3rd – 6th Grade Reading Comprehension
Group Activity
In this activity, students work in groups of 4 to 5. You can print off this Conestoga wagon and attach to your board. Next to the picture of the wagon, I listed 20 items on the board. I listed the following on the board beside the picture of the wagon:
shovel, photos, chair, bed, seeds, barrel, clothes, ax, table, blankets, tools, pots, plates, utensils, books, pigs, flour, rake, toys, gun.
Materials
- Picture of Conestoga wagon
- 10 sticky notes per group
They discussed as a group the 10 items that they thought they should bring with them to their new home on the frontier and what would be left behind. Each group was to have 10 sticky notes naming the items they would bring in the wagon. Once it was that group’s turn, the representative came up to the drawing of a Conestoga wagon on the board and attached their sticky notes on the wagon. This represented what was being brought to the New World. Then, the presenter stated what items would be left behind and why. After the activity, this is a great time to have a discussion about the difference between needs and wants. The importance of contentment.