NTEP II Fermilab LInC Online

Lewis and Clark in Washington
Shrub Steppe Habitat

Teaching Example


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The Franklin County Historical Society letter was presented to the fourth and fifth grade classes. After brainstorming what information the museum wanted and to possibly find it, the search began!

As you enter the classroom, you observe small group discussions. Children are at, on, or under the tables engaged in their assignments. As a whole, the class has used the Internet to research basic information on Lewis and Clark's expedition, such as when they traveled through our area. We have read two books on the expedition, THE STORY OF SACAJAWEA, GUIDE TO LEWIS AND CLARK by Della Rowland and STREAMS TO THE RIVER, RIVER TO THE SEA by Scott O'Dell. They have also played the game Into the Unknown on the PBS Website where the student becomes the leader of the expedition.

The fourth grade class will research the trip west while the fifth grade will research the trip east. The fourth and fifth graders will meet and combine for final presentations.

The introduction provides the opportunity for students to define shrub steppe/arid lands.

Group A is planning a walking field trip to the Columbia River.

Group B is researching journals of Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, Sergeants Charles Floyd, Patrick Gass, and John Ordway, and Private Joseph Whitehouse on the days traveling through our area.

Group C is gathering data that people will want to know about our area, i.e., location, climate, population, etc.

Group D is researching the Native Americans of this area.

Group E is researching which native plants and animals are unique to our area.

Each group is considering possible links for visitors to the Website. What information will visitors need? We may get some ideas from other student-created Websites--Wetlands in Dangerand Simply Prairie. During our computer lab time we will look at these Websites.

As part of the gifted curriculum this year, we are studying The Year of the River. We are located between the confluence of the Yakima and the Columbia River and the confluence of the Columbia and Snake River. The fourth graders are researching how the rivers influenced the geology, geography, settlement, human habitation, and development of Washington State. The fifth grade is doing a simulation of creating a new city on a river in the state. They want the least amount of human influence to occur yet provide basic human needs.


Author: Gail Wintczak, Amistad Elementary School, Kennewick, WA
Created for the NTEP II Fermilab LInC program sponsored by Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory Education Office and Friends of Fermilab, and funded by United States Department of Energy, Illinois State Board of Education, North Central Regional Technology in Education Consortium which is operated by North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL), and the National Science Foundation.
Web Maintainer: ed-webmaster@fnal.gov

Created: November 19, 1998 - Updated: october 14, 1999
URL: /ntep/f98/projects/pnnl/amistad/gwscenario.shtml