Hello 5th graders! Today we will be expanding our knowledge of the Oregon Trail. I know we started to talk about where the Oregon Trail began and ended, but we have yet to look at a map to get a clearer picture of how long this journey was. For today’s assignment, we will be using Google maps to follow their journey by going through each state they went through and seeing how long it took them to get through that state.
Goal
- Students will be able to use Google maps correctly and by themselves to view the Oregon trail
- Students will go through each state and see how long it would take to walk through it.
Materials
- Google My Maps Account
- Electronic device
- list of states the Oregon Trail went through
- Paper and pencil
Instructions
- Students will log into their Google My Maps account and make their own map of the Oregon Trail based on the list of states they went through from the previous class.
- Once the first map is finished of the full trail they will then do a map of the individual states on the trail.
- They will then check to see how long it takes to walk across that state using the directions buttons and the walk feature.
- Once they finish the individual states they will add up the amount of time it takes to walk each state to get the total time of the Oregon trial journey.
Image by Davgood Kirshot from Pixabay
Valerie, a great lesson idea for using MyMaps. Good to have them make their own MyMaps and detail their own “journeys” on the OT.
I think it’s especially cool that you are tasking them with figuring how long it would take to walk the distance. That certainly bring home the sacrifice and courage it took to make the journey in the 19th century.
Only question: it the way your stops are are lettered, it suggests going from west to east. Might want to reverse that order.