Lewis and Clark Lesson Plan: People, Places, and Environments

*Click to open and customize your own copy of the Lewis and Clark Lesson Plan. 

This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP topic Lewis and Clark, and supports students’ understanding the purpose of  the Lewis and Clark expedition, and how it influenced westward expansion. Students demonstrate understanding through a variety of projects.

Step 1: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

Prompt students to think of a challenging goal they’ve set for themselves. Ask:

• What do explorers learn from exploring new lands
• Why is exploring important? What can we do with information explorers collect?
• Why might expeditions have been important during the early years of this country?
  

Step 2: BUILD BACKGROUND

• Read aloud the description on the Lewis and Clark topic page.
• Play the Movie, pausing to check for understanding.
• Pair students and assign each one of the two Related Reading articles. Then have them share what they learned with each other

Step 3: ENGAGE
Students express what they learned about Lewis and Clark while practicing essential literacy skills with one or more of the following activities. Differentiate by assigning ones that meet individual student needs.

• Make-a-Movie: Imagine you are Lewis or Clark, and create a video journal of your explorations. Who did you meet? What did you see? What challenges did you confront? How did you solve them? (Essential Literacy Skill: Make logical inferences based on explicit details)
• Make-a-Map: Create a concept map Identifying the main accomplishments of the Lewis and Clark expedition. (Essential Literacy Skill: Determine central ideas)
• Creative Coding: Code a conversation between Sacagawea and Lewis or Clark in which she describes something about the land they’re exploring. (Essential Literacy Skill:Summarize key details)

Step 4: APPLY & ASSESS 

Apply: Students take the Lewis and Clark Challenge, applying essential literacy skills while demonstrating what they learned about this topic.

Assess: Wrap up the lesson with the Lewis and Clark Quiz. 

Step 5:  EXTEND LEARNING

Time Zone X: Lewis and Clark:  Challenge players to put historical events in chronological order in this interactive timeline game.

Additional Support Resources:

• Pause Point Overview: Video tutorial showing how Pause Points actively engage students  to stop, think, and express ideas. 
• Modifications for BrainPOP Learning Activities: Strategies to meet ELL and other instructional and student needs.
• BrainPOP Learning Activities Support: Resources for best practices using BrainPOP.