Topic of your Task: Building the Transcontinental Railroad.
Time Frame: 2 days
Essential Question: Why was the Transcontinental Railroad such a big deal?
SC Social Studies Standards: 5.2.2
Summarize how technologies (such as railroads, the steel plow and barbed wire), federal policies (such as subsides for the railroads and the Homestead Act), and access to natural resources affected the development of the West.
CCR Standards: Reading Anchor Standards 1 & 9, Writing Anchor Standards 1, 4, 6 & 8
Your task: You are a newspaper reporter in Promontory Summit, Utah, on May 10, 1869. The two railroads connecting California to the mid west are finally complete and Leland Stanford, governor of California, and president of the Central Pacific Railroad, is going to drive in the last spike. Write a newspaper article giving the background of the railroad and explaining to the readers why this is such a big deal. Remember, as you write, to include:
Steps you will be following: In order to plan and write your letter, you will do all of the following:
1) Click on the words Transcontinental Railroad and read the information about this enormous task. As you read, take dash notes, looking for specific evidence to support the facts for your newspaper article.
2) Watch the video on the resources page and take notes.
3) Organize your information, plan, and write your article.
4) You will want to refer to your notes while writing your article. You can re-read the article and re-look at the video as often as you need to.
Here's a link to the resources page for The transcontinental railroad.
http://www.ducksters.com/history/westward_expansion/first_transcontinental_railroad.php
Time Frame: 2 days
Essential Question: Why was the Transcontinental Railroad such a big deal?
SC Social Studies Standards: 5.2.2
Summarize how technologies (such as railroads, the steel plow and barbed wire), federal policies (such as subsides for the railroads and the Homestead Act), and access to natural resources affected the development of the West.
CCR Standards: Reading Anchor Standards 1 & 9, Writing Anchor Standards 1, 4, 6 & 8
Your task: You are a newspaper reporter in Promontory Summit, Utah, on May 10, 1869. The two railroads connecting California to the mid west are finally complete and Leland Stanford, governor of California, and president of the Central Pacific Railroad, is going to drive in the last spike. Write a newspaper article giving the background of the railroad and explaining to the readers why this is such a big deal. Remember, as you write, to include:
- who is important in this article(president, governor, workers, etc.)
- what has taken place to make this important event happen
- when this is happening, when it began, how long it took, etc.
- where it all has taken place
- why it's important to the country
- the problems the workers ran into along the way
- how it all came about (similar to the 'what')
Steps you will be following: In order to plan and write your letter, you will do all of the following:
1) Click on the words Transcontinental Railroad and read the information about this enormous task. As you read, take dash notes, looking for specific evidence to support the facts for your newspaper article.
2) Watch the video on the resources page and take notes.
3) Organize your information, plan, and write your article.
4) You will want to refer to your notes while writing your article. You can re-read the article and re-look at the video as often as you need to.
Here's a link to the resources page for The transcontinental railroad.
http://www.ducksters.com/history/westward_expansion/first_transcontinental_railroad.php