Companion Teacher Guide
Hannah’s Diary: A Tale of the Pony Express
A historical fiction serialized story for young readers
Produced by the Missouri Press Foundation
Learning Extensions written by Jeannie Young
for The Charlotte Observer
The activities in this guide are broken down into two categories: comprehensive and
daily. The comprehensive activities last the length of the story, while the daily activities
relate to each chapter.
Each activity will require the students to delve into other sections of the newspaper, and
some of them are to be done in pairs or groups to encourage teamwork and cooperation
skills.
Helpful Hint: Go to www.ponyexpress.org for additional materials and maps.
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Comprehensive Activities
Diaries
Goals: To provide hands-on activities that will encourage children to use language to
obtain and communicate information, for literary response and expression, for reflection
and self-evaluation. It also will give students the opportunity to reflect on these basic
questions: who are the people of this society and what are their values; what is the
environment in which the people live; how is the society organized; how do the people of
this society make a living; and how has this society changed over time.
Skills: Reading comprehension, language development, writing proficiency, vocabulary,
spelling, grammar and making connections.
Supplies for each child:
 Newspaper
 11 pieces of construction paper
 scissors
 glue
 lined notebook paper
 pencil
 crayons, markers and colored pencils
 hole punch
 string or yarn
Explain to the students that diaries are used to record activities, important events and
occurrences in a person’s life and their feelings about these activities and events.
Newspapers serve as a type of diary for each community. Stories in the paper serve as a
means to record activities, historical data, important events and how these things affect
the people living in the community. After reading each installment of the story, have your
students create collage diaries using the newspaper’s flag, date, headlines, photos, etc.
Give each child 11 pieces of construction paper. One of these pieces will be used as a
cover for their diary. The remaining 10 pieces will be used for the content of their diary
during the duration of the story. The children should cut out the name of the newspaper
and the day and date and paste it at the top of a piece of construction paper for each day’s
diary entry. Then, they need to search the newspaper for headlines, stories, photos and
graphics that have a strong impact on their community, state, country, and world. They
should look for at least one headline, story, photo or graphic in each section of the
newspaper and cut it out and paste it on the piece of construction paper forming a collage
of events.
After they have read the stories and mounted them in their diary, each student should take
a piece of lined paper and write how they feel about the evening and people in each of the
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stories they chose. When they are finished writing their feelings on the lined paper, they
should paste the piece of paper on the back side of that day’s collage.
If your students want to save the story, they can cut it out of the newspaper and put it on
additional pieces of construction paper to be included in the final diary. At the end of the
story, the students should create artwork for the cover of their diary. Once this is
completed, three holes should be punched along the left edge of the pages and they
should be tied together with ribbon, string or yarn. You can have the children share their
diaries with their classmates and explain whey they chose the stories they included in
their diary.
Pen Pals
Goals: to provide hands-on activities that will help children use language to obtain and
communicate information, for literary response and expression, for reflection and selfevaluation. It also will give students the opportunity to reflect on these basic questions:
who are the people of this society and what are their values; what is the environment in
which people live; how is the society organized; how do the people of this society make a
living; and how has this society changed over time.
Skills: Reading comprehension, language development, writing proficiency, vocabulary,
spelling, grammar and making connections.
Supplies for each child:
 newspaper
 paper
 pencils/pens
 computer and word processing program
 envelopes
Explain to the students when someone like Betsy Jenkins moves away from a community
she loved, the best way to help that person is to write them letters and tell them what is
happening in their former community. Hannah wanted nothing more than to write her
friend and tell her about life in St. Joseph since Betsy had moved to California. Children
today may want to know things like: How is their favorite sports team doing? What kind
of activities are going on in town? What’s the big news in the community?
Give each child a newspaper and have them find three stories about people or events they
find interesting in town or surrounding communities. The children should read the stories
and then in a letter to an imaginary or real friend or family member, they should write
about the stories they read. Encourage the children to write in their own voice and not
copy what is in the newspaper. It sometimes is helpful to tell them to explain the story as
if they were telling it to their friend in person or to their family over dinner.
If the children are writing to real people, give them envelopes for the letters and instruct
them on how to address letters. If your school will cover the cost of the mailing, send the
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letters out of the school. If not, send the letters home with the children so they can be
stamped and mailed.
Weather Watch
Goals:
Science – To enhance a student’s understanding of scientific investigation and its
components of observation, measurement, prediction and communicating results as
required by the state.
Math – In addition, this project will reinforce the student’s number sense and ability to do
numerical operations; identify patterns and relationships in real-world situations;
compilation of data; statistical investigation and representation through tables and graphs.
Social Studies – And finally, it will support states’ standards requirements to teach
students the geography of the United States.
Skills: Collection of data, analysis of data and prediction based on data.
Supplies for each student:
 newspaper
 graph paper
 10 copies of maps of the U.S. with just the state names
 pencils/colored pencils
 computer/internet access
 calculator
 complete detailed maps of U.S.
 copy of the map of the Pony Express route found at www.ponyexpress.com
The United States Postal Service could very well have taken their motto about sleet, rain
and snow not getting in their way from the Pony Express. Unlike today, where mail is
transported by plane or large trucks with heat and air conditioning, the Pony Express
workers were exposed to the worst elements nature could throw on them.
For the next two weeks, students will follow the weather and forecast along what was
once the Pony Express trail. Divide the class into seven groups. The groups should be
divided thus:
 St. Joseph, Missouri
 North Platte, Nebraska
 Casper, Wyoming
 Salt Lake City, Utah
 Elko, Nevada
 Carson City/Lake Tahoe, Nevada
 Sacramento, California
Each group will locate its community on the map and research that community’s
geography, physical attributes, daily temperatures, precipitation and its historical weather
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data. Students will need to begin by logging onto www.weatherbase.com. In the lower
right hand side of the home page, students will find a box where they can type in the city
and state of their group. A search results page will come up and the students should click
on the underlined city. This will take the students to a page listing such historical
information as high and low temperature averages for their communities, average
precipitation, number of cloudy days, etc. The students need to make a print out of their
community’s historical information as a reference in creating graphs.
Students will need to study the map of the route, and using it as a reference, they need to
go to the weather page in the newspaper each issue and find the high and low
temperatures and any precipitation or storms in the area along the route. It will be
important for them to log the information daily on three different graphs denoting highs,
lows and precipitation. Timelines (current and historic averages) should be marked along
the lower end of the graph with the temperatures and precipitation measurements listed
on the side.
The students should compare current weather information obtained from the newspaper
with the historical information found on the Weatherbase site. They should be able to
calculate:
 The differences between the daily high and low temperatures and the historical
average high and low temperatures.
 The difference between record high temperatures and current temperatures.
 The differences in current precipitation versus historical average precipitation.
If students are looking for more detailed forecasts and storm watches in their assigned
geographic area, they can log onto the National Weather Service site at
www.nws.noaa.gov. The home page will show a map of Warnings and Forecast. Have
the students click on their geographic area. A more detailed map will come up next. Then
have the students click on the name of their assigned community. A detailed forecast will
come up. Using the information from the National Weather Service, have the students use
the copies of the U.S. maps to draw in weather conditions in their area along their
assigned community. Students also can track what the weather service forecast on their
websites and the actual weather conditions listed in the newspaper.
At the end of the two weeks of monitoring the weather along the former Pony Express
Trail, have the students as a group write a one-page paper on how the weather would
have affected the Pony Express riders; how it might have helped them to have the
meteorology equipment and information they have now; what they would have had to do
to prepare to ride in the weather conditions. Share these papers as a class to show how
many different weather conditions the Pony Express endured.
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Daily Activities
Chapter One
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Look in the newspaper and find supplies the Jenkins family might have needed on
their trip to California. Write a list of the items you find and how much they cost.
Datelines tell people where the stories are happening. Have the students look
through the newspaper to see if they can find any stories with a California
dateline. Read the stories and discuss them as a class.
The perception of California was one of eternal summer. That isn’t the truth.
Look at the weather page and see if you can find cold temperatures or bad
weather in any parts of California. (Hint: look in the Reno/Tahoe area.)
Look in the business section and find the current prices for gold.
Chapter Two
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Pretend you are like the Cole family and have just moved to the area. You need to
furnish your house. Write a list of things you would need in your home. Look in
the advertisements and find those items. Put a check by the item once you locate it
or construct a budget with prices.
Divide the class into groups of five students. Have the groups find five stories
about their community that might be helpful to someone just moving into the area.
Have them share with the entire class why they think that story would be helpful
and why it is important to the community.
Someone new has moved in next door and you would like to take them a gift, but
you’re on a budget. Look in the advertisements for things that cost no more than
$20 that might make good gifts for your new neighbor. Cut out the advertisements
and paste them on a piece of paper. Share you gift ideas with your classmates.
Chapter Three
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In the story of Hannah’s Diary, Mr. Cole plays an important part in starting the
new Pony Express business. Look in today’s newspaper, (especially in the
business news), and find a story about a new business. What kind of business is
it? How well do you think they will do in making money?
One of the reasons the Pony Express went out of business was debt. The other
reason was the invention of the telegraph. Find a story in today’s newspaper about
a new invention or technology that will make our lives easier or replace old
technology. Discuss the stories as a class.
Hannah was looking forward to the big show on the riverboat. Look in the
newspaper and find out what kind of shows are coming to your area. What are the
shows about? What kind of entertainment is available in your community?
Chapter Four
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Robert’s dream was to work for the Pony Express. Find a story in the
newspaper about a job or career that interests you. What kind of education
would you need to do that job?
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Look in the classified section of today’s newspaper and find a listing for five
jobs you would like to do when you grow up. Why would you like those jobs?
Discuss as a class.
Hannah was better at reading and spelling than her friend Betsy. Knowing
how to read and write well is very important. Get in pairs and look through the
newspaper with your partner. Find 10 words that are new to you. Look the
words up in the dictionary, write out the definition and then use the word in a
sentence.
Chapter Five
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Hannah’s dad works in a warehouse that ships goods to people in other states.
Find stories or ads about products grown in your state that might be shipped to
other parts of the country.
Finally Hannah got to go to the big show on the riverboat. Find a review of a
movie or play in the entertainment section. After reading the review, think of your
favorite movie and write a short review. Tell people why the movie is good or
bad.
Using examples of ads in the entertainment section, design an ad to get people to
go see a play or concert at your school.
Chapter Six
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For Christmas, Hannah desperately wanted $5 to send a letter to her friend Betsy
by Pony Express. Look through the advertisements (including the classifieds) to
find items you can buy for $5 or less. Make a list of these items.
Animals were critical to the Pony Express. Find a story in the newspaper about
animals. How could that kind of animal be used in a business to make money?
Chapter Seven
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When the Pony Express took off from St. Joseph on April 3, 1860, history was
made. Divide into groups of five. Look through the newspaper and find five
stories about events that may be historically significant some day. Have one
person write down the topic of the story and why it is important. Then have the
class come together and share their stories.
Hannah put her money in a trunk under the stairs. Nowadays, people put their
money in the bank. Find a story in the newspaper about banks or interest rates. As
a class, discuss them.
Chapter Eight
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In the final chapter, Robert realizes his dream of riding for the Pony Express and
Hannah realizes her dream of sending and receiving letters via the Express. Find a
story in the newspaper about someone who has a dream or great desire to
accomplish something. Write a paragraph about that person, their dream and what
they are doing to make those dreams come true.
Complete the diary, pen pal and weather watch projects.
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