As part of our Westward Movement Unit, we worked on Evan-Moor’s Moving West History Pockets. I was impressed with the variety explored in this book.

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I created the books using paper grocery bags & yarn. The front cover is about 12″ x 12″. The inside pockets were cut to about 12″ x 16″. The 16″ side is folded up from the bottom 4″ and stapled to create the pocket. After each pocket was made, I hole punched them & tied them together with yarn we dyed.

There were a number of maps from the Scholastic book, Interactive 3-D Maps: American History, that we added to our pockets.

Moving West Intro Pocket
Each pocket came with great historical information, a writing project & a craft.

Exploring the Wilderness Pocket
We spent quite a bit of time on this pocket – mostly because it included Lewis & Clark. We went on two field trips to learn more about these famous fellows and the Corps of Discovery. We went to the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center in Washington and to Fort Clatsop in Oregon.

The boys each made a map from Scholastic’s 3-D map book.

We learned about the Westward Journey Nickel series from the US mint. We made rubbings of the front & back of each nickel… although, they didn’t turn out quite as well as I hoped.

We also rubbed a golden Sacajawea dollar. Years ago I worked in downtown Portland & would take the MAX to work, which is our light rail system. If you were due change after paying for your ticket, dollars were issued to you in the Sacajawea coin. I always thought that was cool.

I bought the Lewis and Clark Expedition Coloring Book at a trinket shop at the beach. The kids each colored a few pages and added them to their pocket.

Our favorite books to go along with this unit were Seaman’s Journal, the expedition told through the dog’s eyes, and American Slave, American Hero, the story of William Clark’s slave York.

The Gold Rush Pocket
On our road trip, we stopped at Columbia State Historic Park and explored a “real” mining town. It is in California, right off Highway 49. It was a great field trip to go with this pocket.

Oregon Trail Pocket
The Oregon Trail pocket got a little extra attention. It is kind of a big deal around here, since we are near the end. We even visited the End of the Oregon Trail historical site.

Native American Struggles Pocket
We learned about how the Native Americans used the land and how white man basically took it all away from them.

We added a Trail of Tears map from the Scholastic book.

And, 5 More Pockets
We worked on 5 other pockets, as well, including Homesteading the Great Plains (which I loved mainly due to Laura Ingalls Wilder) & Building the Railroads.

I enjoyed this unit a lot. The activities from the History Pockets book were great, and made even better with our additions. We made a Covered Wagon Craft that I have always wanted to do. I could have expanded on this subject all year. But, we had other things to learn…

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Since we are learning about the Oregon Trail, I thought it would be fun to check out The End of the Oregon Trail in Oregon City. Historically, this is an important spot. Pioneers traveling along the Oregon Trail ended their journey here – well kind of. Back in the days of the Oregon Trail the whole area would be full of covered wagons. From here travelers spread out finding their perfect home throughout the Willamette Valley.

This official End of the Oregon Trail has an Interpretive Center, Visitor Center & Heritage Garden. The garden is tended by Master Gardeners and has many of the plants pioneers grew.

VISITOR CENTER

We spent awhile exploring the Visitor Center playing old games & trying on pioneer clothes.

Top: Merchant’s counter that was used in the 1860’s

Bottom Left: This was the first time I had heard about button dolls. They’re practical. The arms & legs are made of buttons, so when you lost a button along the trail you took a button from a little girl’s button doll.

Middle Right: This was a game called Three Men’s Morris, an early version of tic tac toe.

INTERPRETIVE CENTER

The Interpretive Center was closed when we visited, which was a bummer. But, I peeked through a window and it seemed to have typical items found along the Oregon Trail. We’ll have to go back another day to check it out.

CEDAR PLANK BUILDINGS

Near the garden were buildings built from cedar planks.

HERITAGE GARDEN

The garden was small, but had many interesting plants.

I do have this one suggestion. Don’t plant sunflowers right in front of your sign. I gently pulled the sunflowers back to read the sign.

Left: Bloody Butcher Corn

Top Right: There were little signs like this around the garden describing plants.

Bottom Right: The squash is Boston Marrow.

Top Left: Kent Golding Hops

Bottom Right: Scarlet Runner Beans

Top Left: Purple Mountain Orach. I’ve never seen this. The plant is tall & kinda leggy, but I loved the burgundy flowers.

Bottom Left: My fun loving, but maybe slightly odd, son was collecting seeds from the ground to add to his garden. When we got home he was even nice enough to share some with me. He collects seeds at home, too. So, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that he would do it here. They did have small seed packets to purchase in the visitor center. When I went they had 4 different types of seeds – 2 veggies & 2 flowers. I bought 5 packets and am seriously thinking about sending the master gardeners an email to see if they will send me more varieties. I’d love to have good heritage plants to add to my gardens.

We’ll have to go back when the Interpretive Center is open & also check out the garden again.

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