Setting up the Activity in your Classroom:
Depending on the grade level and maturity level of each class,
activities can be facilitated as independent work, collaborative
group work, or whole class instruction.
If a computer is available for each student, guide students to
the activities either through printed URLs on handouts or on the
board.
If you are working in a lab, set up the computers to be on the
desired Web site as students walk into class. If there are fewer
computers than students, group the students by reading level.
Assign each student a role: a �driver� who navigates the web,
a timer who keeps the group on task, and a note taker. If there
are more than three students per computer, you can add roles like
a team leader, a team reporter, etc.
If you are working in a learning station in your classroom, break
out your class into different groups. Have rotating groups working
on the computer (s), reading printed background information, holding
smaller group discussions, writing first drafts of their journals
or specimen box offline, etc. Details described further in the
Teaching sections.
You may also want to create a special display for your classroom
library in honor of Lewis and Clark. Check out our Recommended
Booklist for suggested print materials. Include room for the
specimen boxes that your students will create through the activity.
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Stimulate Background Knowledge with these
related links:
Introduction to Lewis and Clark Among the Indians of the Pacific
Northwest Curriculum Packet
http://www.libarts.wsu.edu/history/Lewis_Clark/LCEXP_Introframe1.htm
This teacher-centered website includes background information,
lesson activities, journal excerpts, a bibliography, and related
links.
Rivers, Edens, Empires: Lewis & Clark and the Revealing of
America
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/lewisandclark/lewisandclark.html
This Library of Congress site has a variety of images from the
letter President Thomas Jefferson sent to Meriwether Lewis in
1803 to maps drawn by Lewis and Clark.
Go West Across America with Lewis & Clark
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/west/
This fun site is focused on the student user. As a game, the user
is asked to make decisions along the trail while reading excerpts
from journals and fun, interesting facts about the journey. For
a more serious, and content rich site from National Geographic
on Lewis and Clark, visit http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lewisandclark/journey_intro.html
Lewis and Clark as Naturalists
http://web4.si.edu/lewisandclark/index.html?loc=/lewisandclark/home.html
Created by the Smithsonian National Museum on Natural History,
this interactive map allows users to relate the geography with
the plants and animals encountered along the trail.
The Ethnography of Lewis and Clark: Native American Objects and
the American Quest for Commerce and Science
http://www.peabody.harvard.edu/Lewis_and_Clark/introduction.html
The Peabody Museum presents this website that explores the Native
American people encountered by Lewis and Clark as well as the
Native American objects collected by the Corps of Discovery and
sent back to President Jefferson.
Lewis & Clark: Maps of Exploration, 1507-1814
http://www.lib.virginia.edu/speccol/exhibits/lewis_clark/
The University of Virginia�s library presents this exhibit of
the Lewis and Clark journey and the maps they created on that
journey west.
PBS Online � Lewis and Clark
http://www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/index.html
As an accompaniment Web site to their documentary, this PBS site
has rich content on the members of the Corps of Discovery, the
Native American tribes encountered on the journey, classroom resources,
and more.
Lifelong Learning Online: The Lewis & Clark Rediscovery Project
http://www.l3-lewisandclark.com
This interactive map presents different aspects of the expedition,
the culture, the people, the geography, and nature of the expedition.
Sierra Club � In the Footsteps of Lewis & Clark
http://www.sierraclub.org/lewisandclark/journal/
The daily journals of Lewis and Clark present an excerpt from
a journal entry written two hundred years ago today.
Ask Seaman
http://www.lewisandclark.com/ask/askseaman.html
For questions about the journey, lewisandclark.com allows users
to send emails to Seaman, Lewis�s Newfoundland dog, who accompanied
his master on the trail.
Monticello � Jefferson�s West
http://www.monticello.org/jefferson/lewisandclark/index.html
President Jefferson�s home, now a museum, presents Jefferson�s
interests and influences in the journey to the Pacific.
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Graphic Organizer:
Timeline Skill Sheet: Grades 2–8
This blank timeline (PDF) helps
students organize information about the events of the journey.
The lesson culminates with a visual timeline of all the events
following the Lewis and Clark journey. See Assessment
and Evaluation.
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