Pioneer Project Notes and directions.

Pioneer Project Notes:

Pioneers crossed the Appalachian Mts. With a Horse drawn sled, pots and pans and a few tools. They found land with water for their home.

To claim their property they:

Used Tomahawk Rights:  blazing (scraping off the bark) of trees around the border of the property. Corn Rights:  Planting a crop of corn on the land.  Settlement:  Building a shelter and living on the property was the best claim.

The land had to be cleared:  Girdling trees.  Cutting trees, burning trees. Eventually removing the stumps.

Building Homes:  

Lean-to-  

Log cabin-

Cat and clay chimney

Puncheons -  (flooring)

Loft and ladder.

Food and Clothes:

Everything had to be made by hand:

Horseshoes, farm tools, sleds, weaving looms, spinning wheels, and shoes.  Clothing, rugs, candles, soap, bedding.

Men:  buckskin hunting shirts,  Breeches and leggings , large belt, Knife, bullet bag, powder horn, tomahawk, Moccasins, skin cap.

Women:  dresses, dyed with madder indigo butternut, walnut, bloodroot, hickory, polk, sumac, Oak bark, goldenrod.

Wool or Lindsey Woolsey,  and a sun bonnet.

Some with better means had European clothes. 

Food:  deer, elk, bear, squirrel, rabbit, wild turkey.

Fish mussels, turtles and they raised hogs.

Vegetables:  corn, pumpkins, squash, beans, potatoes.

Corn most important-  roast ears, meal, bread, mush. Hominy

Wild berries in season.

Recreation: 

Group Work:  “ House Raising”  Log Rolling, quilting bees, husking bees. 

Neighbors would visit neighbors and complete these jobs together.

Life skills practice:

Boys-  bow and arrow, animal calling

Girls -  Homemade dolls, house chores, cooking, child care.

All-  Horseshoes, foot racing, fighting, shooting contest, sack races.

Health: 

Poor hygiene-  led to problems and diseases

Families were large -  15 to 20 children were not uncommon- but many did not live to adulthood.

Croup, worms, small pox, measles, mumps, whooping cough and diphtheria, consumption(lung disease) rabies

          Cures:  blood of black cat, Onion or garlic juice, salt, pewter scrapings, herbs, Bleeding, warm bear grease, sassafras tea, catnip tea, smartwood tea, sage tea

 

Pioneer Project Directions:

Create a character:

Name______________________________________

Date born:  (from pioneer times)_________________________

Area from before coming to the frontier:________________________

Area in Western Virginia settled:

Water source:___________________________________

Size of claim:____________________________________

20 points

Draw a picture of your Character: (attach)  Must have period correct clothing from time period. (use notes)

20 points.

Describe 3 meals ate by your character.  (20 points)

Breakfast:

Mid-day:

Evening:

 

Describe 3 things found at the Pumpkin Festival that relate to the Pioneer Days.  In complete sentences.  (20 points)

Item one

Item two

Item three

 

Describe health problems suffered by your character.  (at least one for each period of life. (complete sentences)  20 points.

Early Life:

Mid Life:

What killed them:   What age:

 

Then complete your homemade item.  100 pts. (see attached directions)

 

 

Pioneer Project directions:                      Due Dates: 

 

            Pioneer families had to be self-reliant.  They could not go to the store to get any type of supplies.  Everything they used had to be brought with them from the settlements, traded for, or made by hand by themselves out on the frontier.  To survive they needed to use their skills, wits and materials available on the frontier. 

Your task with this project is to make something that the pioneers would have had to make on the frontier, or a model of said object.  You will have to research your object and write about it in your companion essay and cite your source or sources.  ( Mrs. Kirk, in the library can be of great assistance, she has a section in the library on Appalachian culture.) 

Examples-   ( look around the class at previous items)

·         Model Cabins or lean-tos

·         Toys- dolls, animals, carved figures, games.

·         Articles of clothing

·         Candles

·         Soap

·         Natural dye process

·         Cooking or cleaning utensils

·         Other ideas (check with teacher with idea before beginning)

·         No weapons (knives, bows and arrows, etc.)

Articles:  need to be made of materials that would have been found on the frontier.  Nails would have been limited, cloth would have been Lindsey-woolsey, or wool or leather, in short supply.  Glue would have been natural materials (clay, etc.)  Modern materials may be substituted byt in your description you must explain your substitutions. 

3 Paragraph Descriptive Essay:  Paragraph 1-  describe your research, 5 sentence minimum, Paragraph 2- describe how you made your item, 5 sentence minimum. Paragraph 3- describe your materials, where did you get them, did you substitute materials, what would they have used on the frontier. 

Presentation-  Show us the item and tell us about it. 

 

 

Grading rubric:

Item:	Mastery:	Partial Mastery:	Novis:
Finished product 60 pts.	Complete, well made, effort shown in product 60   55   50	Complete, but lack of effort shown in quality of the product.  45  40   35	Incomplete, or poorly made with result showing lack of effort. 30  25  20
Descriptive essay 30 pts.	3 paragraphs, no grammar mistakes, Completely described, citation correct 30	3 paragraphs, grammar 3 to 5 mistakes, description incomplete. Citation incorrect. 20	Incomplete,  more than 5 grammar mistakes, Poor description, no citation. 10
Presentation 10 pts.	1 minute, practiced, item well explained 10	Under 1 minute, unpracticed evident, partial explanation. 7	Incomplete description, explanation incomplete. 5