Shoe Box Activity

This week our professor asked us a question, “If you found out all of a sudden you had to
leave your home, and only had a shoebox to bring with you, what would you put in your
shoebox?” We could’ve chosen to bring very sentimental items...or practical items. I chose
Phone charger/phone, watch charger/watch, journal(s)/pens, Bible, a picture of my family,
chapstick, and my nalgene. My items were kind of sentimental, but more practical. This was
a great way to get students into the mindset of how things really were on the oregon trail.
While we were doing this in class, our professor threw in a twist. She told us that our wagon
broke down and we could now only choose one item from our box to travel on with. We had
to think very hard about what was most important to us to keep forever. I chose a picture of
my family, because my family is truly what’s most important to me! Everyone placed their
chosen artifact on one table and we had a class discussion about the different artifacts
people chose as most special to them. All in all, this was such a great activity to get students
excited about social studies, and to put that time period in a relatable manner.

Here are a few pictures of the 1 thing each of us chose to keep:

Here is a link to another blog with some other fun ideas to simulate what life was like during this period: http://www.journeyofasubstituteteacher.com/2017/01/teaching-about-oregon-trail.html

This would be a great way to get students to picture other important aspects about the oregon trail!