• Writer’s Notebook: To help students consider the importance of centers of cultural recreation, students will use the following questions as their writer’s notebook prompt:
  • Where do you go to hang out with your friends?
  • Where around town is the “cool” place to go?
  • When do you have the most fun when you’re with your friends? What do you do together?
    • Students should be given time to share their writing, either in front of the whole class or in pairs.
• Anticipatory Set: Put students in small groups and give them a slip of paper. With their paper, have students write quick responses to the following questions:
  • What is your favorite movie?
  • What is the most recent movie you saw at a cinema?
  • When you go to the cinema, what is your favorite snack?
  • What do you think is the most popular movie among your age group?
    • After this question, the teacher projects the image of the drive-in movie theater.
  • Have you ever been to a drive-in theater?
  • If you could choose any film, what would you want to see on this big of a screen?
• Mini-Lesson/Context: Using this History.com article, the teacher will give students a brief lesson about drive-in theaters. It is important to touch on the following:
  • Camden Automobile Movie Theater
  • Car Culture/Effects of the Baby Boom
  • COVID Connections
  • Modern Scarcity
• Short Essay: Students will now write a short essay in response to this prompt: Drive-in theaters were once a staple of American (and especially teenage) culture, but now we can really only see them in old rural towns. What do you think are the cultural trends/activities that define your generation, and which ones do you think will eventually die out? If they are going to die out, are they worth doing at all?

• Writer’s Notebook: For their writer’s notebook prompt, students should respond to some or all of the following questions:
  • What is the biggest sacrifice you have ever made?
  • Think of your most valuable possession. What would it take for you to give it up?
  • How do you feel when someone in authority (parents, teachers, bosses, etc.) coerces you to give something up? Does being forced to give something up cheapen the sacrifice?

*Students should be given time to share their responses (whole class or individually) to help prime students for further conversation about the day’s topic.

• Mini-Lesson: The teacher should give a brief lesson about gasoline rationing during WWII. It is important that some rations were the result of supply chain theories (i.e., gas rations were to limit rubber consumption) and that these were mandatory rations. Students should inquire about the ethics of “mandatory” rationing in a free democratic society.
• Think-Pair-Share: Project the resource on the board or print it for students to look at individually or with groups. Instruct students to engage in a Think-Pair-Share activity by doing the following:
  • Think: Individually, write down between three and five things you notice about this picture. Use these guiding questions if you aren’t sure what to write:
    • What is similar/different to a gas station you would see today?
    • What do you notice about the price?
    • Who does the government prioritize, according to this picture?
  • Pair: With a partner, do the following:
    • Share your observations.
    • Answer and debate: Do you think that the government should have the ability to mandate rationing?
    • Answer and debate: Why do you think farmers are given priority?
    • Answer and debate: Who are the most essential people/workers that you think should be given priority?
  • Share: Each pair now shares their answers with the class and identifies if there are any disagreements.

• Writer’s Notebooks: Students should answer one or all of the following prompts in their freewriting notebooks:
  • What is the most important building in your life?
  • What is the most important building in your city?
  • What makes a building important or emotional?
  • What is a building you’ve always seen but never been inside or that you want to go inside?
    • Students should be given time to share their responses, either with the entire class or with a partner/group.
• Think-Pair-Share: With the image of the LDS Manti Temple displayed on the board, students should engage in a short Think-Pair-Share activity.
  • Think: Individually, students should respond to the following questions:
    • Who do you think built this building and why? What is it for?
    • When do you think this building was built? What clues could help you know?
    • How might this building affect the community around it?
  • Pair: With a partner, students share their responses.
  • Share: With the whole class, pairs share their responses, noting what they agreed on and what questions they still have.
• Mini-Lesson: With students prepared with the Think-Pair-Share anticipation, the teacher should now give a brief lesson about LDS Westward migration, temple building, and the importance of architecture. The teacher should consider these points:
  • LDS Westward Migration: Note the importance of LDS pioneers in Westward expansion and settling large portions of Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, and California. Read more here.
  • LDS Temple Building: Note the importance of temples in LDS worship and how they might affect their communities. For example, in the case of a rural area such as Manti, Utah, much of the surrounding economy is related to temple attendance and Western history tourism.
  • Importance of Architecture: It is essential that students understand that architecture is a reflection of the community (consider how an urban community would look different than an industrial community because of the economy that is prevalent there). Read more here.
• Freewrite: Give students the chance to write about which buildings in their community reflect and affect the community. This can be a short or long writing activity.

• Writer’s Notebooks: Students will answer some or all of the following questions during their freewriting notebook time:
  • What do you think is the safest, most reliable, and most efficient form of energy that we use?
  • Do you think it is always the case that the most powerful inventions come with the most dangerous risks?
  • Where does the energy to your house come from?
    • Students should be given time to share their writing, either with the entire class or with a partner/group.
• Parking Lot: Students should engage in a “parking lot” anticipation to prepare them for their learning.
  • The teacher should post five different types of energy production around the room:
    • Nuclear
    • Coal
    • Liquid Natural Gas
    • Hydroelectric
    • Wind Turbines
  • Students are given five sticky notes and on each of them should post one benefit and one drawback of each of these types of energy production.
  • Take a moment as a class to review some of the answers for each of these.
• Power/Nuclear Energy Mini-Lesson: The teacher should now project the resource on a screen for students to see, explaining that Palo Verde has been the largest nuclear reactor in the United States (which delivers large amounts of power to Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, and California). The teacher should present a brief lesson regarding types of energy production, focusing on nuclear energy.
  • Drawing from responses to the parking lot activity, the teacher will briefly explain the tradeoffs to each of the five different types of energy production (for example, hydroelectric is extremely passive and uses gravity to generate electricity but can damage ecosystems and kill wildlife), posing the theme of the lesson: “What drawbacks are we willing to endure for the best benefits?”
  • Nuclear Energy: The teacher should now focus on nuclear energy, briefly citing disasters like Chernobyl and Fukushima.
• Short Essay: Students will now write a short essay in response to the following prompt: “Humans require energy to survive, whether it is a wood-burning stove to cook food or wind turbines to power cities. Each type of production comes with a cost. Nuclear energy is often cited as being the “cleanest” in the sense that it produces no emissions and often requires only a small amount of land. It is also extremely powerful and can cause major damage if it is not properly contained. Do you think the benefits of nuclear energy outweigh the drawbacks? Explain your reasoning.”

• Writer’s Notebooks: The teacher should post the resource on the board or print it for students to view individually. Students should answer one or all of the following questions during their freewriting notebook time:
  • Why is transcontinental trade important for the United States?
  • Which kind of trade is more important: domestic or foreign?
  • Is it okay for a country to risk the loss of individual life in pursuit of a common good? If so, how many lives is it okay to lose?
  • How much would you have to get paid to work on this railroad?
    • Students should be given time to share their writing with the whole class or with a partner/group.
• Parking Lot: Students should engage in a “parking lot” anticipation to prepare them for their learning. The goal of this activity is to get students to think about where their goods and services come from and how much they rely upon transportation to obtain them.
  • The teacher should post five categories of foods around the classroom, ideally on poster paper.
    • Fruits and Vegetables
    • Candy
    • Canned Foods
    • Snack Items
    • Meats
  • Students should be given five sticky notes, one for each food category. For each category, students should write and post their favorite using their sticky notes..
• Transportation Mini-Lesson: The goal of this mini-lesson is to get students thinking about the importance of transportation, and some of the different factors surrounding the transcontinental railroad.
  • Economic Importance: Explain to students the importance of transportation for the economy, specifically citing food. Using this USDA resource, the teacher can choose some of students’ favorite foods and note how lack of transportation would make it impossible to get them.
  • Pros and Cons of the Railroad: This PBS resource has many points the teacher can use in their instruction.
  • Chinese Involvement: This National Parks resource can be used to explain the essential role that Chinese Americans served in creating the railroad.
• Essay: Students should write an essay in response to the following prompt: “The last spike at Promontory Point, Utah, signified the end of the transcontinental railroad project. The impact of the railroad cannot be overstated, but it did not come without its costs. Do you think that the danger associated with transportation is worth it? Explain your reasoning.”

• Invite students to read the headlines of the Hailey, Idaho, newspaper on the date Idaho became the 43rd state of the Union and summarize the comments made about the area becoming a state.
• Have students read a summary of Idaho’s statehood from the online research engine EBSCOhost: https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/idaho-admitted-union
• Ask students to research newspaper headlines from their hometowns and articles that were published on their own birthdate and reflect upon the historical events of this time and its potential impact on their lives.
• Have students create a timeline of events beginning with Idaho’s state until the present moment, including images where possible and writing a sentence describing each event.
• Have students create a timeline of events of local events beginning with their own birth until the present moment, including images where possible and writing a sentence describing each event.

• Invite students to observe the photo of Idaho Falls in 1909. What stands out? How might this reflect or refute preconceived notions of Western towns during this time?
• Have students read a summary of the history of Idaho Falls: https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/idaho-admitted-union
• Ask students to research the history of their hometown and reflect on how it confirmed, informed, or refuted their own understanding of its history.
• Have students search for a current photo or image of their community and explain its significance.
• Ask students to respond to the question, What does community mean to me? and how their community impacts their lives. This could be in the form of a letter to the president of the United States or another significant individual, a photo essay, or a personal narrative.

• Invite students to observe the photo of “Son of A Sheep Rancher” by Arthur Rothstein.
• Have students consider the lifestyle of children growing up in a rural community, particularly during the Great Depression. They may need to consider the innocent nature and expression of this young boy and wonder what he is thinking or feeling.
• Ask students to reflect on their own upbringing and what similarities and differences their lifestyle may have to this young person.
• Invite students to search for a photo of themselves or someone they know at a young age and explain its significance.
• Help students respond to the question, What does America mean to me? and how their upbringing and family history impact their lives and American experience.
• Ask students to prepare a family history presentation of their own, including photos, and/or anecdotes, interviews, and other pertinent information about their lives and family history.

• Display the photo: “Group of Bannock Indians” and ask the guiding questions: What do you see? Who is represented? Who took this photo and why? What might this image not be showing?
• Conduct a land acknowledgment of Native populations using the link: https://native-land.ca/. Ask students to reflect on how knowing this helps them appreciate the history of where they live.
• Introduce the Declaration of Independence’s claim: “All men are created equal.” Ask: Did Indigenous peoples like the Bannock have access to the promises of 1776 in 1878? Discuss the cultural resilience of Native nations from their origins until now.
• Pose questions: What does independence mean to different people across time? How does understanding Native American history enhance American freedoms?
• Have students write a short response to the question: What can this image teach us about both the progress and the unfinished work of the American experiment with Native Americans?
  • What next steps might we take to understand better Native Americans around us today?
  • Similar to Native Americans, how is your progress in the American experiment unfinished?

• Invite students to listen to the oral history of this 90-year-old woman from a remote town in Idaho and record what stands out to them. Using a T-Chart, they will record on the left side what they learn about the 90-year-old woman.
• Using the same T-Chart, ask students to write down impressions on the right-hand side that they have about their own family history and what stories they would like to know more about.
• Help students brainstorm particular individuals they could interview and what questions they would like to ask. The provided link from the Library of Congress will help guide them through this process.
• Consider asking students to interview veterans or other prominent members of the community in an effort to show appreciation and a desire to preserve the history they have been part of creating.
• If possible, consider using YouTube, StoryCorps, or other online resources to help preserve recording.
  • Title and save your interview
• Give your recording a clear name like:
  Nana’s Story—Growing Up in Idaho in the 1950s.
  • Save it to your computer or cloud storage or upload to YouTube (set as private/unlisted unless you have permission to share publicly).

• Ask students to look at the map of Idaho (Image 82) and explain why they think it was shaped the way it is. (You may want to include maps of the states bordering Idaho.)
• Invite students to make changes to Idaho borders.
• Read the history of Idaho’s border by historian Keith Petersen. Help students summarize the article, paying special attention to the examples of compromise found throughout the process. Point out the arbitrariness of borders, often determined by people far away from the affected land. Why does this matter? How do we allow these individuals to make such significant decisions?
• Place students into groups with different roles regarding forming borders. One activity could involve each group representing a different region (historically: Oregon Territory, Montana settlers, Washington politicians, etc.).
• Give each group different priorities (e.g., access to rivers, farmland, gold, mountains, trade routes). Using a blank map of the Northwest, students must negotiate where Idaho’s borders will be.
• Discuss how their version compares to real history. What compromises had to be made?
• Next, ask students to respond to the following prompt in a journal on the human experience of compromise. Prompt: Imagine you are participating on a council in 1860s Idaho determining where the border should go. What do the major players on the settler side and Native American side want? What could they be willing to give up? How does everyone feel afterward?
• Finally, present a modern scenario (e.g., two school clubs want to use the same space, two communities disagree on land use). In pairs or small groups, students must find a fair compromise and explain:
• What did each side give up?
• Was the solution fair?
• How is this like decisions made in Idaho’s formation?
• A follow-up activity could include a close read of the original draft of the Declaration of Independence. Lesson plans may be found in the Alternative or Complementary Primary Sources for Classroom Options section below.

• Provide students with primary and secondary sources made available in this lesson.
  • Ask guiding questions:
  • What is history? Why does history matter?
  • Who were the Mormon Battalion soldiers?
• Why did they march, and what was their route?
• What hardships did they face?
• What contributions did they make to California?
• Students create a one-page summary with a timeline and key facts or turn it into a digital slideshow.
• What value do stories bring to history?
  • What story that you know about, if shared with others, would provide a more informed understanding and depth of appreciation of your history?
• Instruct students to find and share a lesser-known historical story from their own community, family, or heritage.
  • Prompt: What’s a story from your family or culture that isn’t in the textbooks?
• Students interview a family or community member, or students research a lesser-known local or ancestral historical figure or group.
  • Present as a short story, poster, digital slideshow, or mini-podcast.
• Help students visualize and celebrate diverse contributions to California’s identity.
  • Each student designs a “quilt square” (paper or digital) representing an underrepresented story—the Mormon Battalion or a personal/family/community history.
  • Quilt squares should include a short caption or paragraph explaining the story.
  • Combine these into a class display titled “The Tapestry of California History.”

• Ask students to explain how California got its name.
  • If they need to guess, they can create a mythological story of how it became named California.
• Read the provided newspaper article (pages 1–2) from the Library of Congress and PBS historical context link explaining the origin of California’s name. Ask students how their mythological story differs or is similar to the fictional island paradise described in the 16^th-century Spanish romance Las Serges de Esplandian.
• Review the provided link to Early California History: An Overview articles in the Alternative or Complementary Primary Sources for the Classroom.
  • Students should list at least five interesting facts from one of the provided articles (i.e. “The First Peoples of California,” “Spanish California,” “The Missions,” etc.)
  • In small groups, students should share with each other their facts in a fast-paced quiz game.
• Provide a blank map of California.
  • Students mark key locations: Sacramento (capital), Los Angeles, Sierra Nevada, Central Valley, and the Coast.
  • They should note beside each one fact they learned about the region (e.g., industries, farming, geography, Native groups). This may require additional research.
• Research the Native Peoples of California section, which could include hundreds of Native tribes and their lifestyles.
  • Students pick one tribe (e.g., Miwok, Pomo, Chumash), research their culture, and prepare a one-minute presentation or poster about their crafts, homes, or trading systems.
• Compare California in the 1850s (statehood year) to today. The link in the Alternative or Complementary Primary Sources for Classroom Options would be a helpful resource.
  • Use a two-column chart:
    | Topic | 1850 California | 2025 California |
    Topics: population, economy, cultural diversity, environment.
  • Discuss how changes reflect the idea of California as a place of opportunity and transformation.
• Short Response: How does California’s diversity—past and present—relate to your own community or values?
  • Students write a short paragraph or draw a visual connecting aspects of California history (native heritage, immigration, innovation) to their personal experiences or community.

• Ask students to do a quickwrite: What would it feel like to be taken away from your home?
• Brief class discussion: How are stories passed down through song?

Song #1: “The Fair Captive”

• Briefly introduce “The Fair Captive” as a traditional ballad that tells a dramatic story of kidnapping, identity, and escape.
  • You can go into a further discussion of captivity narratives, using the provided link in the source for historical content.
• Listen to the audio; distribute lyrics.
• Discuss narrative structure: Who is the speaker? What happens? How do they feel? Why do you think early California emigrants sang this song?
• How might the narrative change if written from the Native American perspective?

Song #2: “El Corrido de Kiansis”

• Introduce this corrido as a Spanish-language ballad sung by Mexican American workers.
• Provide translation and play the audio. (The source is found in the Alternative or Complementary Primary Sources for the Classroom options.)
• Ask: Who is telling the story? What emotions are present? Why do you think California emigrants sang this song?

Compare and contrast the two songs.

• Use a Venn diagram or T-chart: Compare themes, tone, structure, and historical context of the two songs.
  • What kinds of hardship or resilience do both songs express?
  • How do language and culture influence storytelling in song?

Connect to America 250

• How do songs like these help us understand the voices and lives of early Americans?
• Why is it important to preserve these songs as we approach the 250^th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence?

Creative Reflection

• Students write a short journal or poem imagining a folk song based on a story from their own family or community.
  • Prompt: What story would a song tell about someone you know?

• Give students a blank piece of paper and ask them to draw/sketch the images/words that come to my mind when they hear the word “rural” and/or “farmer.”
• In small groups, have students compare and contrast their pictures, jotting down notes of similarities and differences they see.
• Ask students to consider the following questions:
  • What are oral histories? Why might they be important?
• Have students listen to the oral history interview and, as they listen, take note of aspects of Dennis Hardiman’s experiences that are similar to and different from their sketches and group-generated lists.
• Ask students to research the Great Migration and connect it to Dennis Hardiman’s experiences.
• Have students meet in their groups again to brainstorm who would be important to talk to in their communities to learn about how people came to live and settle in this area of the United States. What kinds of questions could students ask?
• Conduct an oral history project in which students interview members of their community.
• Publish/share students’ work with interviewees and community members through an exhibition/reading of those histories.

• Invite students to write to think, jotting down individual responses to the questions:
  • Why do humans take photographs?
  • How does photographic evidence help us commemorate and remember major historical events?
• After students have finished writing, invite them to pair and share with a partner, noting the similarities and differences in their responses.
• As a whole group, ask for students to share responses that struck them and why they were struck by the response.
• Offer the follow-up question about how photographs help us commemorate important events. What can they tell us about the event?
• Show the photograph of Morris L. Cooke signing approvals to give 7,000 rural households electricity. Ask students to perform a close reading of the photo.
  • What time period do they think it is? How do they know?
  • What do they notice about Cooke? Do they think he’s connected to rural people and places? How do they know?
  • Why do they think this photo was taken?
• Invite students to do some research on Cooke to see if their assumptions/inferences were correct.
• After discussing, invite students to step into Cooke’s shoes. After signing the approvals, what would he write in his diary? How would he feel about his role in this?

• Pair students up and have them answer this question: What is one favorite or impactful memory you have? One partner should ask the question and transcribe the other’s response. Invite them to challenge themselves to capture what their partner says as closely to how it sounds, using spelling that captures the way the word sounds. Then, have the partners switch.
• After they are finished, rejoin as a whole class to reflect on the process. How did it go? What was challenging? How did you overcome those challenges? What new realizations about spelling and speech were revealed to you through this process?
• Next, in their pairs, have students read through the transcript, highlighting places where words and/or phrases seem different or outside of “correct” mainstream middle-class English.
• After reading, invite the pairs to consider the questions:
  • What do we learn about the woman from the interview based on how she talks?
  • How does that influence how/what we think and/or assume about her?
  • How do the interviewee’s stories and experiences add to our understanding of history—FDR’s New Deal or the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)?
• Come back together as a whole class and ask the pairs to share in a whole-class discussion the major takeaways from their partner discussions.

• Ask students to fold a piece of paper in half longways (or hotdog style). At the top of the first column they should write “What I Notice” and at the top of the second column they should write “What I Think about It.”
• Invite students to engage with the photograph by describing what they see in the first column and then the meaning they make of what they see (their interpretation) in the second column.
• Once they are finished noticing and interpreting, ask them to share with their elbow partner a couple of things that they noticed and the meaning they made from it.
• Then come back together as a whole group, giving students the opportunity to share. If it doesn’t come up, ask students:
  • Does this take place in a rural or non-rural place? How do you know?
  • What is the main issue the folks of Rockville are addressing here?
  • Why do you think they’re addressing this issue at the county fair?
• Invite students to make connections to today:
  • How is this issue still present in our modern era?
  • How do modern rural folks work to address those issues? Do you think those are similar to or different from what is happening in the photo?
• Offer students the opportunity to synthesize and process by writing one of the following:
  • A personal letter exchange between the two women (one letter from each woman) detailing how they will organize, strategize, and work together to get a library for their county. You can include the book mobile at the fair as part of your strategy/organization.
  • A formal letter (use correct formatting) from the perspective of one of the two women in the photo addressed to their county commissioner and/or county council detailing why they want a county library. The letter could also offer alternative options to the county library.
  • A formal letter (use correct formatting) to your county commissioner, county council, or state legislator detailing an important issue. Be sure to include details and possible solutions.

• Read the narrative. (Note: Access the narrative at this site for connected text https://ia801905.us.archive.org/8/items/inbosomofcomanch01babb/inbosomofcomanch01babb.pdf)
• Record notes on times, places, dates, and locations
• Organize the notes into chronological order in a labeled timeline or calendar.
• Using Google Earth, create a project that maps out the key locations in the escape route described on pages 19–38 of In the Bosom of Comanches. Learners will need to use problem-solving skills to locate or disregard places on the map.
• Use Google Earth tools and other historical maps to trace the route and measure distances.
• Use historical maps from the Library of Congress to validate Indian reservation areas and names for locations at the time of the narrative. https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4051e.mf000044/?r=0.308,0.605,0.279,0.164,0 and https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4030.ct002350/?r=0.169,0.119,0.437,0.258,0
• Using research data about average miles per hour on foot and by horse, learners should tabulate the time required for distances traveled each day as described in the narrative.
• Evaluate the data: Can we believe Dot Bab’s narrative? How do the times, places, and distances compare to modern life? What conclusions can we draw about what Dot Bab experienced? How could geographical awareness impact modern experiences?

• Display the following images and titles:
  • Mizheh and Babe
  • An Apache Babe
  • The Cornfield
  • Apache Squaw and Papoose
  • Hawkeye, An Indian Story for First Grade image 39
• Share the newspaper article from 1898: Carrying the Babies https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn88083938/1898-05-04/ed-1/?sp=2&st=image&r=0.42,0.034,0.486,0.287,0
• Give students cardstock, twine, and scissors to craft a model cradleboard. They can roleplay with the model to make inferences about how the cradleboard provided effective protection.
• Divide learners into teams to research elements of the Palo Duro Canyon where these Indians would have camped: Geography of Palo Duro Canyon, Plants of the Palo Duro Canyon, Animals in the Palo Duro Canyon, Climate of the Palo Duro Canyon. Each group prepares to make inferences to connect how the cradleboard solved specific problems in the environmental characteristic they studied.
• Learners interview members from other teams to build knowledge about the new topics and their impact on infant safety.
• Conduct a whole-group discussion about how the cradleboard was an important adaptation to the living conditions in the Palo Duro Canyon.