Travel the Oregon Trail:

While most of our on-grounds programs include an engaging educational lesson, hands-on animal biofact interaction, a fun activity, a specially themed scavenger hunt, and time for open exploration of the museum. The Travel the Oregon Trail program is a bit different. First, your students will complete an in-school activity before they ever come to the museum. Once they are here, we will combine the museum activity and the lesson into one immersive game that allows your students to learn while they play a live Oregon Trail game! Read below to learn more about this amazing program.

The download box below contains an entire Oregon Trail curriculum that was created by the Wyoming State Museum. It is 100% free to download and use in your classroom. While most of the activities are optional, a couple of them must be completed if you plan on attending our "Travel the Oregon Trail" field trip. These activities are detailed below. 

 

In School Activity - Five Big Questions of the Oregon Trail: 10-60 Minutes

Your students’ journey to Oregon begins in your classroom. Before their field trip, they must watch the "Five Big Questions of the Oregon Trail" video - included below. However, the document titled "Section 1: Introduction to the Oregon Trail" has additional activities that expand upon this concept. This includes a crossword puzzle, a reading activity, and an opinion writing activity. While your students must watch the video before their field trip, the other activities are optional. If you download the "Complete Oregon Trail Curriculum - Teacher Book" document, it has all of the curriculum sections.  

 

 

In School Activity - Packing Your Wagon Video: 60-90 Minutes

Before your students come to the museum for their immersive field trip game, they need to pack their Oregon Trail wagons. You'll be using "Section 7: Packing Your Wagon" for this. It includes the "Packing Your Wagons for the Oregon Trail" video, a guidebook reading activity, vocabulary sheets, and the actual wagon packing activity. The teacher pages in the curriculum explain these activities fully, but a short description is below. 

• "Packing Your Wagons for the Oregon Trail" Video: This short video walks your kids through what a wagon train is, what type of wagons were used by the immigrants, what animals were brought along the trails, and then gives them three important tips for packing their wagons.
• "An Emigrant's Guide to Oregon and California" Reading Activity: This guidebook was written by the museum, and is based on three original texts from the 1840s-1860s. It gives your students the information they need to successfully pack their wagons. 
• Vocabulary Sheets: The guidebook purposefully uses some larger and older words. While the vocabulary sheets are not required for the field trip, they are here if you would like your students to use them.
• Packing Your Wagon Activity: This activity includes the items available at the general store and the actual worksheet your students will be filling out. They will choose their items and use math to determine their wagon's weight.   

In addition to the video from Section 1, Section 7 must be completed before you attend the "Travel the Oregon Trail" field trip. 

 

 

Museum Field Trip and Game: 90-120 Minutes

Your field trip at the museum is designed as an interactive game. Your students will learn about major landmarks such as Independence Rock, Fort Laramie, and other vital stops along the trail. They will also learn about many of the hardships that pioneers faced on the trek. Your students will encounter wild animals, hunting opportunities, disease, accidents, and more. We will utilize dice rolls to determine whether your students survive each of these dangers. The items your students chose to pack will also be incredibly important for their continental crossing. With a little luck, most of your students will make it to Oregon City. 

On our journey west, we will see many different human artifacts from this time period… along with some animal biofacts. Your students will see everything from christening gowns that are more than 150 years old, to a saw that was used to amputate limbs on the frontier, to bear pelts, to hardtack, to pots and pans, to pioneer guns, and more! This program is sure to please teachers and students alike!

This program is either taught as a 90-minute session or two 60-minute sessions with a break in-between. We'll discuss the best option for your class after you submit your program request. 

 

Open Museum Exploration: 30-60 Minutes

While the program will give your students a wonderful view into what it was like to travel the Oregon Trail, our museum contains much more than just that! The open museum exploration time allows your students to explore whatever they are interested in. The Wyoming State Museum has so many topics (from dinosaurs to mining to pioneers to warfare to animals to Native American culture to national parks and more), that we want to make sure to give students free time to explore. This will happen after your game session or during the break in-between your two sessions.  

 

 

Videos for Other Sections of the Oregon Trail Curriculum

 

Videos for "Section 4: Music of the Oregon Trail"

 

 

 

 

Videos for "Section 5: Patriotism and Symbolism"

 

 

 

 

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