Last updated: September 24, 2024
Lesson Plan
Climate: Drought, Seasons, and Health
Plant life on the prairie adapts to harsh conditions.
NPS/D. Ocheltree
- Grade Level:
- Upper Elementary: Third Grade through Fifth Grade
- Subject:
- Science,Social Studies
- Lesson Duration:
- 60 Minutes
- Common Core Standards:
- 3.L.4, 3.L.4.a, 4.L.4, 4.L.4.a, 5.L.4, 5.L.4.a, 3.RF.4.c, 5.RF.4.c, 3.RI.1, 3.RI.2, 3.RI.3, 4.RI.2, 4.RI.3, 3.SL.1, 3.SL.1.d, 3.SL.3, 4.SL.1, 4.SL.1.d, 5.SL.1
- State Standards:
- 4th Geography 2.2.a. Describe how the physical environment provides opportunities for
and places constraints on human activities. Earth Science 3.5 A variety of hazards result from natural process; humans cannot eliminate natural hazards but can reduce.. - Thinking Skills:
- Understanding: Understand the main idea of material heard, viewed, or read. Interpret or summarize the ideas in own words.
Essential Question
Explain how the climate of the southern Great Plains during the fur trade era supported and hindered human and animal survival.
Objective
Recognize the effects of a variable southern Great Plains climate on plant life and human and animal migration.
Background
Overview Background: The southeastern Colorado trading post known as Bent’s Fort was established in 1833 along the Arkansas River bordering Mexico. As a major stop between Independence, MO and Santa Fe, NM, Bent’s Fort was a multicultural and international commerce hub on the Santa Fe Trail. Built on the homelands of the Cheyenne and Arapaho, deemed unorganized U.S. territory during this period, Bent's Fort traded primarily in buffalo robes procured by the Cheyenne and Arapaho people. Traders and merchants from dozens of other Native American nations and Mexico successfully supplied, traded, and exported items here until 1849.
The lessons in this unit are based on and include excerpts taken directly from Josiah Gregg’s 1844 published journal titled The Commerce of the Prairies. As a young man, Josiah first embarked with a caravan on the Santa Fe Trail in 1831. For the next nine years, he detailed the commerce, cultures, customs, ecology, and politics of the time. His insights detail firsthand experiences across the southern Great Plains during the fur trade era giving us a fuller picture of the lives and livelihoods for people at Bent's Fort.
The unit overview is as follows:
Lesson 1 – Geography of the Plains – Navigation Tools and Isolation
Lesson 2 – Riverways – Sustenance and Safety
Lesson 3 – Optical Illusions and Mirage
Lesson 4 – Climate, Drought and Seasons
Lesson 5 – Flora on the Plains – Grasses, Trees, and Agriculture
Lesson 6 – Fauna: Draft Animals, Buffalo and Rattlesnakes
Lesson 7 – Culture: Languages, Food, and Stereotyping
Lesson Background: This lesson highlights the seasonal ecological changes Josiah Gregg observed in prairie grasses and buffalo herd migrations during the fur trade era.
Prior knowledge of the fur trade era will help give this lesson context. See "Introduction to Bent's Old Fort PowerPoint" in lesson materials.
Preparation
Materials:
- Josiah Gregg Lesson 4 Climate: Drought, Seasons, & Health narrative text
- Weather Data monthly averages table
- Exit ticket
Materials
Companion narrative text for Lesson 4. Excerpts taken from Josiah Gregg's The Commerce of the Prairies.
Download Josiah Gregg Unit - Lesson 4 Climate: Drought, Seasons, & Health narrative text
Companion weather data table for Lesson 4. Cities of Independence, MO, Santa Fe, NM, and La Junta, CO are compared.
Download Weather Data Monthly Averages Table
An optional 37-slide introduction to Bent's Old Fort with notes to build prior knowledge of the fur trade era before teaching lesson 4.
Download Introduction to Bent's Old Fort PowerPoint
Lesson Hook/Preview
| Ask the following “trick” questions to the whole group and give them 15 seconds to talk to a partner before they answer: 1. “What’s the climate today?” Expect learners to answer incorrectly with the current weather conditions, then ask question #2. 2. “What’s the weather today?” Give partners another 15 seconds to discuss before sharing their answers. Follow up by asking partners to determine the difference between climate and weather. Explain the main difference involves duration - the patterns that develop over a long period of time are a location’s climate. |
Procedure
1. Split whole group into smaller groups.
2. Pass out table of annual weather averages for cities along the Santa Fe Trail. Ask students to notice and record a few differences in the data from month to month in the same city as well as differences between cities.
3. Have learners determine the seasonal trends and how those trends differ from one place to another. (e.g. highest and lowest temperatures or precipitation)
4. Circulate among students as they analyze data and check for understanding. After ten minutes, note the major differences students found by calling on volunteers.
5. Before reading Josiah Gregg’s “Climate” section, ask small groups to predict the best season for travel along the Santa Fe Trail given an average two-month journey and considering multiple cities along the way. Learners should support their choice with logical reasoning. Invite students to share.
6. Assign reading of Josiah Gregg “Climate: Drought, Seasons, and Health” narrative text with the following question prompts:
a. Why was “pasturage” found along one of the routes “a month earlier"? Why would that be important?
b. Would it be better to travel when rivers are high or low - why?
c. How might “woody belts” be used by the travelers?
d. Why do you think the buffalo were “so scarce” on this particular journey?
7. Circulate among students to clarify comprehension of Gregg’s narrative and questions.
8. As a whole group, discuss answers to the four questions from the reading. Invite groups to share answers.
9. Conclude by stressing that climate was a major factor for traders’ travel. Aspects of climate influenced the timing and duration of human westward movement during the fur trade as well as America's period of Westward Expansion. Increased traffic combined with climate significantly impacted the living organisms that could grow and reproduce along the Santa Fe Trail.
10. Pass out Exit Ticket.
Vocabulary
weather - the current state of the atmosphere in terms of temperature, humidity, and wind
climate - weather conditions over a long period of time
glade - small area of grass without trees
rivulet - small stream
disrelish - dislike
drought - long period without much rainfall
arid - having little to no rain
salubrity - health-giving
febrile - showing symptoms of a fever
Assessment Materials
Lesson 4 Exit TicketExit ticket containing lesson 4's essential question.
| Explain how the climate of the southern Great Plains during the fur trade era supported and hindered human and animal survival. |
Exit Ticket containing essential question to Lesson 4 Climate: Drought, Seasons, and Health.
Rubric/Answer Key
Lesson 4 Exit TicketAnswers to essential question on Lesson 4 Exit Ticket.
Explain how the climate of the southern Great Plains during the fur trade era supported and hindered human and animal survival.
Possible answers to supported: Seasonal changes forced migration patterns to other areas which helped local vegetation recover. Rains allowed for the flourishing of prairie grasses on which wild and draft animals depended and in turn on which humans depended for both travel and food. Dry seasons left river beds dry which allowed for easier river crossings along the trail.
Possible answers for “hindered”: During dry seasons, the southern Great Plains were subject to extreme heat and prairie wildfires which threatened animal and human life. Drought and limited access to water risked the lives of humans, animals, and plants. During wet seasons, river volumes and swift-moving currents made travel across the river dangerous with the drowning of either draft animals or people a possibility.
Supports for Struggling Learners
Before assigning the narrative reading text, identify and define vocabulary terms. Consider a whole group read-aloud, stopping periodically to clarify meaning.
Enrichment Activities
Social Emotional Learning extension: Discuss personal experiences of being stuck in route to a destination because of weather conditions. What feelings arose? Other than hazardous weather, consider what made travel for Josiah Gregg dangerous (unknown geography, lack of communication, proximity to other people, remote location, wild animals, etc.)
Science extension: Consider medical advice given in the 1840s – namely prescribing travel western U.S. territories for cleaner air. Why do you think air out West was considered healthier? In what ways might this be true or false both then or now? Does science or medical data today support the idea that western climates experience less disease? If so, why? If not, why not?
Additional Resources
Digital copy of Gregg's original 1849 two volume publication.
Commerce Of The Prairies (1849) Josiah Gregg : Victorian Vault : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive (Accessed August 16, 2024).
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals Quick Access providing U.S. climate data (Accessed August 15, 2024).
Santa Fe National Historic Trail (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)
Related Lessons or Education Materials
As a young man, Josiah Gregg embarked with a caravan on the Santa Fe Trail in 1831. For the next nine years, he kept a journal detailing the commerce, cultures, customs, ecology, and politics of the time making eight trips along this trading route. His journal titled The Commerce of the Prairies was published in 1844. All lessons in this unit are based on and include excerpts directly from this text. The unit overview is as follows:
Lesson 1 – Geography of the Plains – Navigation Tools and Isolation
Lesson 2 – Riverways – Sustenance and Safety
Lesson 3 – Optical Illusions and Mirage
Lesson 4 – Climate, Drought and Seasons
Lesson 5 – Flora on the Plains – Grasses, Trees, and Agriculture
Lesson 6 – Fauna: Draft Animals, Buffalo and Rattlesnakes
Lesson 7 – Culture: Languages, Food, and Stereotyping