Pioneers in Northwest Georgia

Written by: Natasha Lewis and Kellie Wolfe - Kennesaw State University, History Education

Grade & Course:
4th Grade Social Studies

Length of Lesson:
One 60 minute class period

NCSS Themes:

• Culture
• People, Places, and Environments

Georgia Performance Standard(s):

SS4H6 The student will explain westward expansion of America between 1801 and 1861.

• Describe territorial expansion with emphasis on the Louisiana Purchase, the Lewis and Clark expedition, and the acquisitions of Texas (the Alamo and independence), Oregon (Oregon Trail), and California (Gold Rush and the development of mining towns).

Objectives

The student will:

• experience aspects of pioneer life in Georgia through a reading assignment.
• record what the life of a pioneer was like by writing a letter.
• comprehend the challenges involved in westward expansion.

Essential Question:
What were elements of pioneer life in Northwest Georgia?

Assessments:
The completed letter written by the students will be assessed to insure understanding of pioneer life in Georgia. The students will be asked to share their letters with their class to demonstrate their understanding of pioneer life in Northwest Georgia.

Resources and Handouts:

• Transparency Worksheet 
• Overhead Projector
• Transparency Markers
• Letter Template
• Crayons
• Colored Pencils
• Pencils
• Pens

Description of Methods:

1. Hook Activity: 10 minutes

The lesson will begin with warm up questions to initiate thought about the essential question for the day. The questions will determine the level of knowledge students have regarding pioneer life in Northwest Georgia. Students will be asked to write short answers to the questions. The teacher will then begin a class discussion asking students to explain their responses.

Warm Up Questions

What is a pioneer?

• Why would someone leave his or her home to move to a new place today?
• Why would it be difficult to move today?
• Do you think pioneers faced these problems as well?
• What do you think pioneers brought with them to help start their new lives?

2. Introduction Activity 15 Minutes

Using the overhead projector the teacher will read the Pioneers in Georgia worksheet to the class. The teacher will call on students to answer the questions interspersed throughout the
reading. The student responses will be recorded on the transparency for the class to see.

3. Interactive Activity 20 minutes

The teacher will distribute the letter template to the students. Students will be asked to write and decorate a letter. They will be asked to imagine that they are pioneers in Northwest
Georgia. They are to pretend that they are writing to a family member or friend living in a city. The students will be asked to discuss some of the following: what their new houses are like,
what the land is like, what they eat, who they have met, etc.

4. Review 10 minutes

The teacher will ask for student volunteers to share their letters with the class

5. Close-Exit Ticket: 5 minute

The class will conclude with explanations by the students as to whether they would/would not like to have been pioneers in Northwest Georgia.

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Pioneers in Georgia

In modern times, when most Americans think of the West, they usually think about states like California, Oregon, and Washington. This has not always been true.

• What other states have you visited or lived in?

In the early 1800s, Georgia was the American West! Most of Georgia where we live today was covered in forests. The only people who lived there were the Cherokee Indians. Georgia was becoming a popular place to live. More and more people wanted land.

• Why do you think people wanted land?
• What were they going to use it for?

The state of Georgia had to decide what to do. Would they sell land to the people who wanted to go west? In 1805, the state government came up with a special idea; they would give land away in a lottery.

A lottery is a contest where a lot of people’s names are entered  into a drawing. The person’s whose name is picked is the winner. In this lottery, the winner won the right to buy land from the State of Georgia for the very low price of 4 cents per acre.

• Would you have wanted to enter the land lottery?
• What would you have done with your new land?

Georgia held land lotteries until 1832. During these years, adventurous people looking for a better life would pack up their belongings and move to the Georgia frontier. They were
pioneers!

• Have you ever moved to a new place?
• How do you think the pioneers felt when they left? Were they scared, excited, or maybe a little bit of both?

Life as a pioneer was difficult! The pioneers faced many challenges. The first thing they had to do was to build houses and clear fields for their farms. This wasn’t easy! They had to cut down trees themselves so there would be a place to plant their crops. Luckily, the trees came in handy, because the pioneers had to build their own cabins. There were no stores for them to buy lumber and nails at.

• Have you ever built anything?
• Do you think it would be hard to build your own house?

There were definitely no grocery stores! So the pioneers had to grow and raise almost everything they ate. They brought pigs, cows, and chickens with them to their new farms. They planted tomatoes, corn, onions, potatoes, and other good things to eat. They even had to churn their own butter! The pioneers also
lived off of the land. They went hunting for deer, rabbits, and squirrels. They also went fishing in rivers, lakes, ponds, and streams.

• If you were a pioneer, what kind of food would you plant in your garden?
• What kind of animals would you have on your farm?

An important crop for the pioneers was cotton. They would grow cotton on their farms and sell it. The cotton would be sent to a big city like Savannah. That was how the pioneers made money. Pioneers met new people on their farms. They became friends with other pioneer families and the people who lived on the land before they did – the Cherokee.

Pioneer families worked hard all day, but there was time for fun too. In the evenings they would tell stories, play games, and play instruments and sing.

• What kind of things would you have done for fun if you were a pioneer? Remember, there were no televisions, computers, or videogames then!

Life as a pioneer in Georgia was certainly different than life today!

• Describe some things that make life different for us today.