Pioneer Days

For the last 3 months at school, David and all the other 4th graders have been doing an intensive study of the Pioneers and the Oregon Trail. I have been entirely impressed every step of the way. It was so encompassing that I probably won't be able to explain it all well, but I'm going to try at least to explain David's experience:

Each child was given a scenario for their family. David is a married man with a wife, a 16 yob, 13yog, an 11 yob and a mother -n- law. It is his reponsibility to make it to the end of the Oregon Trail for his lot of land and homestead. They have simulated the entire thing. Supplies, the trail, obstacles, disease, Indians, basically ANYTHING that happened to the real pioneers.

David was voted the wagon leader for his group, which added more responsibility.

Halfway through, David's wife died from an Indian attack.

They built their wagon from shoeboxes and other supplies. David created shock absorbers for his. They loaded it up with their 50 miniature supplies which they had to build from scratch over the last 3 months from things like clay, foil, toothpicks, etc.

On the day of the actual simulation, they traveled around the whole school with different scenarios being presented to them. (I followed along with my pioneer baby, Mary. Paul was able to drop by too.) There were rivers, hills, cliffs, hunting, you name it. They could break down 3 times and after that they had to abandon their wagon. If someone broke down, David, being the wagon leader had to repair and inspect all the wagons in order for his train to move on. He had a lot of decisions to make too. By the end of the trail there were abandoned wagons all over the school grounds. (All three 4th grade classes did this) A sad sight, but real life. David broke down twice and barely made it to the end where his final challenge was to build his homestead using lincoln logs.

Friday afternoon, the 4th graders got to line the hallways with their trade blankets and trinkets from home to trade and barter, as many of the real life Pioneers were out of money at the end of the trail and were only able to trade hard goods.

Every Friday, for the last 2 months, the 4th graders have been dressing up in their pioneer clothing. The girls were in calico and bonnets the boys in long pants, boots, handkerchiefs and hat. To see them all in class made me think of the acutal Pioneer days! They also had a campfire every Friday afternoon and sang songs and told stories. David brought his guitar and played "Old Dan Tucker". Mrs. Ashley said he was the first 4th grader to ever bring and play his guitar for the campfire. That made him feel good for making such an effort to learn that song and lead it. Way to go David!

It was an amazing lesson and learning experience not just for David, but for all of us around the dinner table at night hearing about his adventures of the day. I am thankful for such a wonderful and dedicated 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Ashley! Pioneer days was on the heals of a 3 month unit on Indians complete with trade items, dances, and a real life potlatch. That was also the unit in which David had to construct a real life model of an Indian village. I wasn't blogging then, but I would've wrote all about that too!