fish hatcheries place billions of salmon eggs and young in the river each year. • Fish ladders built on all dams help fish get past the dams. • Special water channels reduce the oxygen level in the water around dams to save fish. • Barges and trucks transport millions of fish around the dams. • Screens keep young salmon from getting caught in the electricity-producing turbines. • Routes called bypass channels help guide young salmon past dams. • Scientists have marked millions of fish so they can better study the fish. • Scientists have placed radios in some fish so they can learn more about the fish. Despite all these efforts, the salmon population remains about the same as in 1990. The decline in fish population along the Columbia is a complex problem. Today, citizens debate many solutions. But no one seems to have an answer to the problem. The answers may have to come from a new generation of scientists and lawmakers. © Teachers’ Curriculum Institute A Van and Airplane Tour of the West 4 I N F O R M A T I O N M A S T E R D Tour Site 9: Learning About Tourism in the Hawaiian Islands Background Your class has won a trip to the Hawaiian Islands. You will visit four islands, and each student will be given $400 to spend on excursions! Your teacher knows that the safe way for the class to tour the Hawaiian Islands is to stay together. So she wants to know which excursions the class would like to do. You and your partners will plan a daily itinerary for the tour. The class will then vote on the tour it most wants to take. Step 1: Your teacher will give your group copies of Student Handout E: Hawaii Trip Planner and Student Handout F: Attractions on Four Hawaiian Islands. Cut out the pages of Student Handout E along the dashed lines, place them side by side, and tape or glue them together. Step 2: Read about the excursions on Student Handout F. Circle those you think the class would most enjoy. Total the costs of these excursions. Step 3: Plan and illustrate the daily itinerary on Student Handout E. Your itinerary must: • take four days. • not include visits to more than one island in a day. • not have more than three excursions per day. • not cost more than $400 per person. • include a colorful symbol for each excursion on the map on Student Handout E. Step 4: Post your group’s map and itinerary on the wall of the classroom. When all groups have posted their excursion plans, examine all the plans. Hold a class vote to decide which trip your class most wants to take. © Teachers’ Curriculum Institute A Van and Airplane Tour of the West 5 I N F O R M A T I O N M A S T E R E Writing a Letter About the West Suppose that you are a tourist who has just taken a tour of the West. You will now write a letter home describing what you learned about the region. Use your Reading Notes to help you. Your letter must include these parts: • the date. • a proper greeting, such as Dear Isabel. • an introduction that gives a general description of the West. • descriptions of at least three places you visited. Use plenty of details. Be sure to tell: • what was most interesting or memorable to you. • what you know now that you didn’t know before. • at least seven of these words: river, mining, lumber, mountain range, tourism, ocean, irrigation, sugarcane, expedition, geyser, dam, and dogsled. • at least one simple drawing of a site that you visited. • a closing, such as Your friend, Nisho. Make your letter at least one page. Write a draft of your letter. Then reread it. Make any necessary corrections. Type or neatly write your final draft in ink. © Teachers’ Curriculum Institute A Van and Airplane Tour of the West 6