Welcome to the third year of Learning through Literature’s Homeschool Co-op Curriculum. If this is your first time here, this book: Wagon Wheels, is the second of 13 books that will be covered as part of our homeschool co-op year, Learning through Literature: Exploring the United States. The class has been created for 1st – 4th graders, and is the culmination of three years of Learning through Literature together. If this is your first time looking around, please check out our first year, Learning the ABC’s through Literature. Or the second year, Learning through Literature for Homeschool Co-op.
Each year was inspired by Jane Lambert’s Five in a Row Curriculum and uses many of the same books, but with lessons, discussion questions, and printables reworked to be more useful for a homeschool co-op. Wagon Wheels is not part of the Five in a Row Curriculum but fits well as a 2nd book in the Midwest Unit.
For this third year, Learning through Literature: Exploring the United States, we will take TWO classes to cover each book. If you are using this for a co-op, you will find “Class One” and further down the page, “Class Two”.
Thanks for stopping by!
Wagon Wheels
by Barbara Brenner
Class 1
Things I Need:
- Map of the United States (preferably one that can be marked with dry-erase markers)
- Map showing the 5 Major Regions of the United States
- Learning the USA through Lit Journal -Wagon Wheels Add-In
- Wagon Wheels book
- Any pioneer props you want to use
- If you are trying to make the Pioneer Journals, you will need paper bags, tape, 3-hole punch, twine, markers for decorating, and a cell phone to take black and white pics. A cowboy hat, bonnet, and kerchief would be perfect for pictures if you can find them)
- Any props to make the Geography games a little more fun (see recs at the bottom)
Before Class:
- Set up a map of the USA. Outline the Midwest states. Place two dots on the map, one on Lexington, KY; one on Nicodemus, KS.
- Have a classroom assistant punch the Add-in pages for the Learning through Literature: Exploring the United States Journals
- Place the handwriting / copywork sheets on the desk for the students to get working on as they come in and write the copywork on the board.
Homework: CHOSE ONE: Write about a long trip you took OR write about a time you had to be brave and do something super scary. Be prepared to talk about your trip next week. Props are always welcome. 1 sentence per grade level is recommended.
AND – Find out about the pioneer days. What did they bring with them? What was a wagon ride like? How long did it take them to get there? Did they encounter trouble along the way?
As the students are coming in:
Encourage them to begin the copywork on their desk, taken from a quote in the book, “Wagon Wheels” (this sheet is located within the 4 add-in pages from today’s lesson)
Follow up on last week’s Homework:
Did anyone memorize all of the states in the Midwest? Did anyone memorize their verse? Did anyone find out anything in about the Midwest region?
In our class we had the kids stand up at their desk and recite Romans 8:28 at their desk. Then we transitioned into the new book.
Introduce the Story and Setting of the Story:
Today’s story is called “Wagon Wheels” and it is a Pioneer story that takes place in this Midwest Region, right after the Civil War.
- Who knows what a Pioneer is?
- Who knows what the Civil War was? When did it take place? Why was it fought?
If you have used the Learning through Literature Curriculum with your class last year, they may remember Pioneer life from our story in Warm as Wool. If you haven’t, you may want to use some of the neat wagon printables located there. You also may be able to reference, Three Names, from the Learning the ABC’s through Literature Curriculum, two years earlier.
Take a moment to discuss slavery, to discuss the civil war and how it granted freedom to the slaves, but that still many didn’t have homes or any place to go.
You could also introduce The Homestead Act of 1862, and talk about how many people took advantage of this to go west. After the Civil War especially, many black families sought their own piece of land.
This book is based on a true story, about a black family who left their home around Lexington KY (point to KY on the map, note KY is not a Midwest state) and traveled almost 900 miles to settle in a town called Nicodemus, Kansas, where many other black families had also settled. But when the got there it wasn’t quite as they had expected.
You can read a little more of the history of the town of Nicodemus, Kansas, here. Or you can read a little bit more about the real Muldie family, here.
Once you have pointed out the location of the story, and had some discussion about the background, read the story.
As You’re Reading:
This is such a neat story, especially since it’s true. Make sure the class catches:
- The Osage Indians turned out to be helpful. Was it good they waited before making a judgement based on their outward appearance or skin color?
- The ages of the kids (11,8,3). Can they imagine being left alone with their siblings? Having to cook, clean, and take care of each other for months? Could they do it?
- The distance they traveled on their own (150 miles, about a 2.5 hour drive by today’s highways … except there were no highways).
Other points that would be great for further discussion:
- It doesn’t say, but the mother died in Topeka, Kansas. So close to their final destination. On top of the heartache of losing a mother, they also are on their own.
- The dugout holes in the prairie were certainly not what they expected. How did they respond to the disappointment? How would you have felt, after coming so far?
A few videos to check out the history a little further …
After the Story:
Go through the handouts together. Help the class add the new journal pages into their binder. (They go right after their last page from The Raft, and before the Resources Pages (Maps / Flags / Books etc). Go through any remaining Midwest worksheets still to do.
Pioneer Journals:
This will be a two-week project that is based off of a great idea that we found here.
Using paper bags, twine, and paper, we each created our own pioneer journal. The idea is that we know the story of the Muldie family but only because some people were faithful to write down and record their stories. (Whether the Muldies wrote things down along the way is not known, but their story was recorded in the town records of Nicodemus.)
During week one, we will create the physical journal and take our pioneer pictures.
For each journal, you will need:
- A paper bag
- brown twine
- two or three 8×11 pages
Additional Supplies
- Cell phone with ability to take black and white or sepia pictures (to be printed before 2nd class)
- Hole punch
- Glue
- Markers to write on the cover
We took 1/2 of the class outside to take pioneer pictures. Each child took turns putting on a cowboy hat, kerchief, or kerchief bonnet for their pioneer pictures, while the other half of the class stayed behind to update their journals. Then we switched.
During week two, (after we discussed pioneer life in class), we will attach the pioneer pictures, and write our first journal entry in class. They will take the journal home to add a few more entries as homework.
At this point, we were out of time. (Our class is 60 minutes). The kids who had memorized the Midwest states (even some of our 5-year-olds!!) came up to look at a blank map of the USA and tell them to me for a prize.
Homework
Give the class their homework, listed in the add in pages, to write a story about a time they were scared, a trip the took, etc.
Encourage them to do a little research about a typical pioneer journey and come back ready to talk about it.
If you have more time, play some Geography Games or Listen to one of the 50 States Songs.
I purchased these super fun buzzers and these laser pointers from Amazon, which both work great, and gave us all kinds of options for races, team games, trivia questions, etc for our class.
Some trivia questions:
- Who can point to the state first
- Who can tell me the name of this state
- Who can tell me which story took place here
- Who can tell me which states were included in Wagon Wheels
- etc
For More Great Ideas:
Unit Study on Wagon Wheels with SOOO many suggestions…. https://www.aswewalkalongtheroad.com/2016/10/literature-unit-study-for-wagon-wheels.html
Pioneer Journals: http://www.literacylovescompany.com/2016/05/classroom-diy-pioneer-journals.html
Muldie Family history: http://africanamericangenealogy.blogspot.com/2005/12/former-slaves-from-kentucky-help-found.html
Class 2
Things I Need:
- Map of the United States (preferably one that can be marked with dry-erase markers)
- Map showing the 5 Major Regions of the United States
- Wagon Wheels Lessons from the Lord in Literature Handwriting Sheets (1 Samuel 16.7b
- Your printed 2×2 black and white or sepia picture of the class (for the front of their journal)
- Any props to make the Geography games a little more fun (see recs at the bottom)
Before Class:
- Set up a map of the USA. Outline the Midwest states. Place two dots on the map, one on Lexington, KY; one on Nicodemus, KS.
- Set out the Lessons from the Lord in Literature Handout (below) on all the desks for the kids to trace or copy as they come in.
Homework:
- Finish up any work still to do in the Midwest section of the notebook
- Complete 5 days in the Pioneer Journal
- Memorize 1 Samuel 16:7b
As the students are coming in:
Encourage them to begin the copywork on their desk, taken from the verse in the Bible, 1 Samuel 16:7. (This verse was chosen because of the encounter with the Osage Indians. If they had judged only on outward appearances, they would have made a serious mistake.)
A helper can punch the sheets to go into their binder, immediately following their last homework sheet from Wagon Wheels.
As they finish the copywork, ask one of the students to read the verse out loud to the class.
- Can someone explain what the verse means?
- Why might this verse be relevant to the book we read last week?
Have the class go ahead and open up their journal. Find the “Wagon Wheels” book in the back pages, find the large map of the United States, then glue the “Wagon Wheels” book onto Kansas.
Begin the Class with a quick review:
Tell the class this is our last week on the Midwest. Explain we will come back and continue to review these states, but today is our last day focusing on the Midwest.
Then, go through the Midwest states, pointing and saying them out loud together.
- Who can tell me about last weeks story?
- Follow up with questions about the civil war, the homestead act, the pioneer days, etc
Follow up on last week’s homework:
They should come in having researched a little of pioneer life. This will be important to share and discuss together because of the journals that they will be completing over the course of the next week. Go around the room and ask each one to share what they discovered. Did anyone discover something super interesting? (Like that they ate pickles to stay healthy – because fruits and veggies were scarce, but the pickles had vitamin C and worked to keep the sicknesses away. They didn’t understand why, but they knew it worked). For more pioneer fun, you can check out this unit on Pioneer Life that I did in Year 2 . The printable Wagon and Cutouts is especially fun.
Geography Lesson: Finish Up Lapbook Pages
Take a few minutes to add the flag and complete some of the final geography pages. Feel free to send home any extra work for homework.
Language Arts Lesson: How to Write a Journal Entry
Once the class has reviewed and discussed the pioneer days, show them how to write a journal entry. The reason we know about these pioneer journeys is not because there were TV’s or Cameras that recording every little detail, but because there were many people who were faithful to record their journeys.
Over the next week, they will be recording their “imaginary” pioneer journal. If you have some in your class who can’t write, or can’t write well, let them draw pictures to describe things they saw along their journey, and have them narrate their writing to their parents.
If you would like, you can read a few real-life journal entries from real pioneers here.
A journal entry should include:
- the date. (we are sometime in the late 1800s. The Muldies adventure takes place in 1878.
- something memorable from the day
- perhaps a picture, if they saw something unusual, unique, or especially beautiful.
Write a few entries on the board or read a few entries to give an idea of what you are expecting. Encourage the class to take a few minutes and write the first entry in their book, keeping in mind:
- where are they leaving?
- where are they heading too?
- what kind of food did they bring? is it enough?
- what kind of weather have they encountered?
- is everyone healthy?
- do they make it to their destination?
- how long did the trip take?
- what did they see along the way?
- etc
Review Games:
Since this is the last class on the Midwest states, make sure you get at least 10 minutes to play one of the review games.
For this game, you will need a map with only the outline of the Midwest States, no names. I found a small one here. It is small, but it worked for its purpose.
A few options:
- Divide the class into two teams. Using either buzzers or laser pointers, point to a state and have the teams take see who can name the state first.
- Have the class work together as a group to see who can name the most Midwest states in 60 seconds.
Or use these trivia questions and the buzzers to see who can answer first:
- Describe the Midwest Region location in the United States using Cardinal directions (North / South / etc)
- Which states are furthest East/West/North/South in the Midwest Regions
- Which state did The Raft take place in?
- Which states did Wagon Wheels take place in?
- Which state did Wagon Wheels end in?
- Which state did we learn about in Wagon Wheels that is not part of the Midwest region?
- Fill in with more questions, according to what you covered or focused more on in class.
