since we live in the "heartland" of lewis and clark country, i decided to do a little teaching unit with the kids this summer about the oregon trail and the lewis and clark trail. before spending a day in walla walla checking out "fort" walla walla and the whitman mission, we spent the preceding weeks learning about pioneers, supplies, how to pack an emigrant wagon(there were 3 primary wagons pioneers used), important rivers, monuments, forts along the trail and the living conditions while traveling roughly 3-4 months from east to west. we read several stories about pioneers traveling west, including their reasons to do so as well as watched a few movies on the different trails pioneers took. we learned about the history of the oregon territory, sacajewea, lewis and clark, the whitman mission and fort walla walla. we even pretended to be families traveling to the oregon territory and had to decide what supplies to purchase and what to leave behind based on our income from our pretend jobs. it has been fun!
we began our tour right here in our own backyard. we headed about 20 min. out over to sacajewea park to visit a museum and swim in the mightly columbia river.
a few weeks later i took the kids down to walla walla for the day.
we began our tour right here in our own backyard. we headed about 20 min. out over to sacajewea park to visit a museum and swim in the mightly columbia river. a few weeks later i took the kids down to walla walla for the day.
while walking around fort walla walla, we found fresh fruit and couldn't resist.
i locked the kids in the local jail. unfortunately, there wasn't a REAL lock(haha)!
chillin' in the stables
william was fascinated with all the life size horses all over the fort. even though the signs said, "stay off," i let him climb on a horse just for a picture!
tepe fun
(note: william is doing what he does best, sucking his thumb and touching his tummy, a very bad habit)
(note: william is doing what he does best, sucking his thumb and touching his tummy, a very bad habit)
after visiting fort walla walla, we drove a few miles out of town to the whitman mission. a very famous landmark in these parts. unfortunately the mission was attacked by indians, killing several people and burning the buildings(they were made with natural elements), so there isn't really much to see except the land where it all stood. still it was interesting and emma and issy enjoyed completing the activities to become junior rangers.
an original emigrant wagon on a part of the original oregon trail.
climbing to the whitman memorial landmark
the girls enjoyed dressing up like pioneers
proud of their junior ranger badges.
2 comments:
That is really cool. Sounds like your having an adventurous summer.
That is really cool. It looks like a lot of fun too :)
I wish we could have stopped to visit when we drove past Kennewick last month, but Addi was sick & I got sick the day after we got home so I guess it's better that we didn't. Booo. Maybe next time!
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