Information portal for the organization that oversees the preservation of the Oregon Trail, the California Trail, the Santa Fe Trail, the Applegate Trail, and the Mormon Trail.

"Letter to Grandmother" is a one page, fictional, reading passage about a family of early settlers who moved west. A girl writes a letter to her grandmother telling her about their new life on the plains. It is followed by...

"Letter to Grandmother" is a one page, fictional, reading passage about a family of early settlers who moved west. A boy writes a letter to his grandmother telling her about their new life on the plains. It is followed by...

Contains text and photos on the African-American exodus to the West. Includes primary source documents and maps from the era.

Newly freed slaves left the South after the Civil War and many moved to the West. Read about the all-black community in Kansas called Nicodemus.

This site from the National Parks Service gives a brief history, and description of the California trail system which was used by settlers moving to California during the 1849 Gold Rush days.

This Conner Prairie Museum site explores the western immigration throughout the Midwest during the 1800s. Content details the incentives for migration, when it happened, the primary routes followed, and more.

A group of organized lessons provides ideas for teachers when planning a unit on westward expansion in the US. Some activities include planning what to pack in your wagon, learning what obstacles were faced, mapping, and more.

Article offers the diaries of Sarah Raymond as she treks across the Great Plains. Describes the many hardships encountered on this long journey.

Contains an article written on the African American exodus to Kansas to farm in the late 19th century.

From the "Century" magazine, an article from 1890 by James Bidwell who came to California in 1841.

Kids learn the timeline of Westward Expansion of the United States on this site. Follow the timeline of how pioneers and settlers moved west of the Mississippi all the way to California.

An informative site that discusses "Causes of Migration, Pathways to the West, and Kentucky and Tennessee." Individual pioneer families are discussed and tracked.

This site from the National Park Service provides the history of Nidodemus, Kansas, first western town planned by and for African-Americans. Settled by exodusters, the town served as a symbol as a land of opportunity for blacks escaping...

In this lesson plan, students will move and generate choreography to understand different states of matter.

In this lesson, students learn about and create sequences and patterns as they move and dance.

For this lesson, 5th graders will create a painting based on the action paintings by Jackson Pollock. Instead of dripping and splattering, the paint will be moved using a metal object, such as a paper clip, along with a magnet.

In this lesson, 3rd graders will look at the print, "Persistence of Memory" by Salvador Dali and talk about what they observe, including the importance of foreground, middle ground, and background in a painting. Students will then...

A lengthy and detailed history of the province of Alberta from earliest times to the present. The history focuses on the period of western settlement, when whites moved into the area during the late 19th century.

Follow the territorial and westward expansion of the newly formed United States. Learn about the thriving slave trade of that era and the spread of reform efforts across the country.

Move the five limerick parts into the correct order to create a completed poem. After three examples, students are encouraged to write their own limerick.

One of Jefferson's acts doubled the area of the country. At the end of the Seven Years' War, France had ceded to Spain the territory west of the Mississippi River, with the port of New Orleans near its mouth -- a port indispensable for...

After the Civil War, westward expansion continued to increase, as migrants moved to the west in search of economic opportunities. In this video, Kim discusses the social and cultural effects of increased migration to the west, including...

In this activity, students use the Number Line application to represent distance moved in a particular direction (West or East) using vectors.