Grade 8 Lesson at a Glance: Chapter 7, Lesson 2

Houghton Mifflin Social Studies
A More Perfect Union

Lesson at a Glance
Chapter 7, Lesson 2: The Trans-Appalachian Frontier (pp. 196-200)

The Big Idea
Framework Concept: Continuity Moving west for new economic opportunities, settlers made new communities like those they had left.

Use the map on page 198 to outline settlers' westward movement for students. Be sure they understand the reasons why settlers moved, and what it took to make such a move.

Talk about the importance of mapping boundaries and planning towns in settling a new area. Discuss with students which institutions and services even self-sufficient settlers would need to create a new community.

Lesson Outline
Use the Lesson Outline to preview the content of the lesson. You may wish to print it for your students as a guide during reading.

Check for Understanding

Ask students to write a letter home to relatives as a settler describing a move west. Encourage students to describe the trip and the arrival and to include their plans, hopes, problems, and concerns.
Have students work in groups as if they are settlers establishing a town in the Northwest territory. Ask each group to name three institutions or businesses they believe are important to the survival of the community, and to rank them in order of importance. Have the groups share and compare their choices and rankings.

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