ED 345 Calvin College Lesson Planning Form

Teacher: Kathleen Fuller Date: Subject/ Topic/ Theme: Louisiana Purchase and Lewis & Clark

I. Objectives
What is the main focus of this lesson?
Jeffersons purchase of the Louisiana Purchase from France and his sending of Lewis & Clark on an expedition to explore the west.
How does this lesson tie in to a unit plan? (If applicable.)
The start of the migration west.
What are your objectives for this lesson? (As many as needed.) Indicate connections to applicable national or state standards. If
an objective applies to only certain students write the name(s) of the student(s) to whom it applies.

Students will be able to grasp how much money the Louisiana Purchase cost.
Students will be able to explain why Thomas Jefferson wanted to buy the Louisiana Purchase.
Students will be able to recall the events of the Louisiana Purchase and Lewis & Clark through song.
Students will be able to explain the journey of Lewis & Clark

II. Before you start

Prerequisite knowledge and skills.
Concept of money.

Assessment
Questioning throughout the lesson and at the end.
(formative and summative)

Materials-what materials (books,

Printed money ($100,000 of it), reading pages for Louisiana Purchase and Lewis & Clark,
handouts, etc) do you need for this
Westward Expansion song, a projector of some type.
lesson and do you have them?
Stand in front of smart board or projector for the song, sit in a circle on the floor for the
Do you need to set up your lesson.
classroom in any special way for
this lesson? If so, describe it.

III. The Plan

Time Parts The description of (script for) the lesson, wherein you describe teacher activities and student activities
Motivation
(Opening/ We are starting a unit on Westward Migration!!
Introduction/
Engagement) Gather students in front of the smart board and introduce the Westward Migration song to them. Sing it
all the way through once.

Development Have the students take a seat on the carpet with their reading packets.
 Have the students take turns reading through the Louisiana Purchase part of the reading.

It cost $15 million dollars!!! That is a lot of money!

Take out the $100,000 of paper money, Spread it out in the middle of the circle. Let the students touch it
and see how much money that really is. Now tell them they would have to have 150 more piles of this
money to reach $15,000,000. Can you imagine that?! Thats a lot of money!
The U.S. was a newly independent country. They did not have that kind of money! They borrowed from
Britain.

Questions:
Which President closed the deal on the Louisiana Purchase?
Why did Jefferson want to buy the land?
How much did it cost?
Who went to discover the land?

Have students take turns reading the Lewis and Clark portion of the reading.

Questions:
How long did it take them to complete their journey start to finish?
(that is so long!!! Today, we could fly to Oregon and back in one day!)
Who helped Lewis & Clark?
What were Lewis and Clark hoping to find?
What did Lewis and Clark write in their daily journals?

Have students move back to their desks.

Talk through the lyrics of the song.

Way back in 1803 Jefferson expanded the country. For $15 million dollars he bought some land from
France. Who is Jefferson? What was the name of the land he purchased?

To explore this land TJ hired two. Who were the two?

Lewis and Clark assembled a crew. Who did they take with them?

Their mission was to find a route to a northwest water way. They were all ready and then camecame
the day. Were they successful?

May 14, 1804 they left St. Louis shore, and began to explore cant hold them back anymore. Up the
Missouri they could barely rest. But they wont stop until they read the furthest west. When did they
leave? The Missouri refers to the Missouri River where they first set sail.

They found a Shoshone Indian named Sacajawea. She helped them cross the steep Rocky Mountains.
They would have died without her but still failed to find a water route. They turned back home destined
for St. Louis. What did Sacajawea help them cross? Was she helpful?

They returned home in 1806. How long were they gone?

They failed but we were very very happy anyway. Because their journals full of plants and animals. They
brought all these things back now we are going west. What did they bring back that was very helpful?

Closure
Sing the song one final time.
What did you learn today that you did not know before?

Your reflection on the lesson including ideas for improvement for next time: