Lessons

Lewis and Clark
PBS OnLine
http://www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/index.html
An extensive site based on the film The Journey of the Corps of Discovery. You can use this site without purchasing the video. The contents of the site include: biographies of all of the members of the expedition, articles on the Native Americans tribes that the expedition encountered, and lesson plans for classroom use.

National Archives Digital Classroom
Teaching with primary sources
http://www.archives.gov/digital_classroom/lessons/lewis_and_
clark/lewis_and_clark.html
This site is very unique. It offers lesson plans based on digital images of the original documents related to the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Some the documents featured include:

• President Thomas Jefferson's confidential message to Congress concerning relations with the Indians
• List of Indian presents purchased by Meriwether Lewis
  

These are three of the 11 documents provided. At the bottom of the page are the links to the lessons and worksheets.

Lewis and Clark's Historic Trail
http://www.lewisclark.net/
The site includes interactive maps, timelines, journals, biographies and a did you know section.

Lewis & Clark: Mapping the West
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
http://www.edgate.com/lewisandclark/
An excellent site. One outstanding feature is the section on cartography. The lessons and resources will help your students understand not only how to use maps, but also how maps are made. Don't miss some of the interactive features where you can rotate some of the artifacts. (Example: http://www.edgate.com/lewisandclark/compass_qtvr.html)

Education World
http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson179.shtml
This website has information on the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis & Clark Expedition, with suggestions for learning activities. It also presents both historical information and teaching suggestions on such related topics as the Gold Rush and the Transcontinental Railroad. Good page for informaton on the significance of the Frontier and the Westward Movement for the growth of the modern American nation.

WebQuests on Lewis and Clark

On the Trail with Lewis and Clark - WebQuest
http://panorama.harrison.k12.co.us/mcdowell/Webpage
/webquest.htm
Students role play being a botanist, zoologist, anthropologist and geographer as they follow the same route as Lewis and Clark.

Adventure into the Unknown - WebQuest
http://oncampus.richmond.edu/academics/as/education/projects/
webquests/lewisclark/tindex.htm
Description from the site: This WebQuest has been designed as a tool to bring students to a better understanding of the Lewis and Clark expedition. By each member of a group of four students taking on a different role, students will become knowledgeable about one aspect of the expedition. After they have researched their specific topic, the indian affairs expert, botanist, zoolologist, and topographer will come together in order to create a collaborative final project: a game tracing the expedition.

This WebQuest has an outstanding teacher section.

Go West, Yound Men -WebQuest
http://www.more.net/programs/internet2/projects/webquest3/
index.html
This is a good short WebQuest for elementary students. The description from the WebQuest:
"The object of your mission is to explore the Missouri River & such principal stream of it as by it's course and communication with the waters of the Pacific ocean, whether the Columbia, Oregon, Colorado, or any other river."

Journey to the Unknown: Looking at our past to solve problems today as we plan for the future.
http://www.more.net/programs/internet2/projects/webquest2/index.html
This is a WebQuest for high school students. The WebQuest has students examine the Lewis and Clark expedition and relate it to our exploration of space.

Additional Sites

Lewis and Clark Interactive Adventure
Natioal Geogrphic
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lewisclark/index.html
Provides an interactive adventure for students. They travel the trail with Lewis and Clark. This site is both entertaining and educational. It would be a great home activity for parents and students to explore together.

The Louisiana Purchase Exhibit, National Archives and Record Administration
http://www.nara.gov/exhall/originals/loupurch.htm
Original materials concerning the Louisiana Purchase.

Who was Sacagawea, and how did she aid the expedition?
http://www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/living/4.html
From PBS
Background information on Sacagawea. Contains audio segments from historians commenting on her role in the expedition.

Lewis and Clark Internet Resources from MOREnet
http://www.more.net/programs/internet2/projects/
This resource focuses on the expedition as it traveled through Missouri. Although its main focus is on Missouri, the site has information on the entire expedition.

Discovering Lewis and Clark
http://www.lewis-clark.org/index.htm
This is a highly interactive site with resources and information on the journey. Your students will enjoy exploring this site.

The Lewis and Clark Journey of Dicovery
National Park Service
http://www.nps.gov/jeff/LewisClark2/HomePage/HomePage.htm
Recommended by a fellow teacher. Contains detailed information as well as an area with lesson ideas for teachers and an area for students with quizzes and games. Later elementary and middle school teachers should take a look at this site.

Pedaling Lewis & Clark
http://www.loe.org/series/lewis_clark/
Barrett Golding and Josef Verbanac biked the Lewis & Clark Trail in two three-week installments during the summers of 2001 and 2002. They called their two-thousand-mile trip “The Great Pains and Accuracy Tour,” after Thomas Jefferson’s instructions to Lewis and Clark to explore the Missouri River and to document what they found with “Great pains and accuracy.”

They provided Living on Earth with interviews of people who live and work along the route today. To learn more, click the towns in the map above.
They provide audio clips of their journey and the interviews.

Naturally, one must begin with Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West by Stephen Ambrose (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996) as the first book to read to understand the complete story of Lewis and Clark. The Ambrose book will stand as the classic account of the Expedition for many years to come. It is a fascinating narrative of one of the most significant explorations in our Nation's history. Another interesting account may be found in The Way to the Western Sea: Lewis and Clark across the Continent by David Lavender (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1998). In fact, the Lavender book provides what might even be a more readable account of the Expeditionís journey.

An outstanding resource package is the National Geographic Society GeoKit curriculum module on Lewis and Clark. Designed for 5th through 9th grade students. The kit includes Teacher's guide, with Lesson Plans, Student Readings and Handouts; Overhead transparencies; Poster-maps and a CDROM Picture Show. The cost of the Lewis and Clark Geokit, a part of the American History Series, is $179.95 and is Product #WE45003. To order, contact Jim Brown, Educational Consultant, National Geographic Society, 806 Tanner Drive, Valparaiso, IN 46383 Call 219-926-6788 or glermedia@ aol.com or fax to 219/926-1813. Brown also has information available describing the very popular NGS Picture Packs as well as other materials produced by the National Geographic Society.

Another wonderful resource is the Jackdaw package entitled Lewis & Clark Expedition: 1804 ñ 1806.î This kit, #J-G88, $ 41.00, is available from Jackdaw Publications, P.O. Box 503, Amawalk, NY 10501, 800-789-0022 or fax 800-962-9101 or www.jackdaw.com Take your students on the exciting eight thousand mile journey of Lewis and Clark. Study the hands-on documents Jefferson's instructions to Lewis, the 1814 map of their routes and drawings of the Indians and natural wonders discovered along the way. Read an 1806 newspaper account of their return after 28 months in the West. Broadsheets discuss the story from the Louisiana Purchase to the end of the journey and beyond. More than ten historical documents are also in the Jackdaw, including a Map of Louisiana as perceived by its French owners in 1757 and a List of the men on the expedition.

A third interesting Lewis and Clark resource package was suggested by Janice Martin, a Staff Development Trainer with the Farmington Public Schools. She recommends "An American Legacy: The Lewis and Clark Expedition. It contains lesson plans, reference guide, handouts, and reading materials. Martin stated, The binder is two inches thick and filled with great resources,information, and lessons. I have adapted this curriculum both up for High School and down for Elementary. The Resource Guide is available from the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, Inc., PO Box 3434, Great Falls, MT 59403 or 1-888-701-3434 to order by phone or visit their website: www.lewisandclark.org The cost: was $45 + $7 shipping and handling.