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Daniel Boone:  Trailblazer 

by Nancy Kelly Allen

Facilitate whole class participation in the shared reading and discussion of Daniel Boone:  Trailblazer.  Read aloud the story.  Ask the following open-ended questions:

ü   Explain that stories have a beginning, middle, and end.  Ask if the Boone story would make sense if the three parts were mixed up, such as End, Beginning, Middle.  Students will explain answers by using facts from the story.

ü   Why do we celebrate the work of Daniel Boone?  What was Boone’s contribution to America ?  To Kentucky ?

ü   Discuss biographies.  Some biographies cover the entire life of a person.  Some biographies cover only the part of a person’s life for which the person became famous.  Why do you suppose the author stopped the biography of Daniel Boone before he died? (There are no right or wrong answers, only students’ opinions).

ü   How has Kentucky has changed since Boone’s exploration?  How has the environment changed since Boone’s days in Kentucky ?  Consider the types of roads, bridges, and means of transportation, as well as housing, jobs, food supply, and communication.

ü   What part of Boone’s life did you find to be most interesting?  Explain.

ü   Ask students if they would like to explore space. Why? Discuss what the challenges-food sources, shelters, cost of travel, fear of the unknown-are in exploring unknown territory.

Activities:

o       Students will use a map or globe to locate the setting of the story.  What does the map or globe tell about Kentucky ?  Tennessee ?  North Carolina ?  Virginia ?  Is there a border between either of these states? 

o       Read another picture book on the life of Daniel Boone.  Compare and contrast the information in the two books.  Discuss the following:  how the two books covered some of the same information; how the books focused on different information; the different types of illustrations or pictures; the writing styles; the part of Boone’s life that was emphasized.

o        Students will pretend to be Daniel Boone on a long hunt and far from home.  Write in a journal a typical day in Boone’s life, from morning to night.  Include his feelings, descriptions of what he saw, heard, touched, tasted.  Include dialog, even if he is only talking to his horse.

o       Students will write a letter to convince a settler that he/she should leave his/her home and move the family to the Kentucky wilderness where they will live in a fort.

o       Give each student a handout with the outline of the shape of Boone’s hat on it.  Students will list facts about Boone on each hat and decorate it.  Make a chart of the different facts listed on the hats.  Post the hats on a wall or bulletin board.

o       Students will write a poem about Boone using the first letters in his name to begin each line of the poem:

Example: Bound for new elbow room

      One step at a time

                  O

                  N

                  E

Math Connection:   

v    Pioneer children enjoyed playing games.  The games they played were with items they made or found.

Materials:   6 small pebbles, small bowl or container.

Make a line on one side of each pebble with marker.  Place pebbles in bowl. Students take turns, lightly tossing the pebbles, catching them again in bowl.  Count the number of pebbles with the line up. This is your score.  Students keep track of the scores on a chart.  (Students could toss the pebbles into a bowl located approximated four feet away.  Count and chart the number of pebbles that land in the bowl.)

v  Patchwork quilt for younger students.  Give students 8"x8" pieces of white construction paper.  Using crayons, markers or any other type of material, the children will need to decorate their own square.  Students will draw pictures representing the life of Daniel Boone.  You will then need to assemble the squares together, punch holes along the edges and then use yarn to "sew" them together.

v  Patchwork quilt for older students.  Show students several pictures of quilt designs before beginning this activity.  Give students 4”x4” pieces of construction paper of various colors.  Students will cut some of the squares into two triangles and some squares into four triangles.  Arrange the squares and triangles into patterns to make quilt blocks.  Put the blocks together to make a quilt.  Encourage student will create various designs and give each design a name. 

v  People used British monetary units in colonial times: 1 pound (£1) was worth 20 shillings, 1 shilling was worth 12 pence (or pennies), 1 penny was worth 4 farthings, and 1 guinea was worth 21 shillings. The problems below show the kinds of arithmetic problems children who lived in the colonies might have had to solve. Can you solve them?

1.     1 pound = _____ pence

2.     1 shilling = _____ farthings

3.     2 guineas = _____shillings

4.     100 farthings = _____ shillings _____ pence

5.     6 shillings 3 pence = _____ pence

6.     30 pence = _____ shillings _____ pence

7.     488 pence = _____ pounds _____ pence

8.     504 pence = _____ guineas

9.     5 pounds = _____ guineas _____ shillings

10. 2 guineas 6 pence = _____ farthings

Answer Key:
1. 240 pence; 2. 48 farthings; 3. 42 shillings; 4. 2 shillings, 4 pence; 5. 75 pence; 6. 2 shillings, 6 pence; 7. 2 pounds, 8 pence; 8. 2 guineas, 9. 4 guineas, 16 shillings; 10. 2040 farthings.

CHALLENGE PROBLEM:
Sarah and Nathaniel sold the extra vegetables from their garden to travelers on their road to Philadelphia . They sold 32 tomatoes for 1 farthing each, 16 bunches of carrots for 1 pence a bunch, 96 ears of corn for 1 shilling a dozen, and 48 potatoes at two for 1 pence.

1.     How much money did they make in pence? __________
Answer:  144

2.     How many shillings did they each earn? __________            Answer:  12

Social Studies Connection:

  *    Many pioneer children made and played with dried apple dolls.  Students can make their own.  

Materials:

Plastic knives (for safety), One apple per child, Felt-tip pens, Beads, Cotton, Wire, Fabric, Glue, Dowel rods or popsicle sticks

Procedure:

1.  Each student will peel a large, hard apple, leaving a little skin at the top and bottom so it will dry in a round shape.

2.  Facial features will be carved- slits for eyes, a protruding nose and slit for mouth.    

3.  The apples need to be cored and placed on a dowel or Popsicle stick and let dry for 3-4 weeks.

4.  The face can be decorated with beads for the eyes, teeth and nose or felt-tip pens can be used.

5.  The body can be formed by wire with cloth strips wrapped around it. Then clothes and extras can be added for character.

  * Fort Boonesborough was made of log cabins.  To make a log cabin rinse and dry an empty milk carton or juice container.  Use straws or pretzel for the “logs” and glue them to the sides of the carton.  If you use pretzels, you may want to use frosting to "glue" the pretzels onto the milk carton.  That way the kids can safely nibble while they are constructing and the pretzels seem to stay stuck to the carton better with the frosting than they do with glue.

*Discuss with students how they think they would prepare for a journey into pioneer Kentucky in which they are uncertain of the final destination.  This journey could take weeks to complete, and the weather conditions, terrain, and resources are unknown  What would they bring?  Tell students to think about how they would cope if they had no refrigerators, no electrical outlets, and no ovens on their journey.  How and what would they eat?  Remind students that these are some of the decisions the pioneers had to make before they embarked on their journeys.  Place students in small groups and ask each group to develop a list of items they should take on their trip to Fort Boonesborough .  After they finish, compare the students' lists with the list of items the pioneers most likely brought on their journey.

Make a chart of the items listed.  What were the most favored items?  What were the least favored items?

There were not many schoolhouses during Daniel Boone’s childhood.  Paper and textbooks were scarce so boys and girls recited their lessons until they memorized them.  The three most commonly used books were the Bible, a primer, and a hornbook. The hornbook was a wooden paddle with parchment attached.  The text was then covered with a protective sheet of transparent animal horn -- hence the name hornbook. A hornbook was used to practice the alphabet and one of the first devices used to teach reading. A play hornbook is easy to make.
Step 1:  On a piece of cardboard, draw a paddle shape. Then cut it out. Cut a piece of paper the width and length of the long part of the paddle.
Step 2:  Write the alphabet on a piece of paper in capital letters. Then, write the lower case letters. Paste this onto the paddle.
Step 3: Tear a piece of plastic wrap that will be used to cover the hornbook.  Put the plastic over the hornbook, and fold the corners. Tape each corner down.

   Punch a hole in the handle and insert a string.  Tie string.

   Display hornbooks on the bulletin board.

   * Label the following three heading on a poster or board:

Already Know            Want to Know                        Learned

Explain that you will be reading and discussing a book about Daniel Boone.  Ask the students to list 3-5 things they already know about Daniel Boone.  Under the heading “Already Know” list student comments.  Ask students to list 3-5 things they would like to know about Boone and write their comments under “Want to Know.”   After reading the book, ask students to list 3-5 things they learned about Boone.  List comments under the third column, “Learned.”  Use the library or Internet to find information in the “Want to Know” list that wasn’t found in the book.

For younger students:  model listening for a fact about Boone by pointing out a fact in a passage just read.  After reading the story, have students recall facts about Boone.  Make a list of “Boone facts.”

 Core Content   

RD-04-2.0.7

Students will make inferences or draw conclusions based on what is read.

 RD-04-3.0.1

Students will explain a character’s or speaker’s actions based on a passage. 

RD-04-4.0.1

Students will connect information from a passage to students’ lives (text-to-self), real world issues (text-to-world) or other texts (text-to-text - e.g., novel, short story, song, film, website, etc.).  

RD-04-5.0.2

Students will identify literary devices such as foreshadowing, imagery or figurative language ( similes, metaphors, and personification).

WR-04-1.1.2

In Personal Expressive Writing,

·        Students will communicate the significance of the writer’s life experience by narrating about life events or relationships.

·        Students will apply the characteristics of the selected form (e.g., personal narrative, personal memoir).

·        Students will create a point of view.

Students will sustain a suitable tone or appropriate voice.

WR-04-1.1.2

In Literary Writing,

·        Students will communicate to an audience about the human condition by painting a picture, recreating a feeling, telling a story, capturing a moment, evoking an image, or showing an extraordinary perception of the ordinary.

·        Students will apply characteristics of the selected form (e.g., short story, play/script, poem).

·        Students will create a point of view.

·        Students will use a suitable tone or appropriate voice.

Students will apply a fictional perspective in literary writing when appropriate. 

AH-05-4.3.2 Students will improvise to tell stories that show action and have a clear beginning, middle, and end. (Literary elements)

SS-EP-4.1.1

Students will use geographic tools (e.g., maps, globes, mental maps, charts, graphs) to locate and describe familiar places at home, school and the community.

Students will use geographic tools (e.g., maps, charts, graphs) to identify and describe natural resources and other physical characteristics (e.g., major landforms, major bodies of water, weather, climate, roads, bridges) in regions of Kentucky and the United States.

SS-05-4.1.1

Students will use geographic tools (e.g., maps, charts, graphs) to identify natural resources and other physical characteristics (e.g., major landforms, major bodies of water, weather, climate, roads, bridges) and analyze patterns of movement and settlement in the United States . 

SS-EP-4.4.1

Students will describe ways people modify the physical environment to meet their basic needs (food, shelter, and clothing).

SS-04-4.4.1

Students will explain and give examples of how people modified the physical environment (e.g., dams, roads, bridges) to meet their needs during the early settlement of Kentucky .

Students will explain and give examples of how people modified the physical environment (e.g., building roads, dams, clearing land) to meet their needs during the early settlement of the U.S.   

SS-05-4.4.3

Students will describe how individuals/groups may have different perspectives about the use of land (e.g., farming, industrial, residential, recreational).

AH-05-4.3.2                                                  

Students will improvise to tell stories that show action and have a clear beginning, middle, and end. (Literary elements)