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| Teaching with TrueFlix |
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 It’s a brand new school year and, much like those early explorers setting out to discover uncharted promises of wealth, land, and adventure in the West, the journey on which you embark this year with your students will be one for the records. Understanding the history of our expanding country from colonies to a transcontinental nation provides the context for much of the content explored with our students. The TrueFlix unit on The Oregon Trail in the Westward Expansion category introduces students to the most important pioneer route to the American West in the 1800s. The information in the unit highlights the appeal of following a dream into unknown territory in an effort to find gold, claim land, or spread the work of the church. Additionally emphasized are the great myriad hardships faced by those who set out on the trail only to face impassable terrain, dangerous encounters with man, animal and nature, and the rampant spread of disease. And once students put themselves in the shoes of a person their age braving the trail with their family, they may find they’re experiencing history from an entirely new vantage point! |
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A Multitude of Media |
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| Making history more tangible through artifacts, photographs, and historical documents can help students form a clearer understanding of what emigrants encountered and experienced on their travels west. The Oregon-California Trails Association, found in the Explore the Web section, is a beautifully laid out resource full of the faces, stories, and chronicles of those who followed the Oregon Trail west. Students can read excerpts from diaries, letters, remembrances, and newspaper articles. Big picture questions are also explored in depth, such as "How many emigrants followed the trails to California, the Pacific Northwest, and Utah?" and "How severe was the threat of Indian attack during the first half of the journey west?" Additional learning resources include an award-winning film about modern teenagers learning firsthand what it was like to be an emigrant traveling west on a wagon train and an interactive map that allows students to virtually retrace the Oregon Trail. These resources combine to provide a rich learning experience that, when incorporated with the information on TrueFlix, will satisfy many curiosities while evoking an interest to explore more deeply. |
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| Project Idea |
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| While it’s estimated that more than 300,000 men, women, and children traveled along the Oregon Trail in the 1800s, tragically, not everyone survived the journey. One of the most famous accounts in history is that of the Donner Party who, after losing the trail, suffering a damaged wagon, and becoming trapped by significant snowfall in the Sierra Nevadas, resorted to cannibalism in order to survive. In the Explore More section have students read Trapped! The Tragic Story of the Donner Party, a short play written for Junior Scholastic. After reading through it as a class, assign roles to play each part. Divide students in groups and assign each of them a scene from the play. Have each student group develop scenery pieces using recycled materials and art supplies. Invite others classes in the building to be an audience for your production of the play, and include time at the end of the performance for questions and answers about the Oregon Trail and Westward Expansion wherein your students, having finished the learning unit, can now act as experts on the topic. |
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| New TrueFlix Units Just Added! |
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| New Physical Science category just added with 6 new units: |
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| e-news Archive |
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| Get more tips and tools from our past newsletters |
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Matthew’s Tip
of the Month |
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 Graphic novels have rapidly increased in popularity over the past decade due, in part, to their accessibility, emphasis on visual literacy, and outright appeal to readers of all ages. Cartoonist Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales series are nonfiction and allow readers to experience history in a way that is far more engaging than reading from a text book. In The Donner Dinner Party, Hale recounts the plight of the Donner-Reed company’s journey west. Hale’s stories are perfect for students in grades 3-5 and can be used as read alouds in the classroom through use of a document camera and LCD projector in order to allow all of the students to see the paneled stories up close. While this is one of the most famous stories of the Westward Expansion, it’s certainly not the only one. Invite your students to make mini comics chronicling other stories, both true and imagined, from the Oregon Trail. Provide a sample comic book panel page template such as this one from Comic Book Paper. Send a note home with students inviting families to explore the stories and history of the Westward Expansion. Include a link to the Westward Expansion video and eBook and devote a space in your classroom for students to share the stories they create. |
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Matthew Winner
Library Media Specialist & TrueFlix Ambassador |
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| Learn more about getting the most out of TrueFlix by attending one of our upcoming online training sessions. |
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Tuesday, September 6, 2016
11:00 am to 12:00 pm EST |
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Thursday, November 10, 2016
2:00 to 3:00 pm EST |
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Tuesday, January 10, 2017
3:00 to 4:00 pm EST |
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Related Resources |
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| A fun new series that combines fiction and nonfiction at the center of real historic events! |
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We’d Love to Hear
From You! |
| Have a suggestion for what unit we should cover next? Or have an idea on how we can make this newsletter even better? Whatever it is, we’re looking forward to hearing from you. |
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