By Dylan Hite, Hanna Knouf, and Laura Barros
[embedit snippet=”apples-to-oregon-2″]
Title of Book: Apples to Oregon: Being the (Slightly) True Narrative of How a Brave Pioneer Father Brought Apples, Peaches, Pears, Plums, Grapes, and Cherries (and Children) Across the Plains
Author: Deborah Hopkinson
Illustrator: Nancy Carpenter
Year written: 2004
This story is about a family of farmers who travel across the country from Iowa to Oregon in search of a new home and more land. They take all of their crops in their wagon in order to start a new life out West, and the book tells some of the experiences that they have, and ones which many pioneers experienced on the Oregon Trail.
Excerpt from book: “So Daddy built two of the biggest boxes you could ever hope to see. He set them into a sturdy wagon and shoveled in good, wormy dirt. Then he filled every inch with little plants and trees. Hundreds of them! Daddy was ready for the most daring adventure in the history of fruit.”
This book could be used for a lesson on the Oregon Trail because it shows another perspective from the pioneers that is relate-able and easy to read. Students can use Google My Maps to create their own journey that the characters go on, where they write the descriptions, pick the pictures, and turn it into their own post. I think Google My Maps allows for a lot of creativity in the classroom and for students to get more engaged in what they are reading and studying! Teachers could also make this a collaborative effort like it was for us, so that ideas can be shared among many students.
Super cool idea to use the maps feature to help guide students through the books and connect the locations in the books to the physical locations on Earth. I also think it is really cool that this can show students more accurately the distance they had to travel. It is an awesome idea to then have students create their own journey to share with the teacher and the class.
I agree this map would definitely help engage future students. Sometimes it can be really difficult to “track” characters throughout the story so displaying this map could help students follow the storyline. I also liked how you provided a links so students can continue to explore and research about the locations discussed in the story!