Last updated: September 22, 2023
Lesson Plan
Chuckwagon Flip the Story
- Grade Level:
- Middle School: Sixth Grade through Eighth Grade
- Subject:
- Social Studies
- Lesson Duration:
- 60 Minutes
- Common Core Standards:
- 6-8.WHST.1, 6-8.WHST.2
- Additional Standards:
- NCSS Standard 2.C. Identify and describe selected historical periods and patterns of change within and across cultures
NCSS Standard 4.B. Identify, describe, and express appreciation for the influences of various historical and contemporary cultures - Thinking Skills:
- Remembering: Recalling or recognizing information ideas, and principles. Analyzing: Break down a concept or idea into parts and show the relationships among the parts. Evaluating: Make informed judgements about the value of ideas or materials. Use standards and criteria to support opinions and views.
Essential Question
What is essential for human survival – where do we go? What skills do we need to survive?
Objective
Students will be able to:
• Explain what a chuck wagon was and its importance to cattle ranching
• Describe the various roles which the cook performed in his job during the cattle drives and roundups
• Connect their personal experiences camping, around a campfire, or other outdoor experiences, with the lives of the cowboys and the chuck wagon
Background
The Open Range Cattle Era was a time of tremendous change and growth across the American West, from Texas and the Southwest, to the Northern Plains and the West Coast. Following the American Civil War, men looking for work and an income in Texas started rounding up the wild longhorn cattle and looking for a market to sell them for a profit. In the large American cities in the north and east, cattle were not as plentiful, and beef was sold at a high price. Cattlemen in Texas started moving the longhorns on cattle drives, attempting to get their herd to cities. The first herds were driven overland from Texas, then the drives moved into the Kansas Territory to the railroad lines for shipping, and eventually to the northern Great Plains to the open range ranches which were established across Montana, Wyoming and the Dakotas. Cowboys worked in units to move the cattle to these various locations during the Open Range Cattle Era, which lasted from approximately 1866-1900. Along with the horses the cowboys rode and the cattle, a trail boss, a wrangler, and a cook with his chuck wagon also traveled with the cattle drives.
Preparation
- The Chuckwagon Virtual Field Trip videos on the Grant-Kohrs Ranch NHS Education website – There are three options: The Chuckwagon Experience, Cowboy Grub, and the Dusty Hard Work of Cowboy Life
- Copies of the student worksheet – Flip the Story
- Copies of the rubric for assessment found with the lesson plan
Materials
Student worksheet with space for the "flipped" story of the chuckwagon told from the perspective of a cowboy.
Download Chuckwagon Flip the Story Student Worksheet
Lesson Hook/Preview
Introduction 5 minutes
Activate student’s prior knowledge by asking them if they have camped outdoors or cooked a meal over a campfire. Spend a few minutes with students sharing their outdoor experiences. Once students have shared, ask students to think about who was in charge during their outdoor experience, where did they go for food and to sleep, and who could they turn to for help. For the cowboys during the Open Range Cattle Era, they went to the chuck wagon and the cook.
Procedure
Video 15-30 minutes
Watch the segment(s) of the Chuckwagon videos found on the Grant-Kohrs Ranch NHS Education website. There are three videos to choose from: The Chuckwagon Experience, Cowboy Grub, and the Dusty Hard Work of Cowboy Life.
Discussion 10 minutes
After the video, discuss the various roles which the cook had on the cattle drives and in the roundups, including working as a cook, doctor, dentist, entertainment center, news and information service, justice of the peace, navigator, bath department, and a father-figure or role model.
Also, discuss what the differences were between a cattle drive and a roundup. The cook mentions these in the video, and the differences between them were important in the function of the chuck wagon and the cook. Cattle drives were intended to move herds from one location to another. These typically took several months to complete, with a herd traveling about 10-12 miles per day on average. Roundups were completed within a specific rangeland area and were the way a rancher brought his herd together to count and brand the calves in the spring, and select the steers for shipment to meat packing plants in the fall.
Student Activity 20-30 minutes
Students heard the story of the cattle drives and the chuck wagon from the cook’s point of view in the video. Now, students will step into the shoes of the other members of the cattle drive and flip the story and retell the story of the cattle drive and roundup experience from a different perspective.
Vocabulary
Merriam-Webster Dictionary definitions
- Cowboy – one who tends cattle or horses
- Trail Boss – one in charge of a trail herd
- Wrangler – a ranch hand who takes care of the saddle horses
- Chuck wagon – a wagon carrying supplies and provisions for cooking (as on a ranch)
- Cattle Drive – the process of moving a large herd of cattle from one location to another more distant location (example – from Texas to Kansas)
- Roundup – the act or process of collecting animals (such as cattle) by riding around them and driving them in
- Stampede – a wild headlong rush or flight of frightened animals
Assessment Materials
Chuckwagon Flip the Story Student StoriesStudents will write a "flipped" story telling the story of the chuckwagon from the perspective of a cowboy.
Student’s flipped stories are the assessment tool for this lesson. A rubric for evaluating the stories has been included with this lesson if teachers wish to use it. Stories should include correct facts and historical details about the cattle drives, chuck wagon and the cook from the cowboy’s point of view.
Rubric/Answer Key
Chuckwagon Flip the Story Student StoriesThis rubric can be used to assess the flipped stories students write about chuckwagons told from the perspective of the cowboys.
Assessment Rubric
| Category | Exceeds Expectations | Meets Expectations | Does Not Meet Expectations |
| Amount of Information | Basic details as well as additional facts are included to create a comprehensive story. | Basic details and information is included in the story. | Few historical details are included in the story. |
| Quality of Historical Details | Numerous factually correct historical details are included as supporting evidence in the story. | Historical details provide basic evidence to support their story. | Historical details are not accurate. |
| Grammar and story structure | Written story is a complete story, with an introduction, generous supporting details, and a well thought out conclusion. | Story provides an introduction, basic details and a conclusion. | Insufficient details are included in the story and is not fully developed. |
Additional Resources
For More Information
Abbott, E. C. “Teddy Blue” and Helena Huntington Smith. We Pointed Them North: Recollections of a Cowpuncher. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. 1939.
Adams, Andy. The Log of a Cowboy: A Narrative of the Old Trail Days. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. 1964.
Adams, Ramon F. Come an’ Get It: The Story of the Old Cowboy Cook. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. 1952.
Adams, Ramon F. The Old-Time Cowhand. New York: Collier Books. 1961.Dary, David. Cowboy Culture: A Saga of Five Centuries. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas. 1989.
Dykstra, Robert R. The Cattle Towns. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. 1968.
Kohrs, Conrad. Conrad Kohrs: An Autobiography. Edited by Conrad Kohrs Warren. Deer Lodge, Montana: Platen Press. 1977.
Stuart, Granville. Forty Years on the Frontier: As Seen in the Journals and Reminiscences of Granville Stuart, Gold-Miner, Trader, Merchant, Rancher and Politician. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press. 1977.