Westward Expansion PowerPoint Lesson Plan

Assignment: Students research the methods of travel used by the people who lived during the westward expansion. Students choose 4 means of transportation and create a brief but informative PowerPoint presentation with images and information about various types of transportation. Some types of transportation students might research include the Conestoga wagon, stagecoaches, flatboats, steamboats, and trains.

Download: westward-expansion-handout.docx

Conduct short research projects that build knowledge about a topic. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.7 Introduce a topic and group related information together; include illustrations when useful to aiding comprehension. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.2.A

Title Slide - Westward Expansion

Students create a title slide with a title, images of the various types of transportation presented in their PowerPoint slide show, and their name.

Slide 2 - Transportation

Students insert or copy and paste one or more images of one type of transportation used during the westward expansion. Students add information describing the the types of loads it carried and other interesting facts.

Slide 3 - Additional Transportation

Students create an additional slide with images and information about and additional means of expansion used during the westward expansion.

Slide 4 - Alternate Transportation

Students insert images and information about another form of transportation used by people who lived during the times of westward expansion.

Slide 5 - Another Means of Transportation

Students identify another means of transportation used during the westward expansion and add images and interesting facts and information about how it contributed to travel during those times.

Student Instructions