The Oregon Trail.  A wonderful strategy is to take a feature that runs through several regions, such as a river or a specific population, and use it as a point of reference.  We have chosen the Oregon Trail for this purpose.  You may make many stops along your “trail."  Initial Lesson:  As students enter the door, hand them travel tickets. Throughout the unit these will serve as bus tickets, train tickets, horse tickets, or, as in today’s lesson, tickets to a wagon train.   The wagon train pulls out on the bell!

Have students look at their Idaho map.   Ask the class what kinds of regions Idaho has.  Ask them, “What is a region?” and “Might certain people divide Idaho in different ways? Why?”   Explain how we are going to divide Idaho in regions for this lesson: SW, SE, and N.   Divide the class into three groups. Hand out manila envelopes, each of which contains information about one of the three regions of Idaho.  Hand out large paper and pens.  Have the group make a list of everything they know about their region (about 5 min).  Have them circle the 1-2 items they feel are most important to their region. Tape up the lists.  Each group then justifies to the class why they chose those items.  How do the lists differ? Did some groups emphasize certain things?   Closure: Have groups tape up the Idaho regions to make a complete state. Each region has important and identifying characteristics, and each region is important to Idaho as a whole.daho, tell a story of the white man from a Native American point of view.

Native American Petroglyphs along the Oregon Trail.  Hold up your hand showing 5 fingers spread and ask, “What does this mean?”  Student responses will vary and could include: 5 minutes, stop, or hello.  The meaning resides in the understanding between the people involved.  So do the ancient symbols left to us by Native Americans who left designs in stone that we are attempting to interpret today.

Now, suppose you are an immigrant crossing Idaho in 1890 on the Oregon Trail. What do you think you would see as you traveled along?   (Sagebrush, mountains, dust, desert, animals, Indians)  What would be the evidence that Indians were in this region?  What do we have from earlier civilizations such as Rome or Greece? (writings, i.e. Caesar or Plato.)   What about Egypt? (Heiroglyphics or picture symbols.)   Show students Native American petroglyphs from Celebration Park along the Snake River in Canyon County. Ask students to speculate on their meaning.  Ask them: "If several of these were found on one rock, could they be combined to tell a story?"  Have each student create a pictograph/petroglyph that tells a story. (Variations might be: tell the most significant event in your life, tell your life story, tell the story of a Native American boy or girl living in southern Idaho, tell a story of the white men from a Native American point of view.)