2.6 Writers of History Draw on an Awareness of Timelines

Connection We talked about text structures in Reader’s Workshop the other day. What were they?

Teaching Point Today I want to teach you that a writer can highlight cause and effect relationships by using a timeline.

Teaching Good writing is not about having the most facts but about what you do with those facts. What can we do to connect our facts?

Teaching The Erie Canal connected the Atlantic Ocean to Lake Erie. Before the Erie Canal was built, boats could travel from New York City in the south to Albany in the north using the Hudson River. The Erie Canal added a branch to the Hudson River going west, which meant that people could travel over 350 miles from Buffalo to Albany on the canal. Now boats could travel from New York to other cities like Syracuse and Buffalo. Now boats could travel up and down New York!

Westward Expansion Timeline 1783—The Revolutionary War ends (with the Treaty of Paris) 1803—Louisiana Purchase 1803—Lewis and Clark explore the Louisiana Territory 1825—Erie Canal is completed 1845—Texas becomes the 28th state in the U.S. 1846—Great Britain and U.S. sign Oregon Treaty, which makes Oregon Territory part of the U.S. (not a British possession any longer) 1846—Settlers begin moving west in covered wagons to Oregon and California on the Oregon and California trails 1848—U.S. and Mexico sign Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo—adds 1.2 million square miles to U.S.— southwestern U.S.—U.S. paid $15 million 1849—California Gold Rush begins 1861-1865—American Civil War 1862—Homestead Act—settlers are able to make a claim on land in western territories; if they stay for a year, the land is theirs (for free) 1869—Transcontinental Railroad—railroad connects Atlantic and Pacific oceans

Westward Expansion Timeline 1783—The Revolutionary War ends (with the Treaty of Paris) 1803—Louisiana Purchase 1803—Lewis and Clark explore the Louisiana Territory 1825—Erie Canal is completed 1845—Texas becomes the 28th state in the U.S. 1846—Great Britain and U.S. sign Oregon Treaty, which makes Oregon Territory part of the U.S. (not a British possession any longer) 1846—Settlers begin moving west in covered wagons to Oregon and California on the Oregon and California trails 1848—U.S. and Mexico sign Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo—adds 1.2 million square miles to U.S.— southwestern U.S.—U.S. paid $15 million 1849—California Gold Rush begins 1861-1865—American Civil War 1862—Homestead Act—settlers are able to make a claim on land in western territories; if they stay for a year, the land is theirs (for free) 1869—Transcontinental Railroad—railroad connects Atlantic and Pacific oceans

How are these two events connected? Different things took people west—one was the opening of the Erie Canal, which made it much easier for people to get from the East Coast to the Midwest, because the Erie Canal brought people to the whole chain of the Great Lakes. Then, starting in 1846, the Oregon Trail and other things took people from the Midwest to California and Oregon.

Teaching Don’t just add facts. Think! Might this have caused other things to happen? Might it be like other events?

Active Engagement What connections can you make?

Information Writers… Think about the topic-and the parts of the topic-to write about. Plan how the writing might go. Research, taking notes. Draft. Revise with various lenses: growing ideas, looking for patterns, and asking questions, thinking about how the geography of a place impacted how the events unfolded, thinking and speculating, thinking about how the timeline of history impacted how the events unfolded.