Studying the Oregon Trail with a Book “Scavenger Hunt”

We have been encorporating learning about the Oregon Trail into our homeschool this week. I have fond memories of playing the computerized Oregon Trail game as a young preteen. Or maybe I was (embarrassingly) older than that when I enjoyed it. Let's not think about it. It was fun to play in a simulation, and at the same time I was learning a little about history.

Studying Nonfiction with a "Scavenger Hunt"

The main book we used for our mini-study was If You Traveled West in a Covered Wagon by Ellen Levine. This was a perfect book for learning about the Oregon Trail. Since my kids are young, I encouraged them to use the Table of Contents, Introduction, and Index to find where to find the answers. 

  1. What is a covered wagon?
  2. Who traveled west in a covered wagon?
  3. In what years did many people travel west in covered wagons?
  4. To where in the West did many people travel?
  5. What was a wagon train?
  6. Who led the wagon train?
  7. What are “buffalo chips”?
  8. What is “sagebrush”?
  9. What landmarks did people see as they traveled?
  10. How did the pioneers cross rivers without any bridges?

Searching for answers in an otherwise text-heavy book helps student learn how to find information in the book, as well as learning a little bit about the subject. We've done half of it and we will finish next week. I let my children answer orally as they found the answers. A teacher could also give a student the questions and require them to write the answers.

Sometimes these books do not have an index. In that case, these questions could be an interesting lesson in reading pictures, skimming, or assigning various people to read sections in order to find the answers.  


More Ideas for Studying the Westward Migration

Here are some great free resources I've found that relate to the Oregon Trail, the Mormon Trail, and general westward migration.

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