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In conjunction with this activity, you will need a copy of the PBS reality series Frontier House. I have found this is available in most public libraries and many schools have it in their media center. This unit allows students to study history from the perspective of an actual pioneer. Students randomly select a "pioneer" for this project, each pioneer role matches up to other roles, thus creating "frontier families" for this project. For 2 1/2 to 3 weeks students complete both individual and group work while they watch episodes of Frontier House. Included in this unit: a project overview, schedule, web quest, pioneer "families" (roles), group challenges, prompts for journal entries, and rubrics for each activity. I have also provided answers for the web quest. This can be seen as either a language arts unit, or a social studies unit. Students will utilize their research and presentation skills, as well as their creative writing abilities and problem solving skills for this unit.
My students learned so much by going through this project than anything they've done this year! They LOVED it!
March 19, 2010
This is my eighth year as a teacher. I taught for two years at a charter school, where I had several different preps ranging from 7th grade social studies, 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th grade language arts. I had no classroom of my own, so I became organized pretty quickly! I currently teach 8th grade English and Social Studies for Bloomfield Hills Public Schools, and I really enjoy both my students and colleagues, with whom I frequently collaborate to create interdisciplinary units.
