Interactive Teaching (#SOL16 Day 28)

Right before Spring Break,

we had Ma and Pa visit our 3rd graders at school. 

They have come for several years now, to kick

off our end of the year pioneer simulations. 

Ma and Pa are pioneers who are 

getting ready to hit the trail to head West. 

They come to school to teach our kids

the basics of packing up a wagon. 

They learn about reasons pioneers traveled West,

what they needed to pack 

and how the journey would have been 

along the way for them. 

The looks on their faces, and the

questions that they asked were priceless!

They are so excited to get their own

pioneer identities, occupations, families

and begin to hit the trail on their own. 

We have many STEM and interactive

activities planned along the way, 

but while learning about the regions that the pioneers

traveled through and the hardships that they 

faced, students will get endless opportunities

to research, read and explore on their own

all about the pioneers. 

This is what they use to outline how big a wagon would be.
Then students can see how small of a space they really have.
Then students themselves get into the 'wagon' as items. These
three girls are Ms's organ. They later have to take it ou
because there isn't enough room.

I even got in on the actions!  It never fails, 

every year, I get put on this lift for fixing the 

wagon and a student has to lift me up!! :)

What do you do in your classroom to keep 

student's attention for the end of the year?

This works great for us, and our kids

always talk about it... for years to come!!!