Westward Expansion Research Report

Teaching a unit on Westward Expansion? The growth and expansion of the west is a major topic of study in United States history, and we’ve made it easier! We have developed this comprehensive research report for your students to organize, create, develop, write, edit, illustrate, present, and assess their Westward Expansion report. This template can be used to complete their formal report or it can be utilized as a study guide to develop their report for them to complete on a computer or device. We encourage you to have your students use a wide variety of resources to gather the necessary information to complete this report. This packet is designed for you to pick and choose the parts of the report that you’d like to use, or just use it all! This packet contains the following:

• Two cover pages- one in color and one in grayscale
• 32 Vocabulary Words related to the Westward Expansion. Templates are provided to define the word and illustrate the word. (a blank template is also provided for you to add any additional vocabulary words that you would like to add to provided scaffolding for students who need it).
• A Westward Expansion “Timeline” Chart- Students will develop a chart to write about the key events of Westward Expansion. A list of suggested topics precedes the timeline for you and/or your students to use. This is a guide of ideas. Please add or delete as needed based on the research your students conduct. Students will list the date(s), event, and a short description. Students will use as many pages as needed.
• 26 Text dependent questions with a full page for response
• Critical Thinking Activities and Questions- Essential questions and application activities to demonstrate comprehension of western expansion at higher levels of thinking
• Graphic Organizer to organize information for biographies on key people associated with the Westward Expansion
• A one page “biography” for the 31 key people related to Westward Expansion. Pick and choose the people you’d like your students to study. People included are: Daniel Boone, Jedediah Smith, Robert Fulton, Red Jacket, Abraham Lincoln, Daniel Drake, Mike Fink, John Chapman, Paul Bunyan, Thomas Jefferson, Napoleon Bonaparte, Francis Scott Key, Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, York, Tecumseh, Andrew Jackson, John Marshall, Stephen Austin, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, John Tyler, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, James K. Polk, John Sutter, Frederick Douglass, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, James Madison, Dolly Madison, Sacagawea, Harriet Tubman, Susan B. Anthony