Overview

Caves are a great way to engage young learners in geology and earth sciences. The study of caves is known as speleology, and those who explore caves are called speleologists. Oregon boasts a number of large and impressive caves. Furthermore, because Oregon is so geologically diverse, there are excellent examples of different types of caves, formed by different geological forces. This lesson will concentrate on three major Oregon cave systems: the Oregon Caves of Josephine County, the Lava River Cave of Deschutes County, and the Sea Lion Caves of Lane County.

Oregon Common Core State Standards

Language Arts Standards:

• ELA.RI.4.4 Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words or phrases in a text relevant to a grade 4 topic or subject area.
• ELA.W.4.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
• ELA.W.4.7 Conduct short research projects that build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic.
• ELA.SL.4.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 4 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.

Social Studies Standards:

• Geography 4.11: Identify conflicts involving the use of land, natural resources, economy, competition for scarce resources, different political views, boundary disputes, and cultural differences within Oregon and between different geographical areas.

Materials

• Historic Oregon Newspapers website
• Access to the Internet
• Computers
• Cave types self-discovery activity sheet (all activity sheets in PDF Download)
• Information gathering graphic organizer
• Predictions and observations activity sheet
• Whole group experiment observation sheet
• Science experiment materials
  • 1 box of sugar cubes
  • Toothpicks
  • Clear plastic or glass tubs: 1 per partnership or table group
  • Spray bottles filled with water: 1 per partnership or table group
  • Modeling clay: 2 lbs. for each partnership or table group
  • Limestone rocks
  • A few non-carbonate rocks, various types
  • Water
  • Vinegar
  • Pipettes or eyedroppers
  • 3 clear jars 

Key Vocabulary

• Speleology
• Caverns
• Dissolve
• Limestone
• Acid
• Sulfuric acid
• Carbonic acid
• Solution
• Fissures
• Non-soluble

Lesson

• Introduction: Introduce the different types of caves, emphasizing the difference as a result of the various ways that caves are formed.
  • Have students fill out cave types self-discovery sheet (in PDF Download)
  • Lead into class discussion about the cave types
• Some discussion questions to consider:
  • What are the earth forces that form this type of cave?
  • What kinds of rock are they usually formed in?
  • What are some typical shapes and features of this type of cave?
  • Where are some places in the world where major examples of this type of cave can be found?
• Activity: Have students browse the following websites to identify Oregon’s caves. A graphic organizer to help students organize their information is provided in PDF Download.
  • Oregon Caves National Monument: http://www.nps.gov/orca/index.htm
    • These are impressive examples of solution caves, or caverns, in marble rock, a form of limestone.
  • Sea Lion Caves: http://sealioncaves.com/home/
    • This coastal grotto outside Florence is one of the largest sea caves in the world!
  • Lava River Cave: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lava_River_Cave
    • As the name implies, this cave is volcanic in origin.
  • Optional Jigsaw Activity: To provide even further background information, provide groups of students with one of the articles listed below. Once they have read the whole article as a group or partnership, discuss the most important parts from the article. These articles are primary source documents that provide students with a direct connection to the state of Oregon.
    • “Oregon Caves,” from Portland Sunday Oregonian, August 24, 1902
    • “Mammoth Cave In Southern Oregon,” from Willamette Farmer, June 13, 1879
    • “Another Cave,” from Oregon Sentinel, May 7, 1879
    • “Find a Great Cave: Two Boys Find Immense Cavern Near Grants Pass,” from Daily Journal, April 11, 1903
    • “Great Oregon Caverns,” from Morning Oregonian, August 10, 1901
    • “Ice Caves Are Unique,” from Bend Bulletin, July 3, 1912
  • Experiment Introduction: Provide students with some background information about caverns.
    • “Cavern” is a term that refers to a particularly large, underground solution cave. The dissolving power of natural acids—most typically, sulfuric or carbonic acid—in solution with water, forms these types of caves. When the acidified water percolates through small cracks and fissures in limestone rock (i.e. limestone, dolomite, marble), it gradually dissolves the rock until large caverns are eventually formed. A full description of the cave-forming process can be found online, as well as in most classroom earth science textbooks. You may also read about the process in a historic Oregon newspaper article from 1875: “Origin and Philosophy of Limestone Caves,” from Willamette Farmer, June 4, 1875. Additionally, the Oregon Caves National Monument was formed this way!
  • Science Experiment: Lead this discussion into the science experiment. An instruction sheet and a predictions and observations sheet are provided in PDF Download.
    • Have students work in partnerships or table groups.
    • Demonstrate experiment and guide students through the experiment, stopping occasionally to fill out the predictions and observations sheet.
  • Science Experiment 1: Explain what each material represents.
    • Step 1: Explain how the sugar cubes represent deposits of limestone, and the spaces between the cubes represent natural cracks and fissures.
    • Step 2: Explain that the clay represents the surface layer of soil and non-soluble rock.
    • Step 3: Explain the holes and gaps represent the holes and gaps in the surface layer.
    • Step 4: Explain that the spray represents rainfall. Make sure to stop the students to make observations about what they see in the tub.
  • Science Experiment 2: Perform experiment in whole group. Make predictions and observations together. Hang up an anchor chart where observations could be written daily.
  • Debrief: Have students complete the predictions and observations graphic organizer once they are finished with the science experiment. Then bring them together to debrief.
  • Some debrief questions to consider:
    • What is something you learned that was interesting?
    • Were your predictions correct?
    • What do you think will happen to the limestone in our three jars?
    • What kind of cave do you think was created in the first experiment?

Extension Activity Ideas

Activities can be modified several different ways, depending on the grade level and focus of study. Listed are activity ideas that can be adapted and extended to and for any grade level.

• Field Trip: To provide students with even more realia, organize a field trip to one of Oregon’s famous caves. Have students make observations, and write reflections about their experiences.
  • For more cave tour information, visit the National Park Service website.
  • For more information about sea lion caves, visit the Discover Sea Lion Caves

Overview

One of the major industries in Oregon is lumber. Oregon is one of the greenest states in the United States. Its history reflects a time when there was an excess of trees; as settlers realized the usefulness of lumber, over-cutting and negative lumber practices diminished the amount of trees in Oregon. This article provides an interesting account of the famous Douglas fir tree before Oregon transformed into a lumber-producing state. This lesson provides students with a direct connection to the state as well as its history. Additionally, students are exposed to figurative language. This lesson can be used within a poetry unit or a social studies unit, as it provides students with primary, relevant documents from Oregon’s history.

Oregon Common Core State Standards

Language Arts Standards:

• ELA.L.4.5 Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.
• ELA.L.4.5a Explain the meaning of simple similes and metaphors (e.g., as pretty as a picture) in context.
• ELS.W.4.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.
• ELA.W.4.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
• ELA.W.4.5 With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, and editing.
• ELA.W.4.10 Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.

Materials

• Historic Oregon Newspapers website
• Copies of the article “From Forest to Mill”
• Highlighters
• Figurative language activity sheet
• Figurative language graphic organizer
• Lined paper
• Poster paper
• Markers

Key Vocabulary

• Metaphor
• Simile
• Figurative language
• Descriptive word
• Felling
• Personification

Add any additional vocabulary terms from the article that may seem difficult to understand or are interesting.

Lesson

• Introduction: Using figurative language to not only engage audience, but also keep this level of engagement.
  • Some discussion questions to consider:
    • What kinds of books do you enjoy reading?
    • Why do you think you enjoy reading those books?
    • What does the author do to make it so interesting?
    • Which books do you not enjoy reading?
    • Why do you think you don’t enjoy reading those kinds of books?
  • Introduce figurative language: A writing style that uses a variety of descriptive words and tools, such as similes, metaphors, and personification, to depict a vivid image in the audience’s mind. In this form of writing, objects are given human qualities, an object is described in exaggeration, or events are described with action words of natural sounds.
    • Use this discussion time to remind students about prior lessons on writing styles.
    • Remind students that this kind of writing usually occurs in literature and fiction.
    • Create an anchor chart that students may refer to throughout the unit.
  • Read aloud: Read the article to the class as a whole group.
    • The semantics during this time period are different from what students usually read, thus repeated readings of the article is necessary. Giving students this pre-exposure will benefit their future comprehension during the activity.
  • Activity: The objective of this lesson is for students to read the article and find examples of figurative language usage. Model the activity before having students work with partners or in groups.
    • Optional: Provide students with a graphic organizer to write down the examples they find. One is provided in PDF Download.
    • Reread article: Reread the article with the whole class, stopping at various examples of figurative language. At this time, use highlighting as a tool to assist student comprehension. Students may highlight the specific type of figurative language used and label it so that they could refer to it later.
    • Some examples of places to stop are: the type of adjectives used, personification “laugh at Echo, sleeping in her hidden caves,” etc.
    • Once several examples have been found, have students work with partners or in groups to analyze the article.
  • Debrief: Gather students to discuss their findings.
  • Some debrief questions to consider:
    • What are some examples of figurative language that you have found?
    • Do you think this made the article interesting?
    • If we read the article without this example, would it still be interesting?
    • Would you change it to something else?
    • Did you like this article?
    • Why did you like or dislike this article?

Extension Activity Ideas

Activities can be modified several different ways, depending on the grade level and focus of study. Listed are activity ideas that can be adapted and extended to and for any grade level.

• Write a Narrative: Students should write about the same topic as the article (Douglas fir trees) or a topic that is Oregon-related. They should be given a graphic organizer to help create their pieces; one is provided below. This narrative can be in the form of an article, poem, essay, etc. Give students the option to write using whatever medium they prefer. Once the narratives are written, have students perform their pieces for the whole class.
• Photograph Analysis: Print out larger copies of photographs that are presented in the article. Using these copies, discuss aspects of the photographs that could be different or similar with the type of photography that is done presently.
  • Some discussion questions to consider:
    • What does this photograph tell me?
    • Why did the photographer take this picture?
    • Do you think this photograph is fiction or nonfiction? How do you know, and why?
    • Is it a fair and accurate portrait of the past?
• Discussion questions, and lesson ideas adapted from “Picture This: Using Photographs to Study the Past” from Education Station.

Overview

Salmonid fish can be found in subarctic waters worldwide. However, for more than a century, “salmon” have been virtually synonymous with the Pacific Northwest. In fact, the Chinook salmon is the official state fish of Oregon. Lessons on salmon are a good way of integrating science learning into a unit on the social and economic history of the state. The purpose of this lesson is to introduce the topic of salmon and its impact in Oregon, using primary source documents found on the Historic Oregon Newspapers website.

Oregon Common Core State Standards

Language Arts Standards:

• ELA.RI.4.2 Determine the main idea of a text and explain how it is supported by key details; summarize the text.
• ELA.RI.4.3 Explain events, procedures, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text, including what happened and why, based on specific information in the text.
• ELA.RI.4.9 Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.
• ELA.RI.4.10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, in the grades 4-5 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
• ELA.W.4.7 Conduct short research projects that build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic.
• ELA.SL.4.4 Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience in an organized manner, using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace.

Social Studies Standards:

• Geography 4.9: Explain the influence of Oregon and the Northwest’s physical systems on humans, including Native Americans.
• Geography 4.11: Identify conflicts involving use of land, natural resources, economy, and competition for scarce resources, different political views, boundary disputes, and cultural differences within Oregon and between different geographical areas.
• Geography 4.12: Explain how people in Oregon have modified their environment and how the environment has influenced people’s lives.
• Economics 4.18: Identify key industries of Oregon.

Materials

• Historic Oregon Newspapers website
• Poster paper
• Markers
• KWL chart (optional, see PDF Download) 

Key Vocabulary

• Salmonid
• Canneries
• Rivers
• Streams
• Spawn/spawning
• Oceans
• Fresh water
• Salt water

Lesson

• Introduction: Ask students about all of the different places that water can be found in nature. As students share their ideas, write the words on poster paper. Make sure the list includes “river,” “stream,” “lakes,” and “ocean”—suggest these words if students have not already done so.
  • Once the list contains at least ten to fifteen items, ask the students about the kinds of water, writing down the responses on the chart paper.
  • Some discussion questions to consider:
    • Does anyone in class know the difference between fresh water and salt water?
    • What does “fresh” water and “salt” water mean?
    • Of the bodies of water listed on the board, which are salty and which are fresh?
    • The purpose of the discussion questions is to assist students to reach the conclusion of the two kinds of water, and more specifically, the organisms that live in each.
  • Transition and discussion: Ask the students about the different kinds of animals that live in water, making sure to emphasize that not all kinds of animals live in all kinds of water. Most kinds of animals prefer to live in either salt water or fresh water—moving between the two types of water would kill many types of animals. Pose some questions about specific animals that live in these types of water, focusing on fish and the kinds of fish, and list them on the poster paper.
    • Tell students to imagine they are in a pet store in the aquatic section, reminding them that these stores usually have different sections for pet animals kept in fresh water (such as goldfish and frogs) and pets kept in salt water (such as clownfish and corals).
    • Some discussion questions to consider:
      • Can you think of some other animals that live mostly in fresh water?
      • How about some animals that live mostly in salt water?
      • Do you think there are animals that live in both fresh and salt water?
      • Does “fish” fit in the “freshwater” or “saltwater” category?
    • Introduction to topic: Ask students what they know about salmon and the history of salmon in Oregon. This can be a great opportunity to use a KWL chart to assess what students already know, want to know, and have learned after the lessons.
    • Some discussion questions to consider:
      • What is the state fish of Oregon?
      • How do you know?
      • What are some things you know about salmon?
      • What do they look like?
    • Background information: “At the time of first Euro-American settlement, the salmon fisheries of the Pacific Northwest seemed literally inexhaustible. Millions of fish averaging thirty pounds and more made the annual spawning run up Oregon’s numerous coastal rivers. They were an important food resource for both Native Americans and the pioneer settlers. In fact, the fish were so abundant that people often kept only the choicest cuts of meat and threw the rest away. Many thousands were caught every year, but for a while it seemed as if all the people in Oregon would never be able to eat enough salmon to put even a dent in the overall population of the fish. However, by the 1860s, new inventions and improvements in food canning technology suddenly made it possible for Oregon fishermen to preserve their catch and transport it for sale to markets around the globe. In Oregon, we have a remarkable kind of native fish called the salmon. One of the things that make the salmon so special is that it can and does live in both fresh water and salt water. As we have just been discussing: not many fish or other animals can do that!”
      • In order to further impress upon the students that the salmon has been important to the economy and culture of Oregon for a long time, present photographs, illustrations, and articles about salmon found on the Historic Oregon Newspapers website.
        • “Value of Our Salmon Fisheries” from Willamette Farmer, September 27, 1873
        • “Now Comes the Salmon” from Sunday Oregonian, April, 22, 1900
        • “Cradling the Chinook Salmon” from Sunday Oregonian, May 13, 1900
        • “Fishing” from Daily Coast Mail, January 07, 1904
      • Lesson: Segue from discussion to lesson. Depending on the grade level, some useful lesson plan and unit plan ideas have been listed.
        • For grades K-2: “Pacific Salmon” by National Geography
        • For all grades: “Salmon in the Classroom” by Oregon State University
        • For all grades: “The Salmon Box!” by the U.S. Forest Service

Extension Activity Ideas

Activities can be modified several different ways, depending on the grade level and focus of study. Listed are activity ideas that can be adapted and extended to and for any grade level.

• Compare and Contrast: Using the articles listed previously, and the Historic Oregon Newspapers website, have students compare and contrast the importance of salmon in the early 1900s and in the present day. To further extend this activity, have students compile information and present their findings to the class. In addition, compare and contrast the importance and use of salmon across the states.
• Life Cycle Vocabulary Jeopardy: One of the topics that 4th graders learn is the life cycle of salmon. After teaching the life cycle lesson, play jeopardy using the vocabulary terms listed above or on the specific websites. This not only extends students’ learning, but also cements their understanding of these vocabulary terms. For further challenge, mix vocabulary terms and different anatomical parts of the salmon in addition to the places salmon spawn, swim, live, etc.

Overview

As students continue their study of Oregon history, this lesson plan—with a primary source document from the Historic Oregon Newspapers website—provides another connection between students and Oregon history. This lesson plan uses an article that was submitted to the Sunday Oregonian newspaper in 1906 by a reader, and as such, provides students with exposure and experience with primary documents, authenticating the history they are learning.

The type of story the reader has submitted is an animal myth, much like a fable but without a moral to be taught. This lesson can supplement any unit under the fiction literature theme with a variety of opportunities for extensions. Some extension ideas are presented below.

Oregon Common Core State Standards

Language Arts Standards:

• ELA.RL.4.2 Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.
• ELA.W.4.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.
• ELA.W.4.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1-3 above.)
• ELA.W.4.5 With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, and editing. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 1-3 up to and including grade 4 on page 29.)
• ELA.SL.4.4 Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience in an organized manner, using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace.

Materials

• Copies of “When the Porcupine and the Bears Quarreled”
• Art materials (optional)
• Comprehension check sheet (optional; All worksheets can be found in PDF Download)
• Text features check sheet (optional)
• Vocabulary definition sheet (optional)

Key Vocabulary

• Quarreled
• Provisions
• Bristled
• Quills
• Captive
• Convicted
• Condemned
• Imprisoned
• Sheer
• Lamenting
• Haunches
• Lurked
• Hearty
• Buzz-saw

Lesson

• Introduce article: Go over key features of text such as title, author, page number, publication date, newspaper name, etc. A basic text feature comprehension sheet is provided in PDF Download. Note: There are quite a few stories on this page; you may want to ask students to highlight which portion they will be focusing on. The article to be focused on, “When the Porcupine and the Bears Quarreled,” is found on the right side of the article about halfway down the page.
• Some prompt ideas to consider:
  • Point at the title.
  • Say the title out loud.
  • Where is the publication date?
  • What is the publication date?
  • How many years ago was that?
• In addition to discussion about text features of the article, have students make predictions about the story. Give students time to think of a prediction and then share with a partner, the table, or the whole class.
• Introduce lesson: Introduce students to the idea of myths, describing them as stories that were created to give light to how animals or beings came to be. Merriam-Webster provides a more informative definition: “A story often describing the adventures of superhuman beings that attempt to describe the origin of a people’s customs or beliefs or to explain mysterious events (as the changing of the seasons).”
• Provide some examples of animal myths. For example, “Why Zebra Has Stripes,” which is a story that describes how a zebra couple were trying to find the perfect outfit and came to agree about stripes. Another animal myth example can be found in the Weekly Chemawa American, April 2, 1909: “Why the Crow is Black.”
• This may be a wonderful opportunity for students to have a short discussion about what animal myths they know, including animal myths from different parts of the world.
• Read the story: You may want to read the story several times because the vocabulary and sentence structure are different than that of today. You may also want to introduce some vocabulary words prior to the reading. A list of possibly difficult vocabulary words is presented above.
• After students have read the story once through, whether in groups, pairs, or individually, have them retell the events of the story to ensure comprehension.
  • This may be adapted using the comprehension worksheet provided in PDF Download, or have students retell the story orally to each other.
• Closing and debrief: Once students have finished the comprehension sheet, gather and debrief.
• Some debrief questions to consider:
  • What did you think about the story?
  • What were some interesting points of the story?
  • What were some boring points of the story?
  • How do you feel about the language of the story?

Extension Activity Ideas

Activities can be modified several different ways depending on grade level and focus of study. Listed are some activity ideas that can be adapted and extended to and for any grade level.

• Create Animal Myth Story: Students choose an animal and make up a story about how that animal was created. Once students have created their stories, have them present their stories to the class, since many animal myths are part of the oral tradition of storytelling. Additionally, students could create a book illustrating the evolution of the animal.
• Reader’s Theater: Though the stories presented in this article do not have characters to portray as in a play, students can still practice their oral reading skills by choral reading the stories to their classmates.
• Dictionary Skills: An important skill for students to have is the ability to utilize resources to find the meaning of words they do not know. Instead of introducing difficult vocabulary, have students use the vocabulary definition sheet (in PDF Download) to look up the words in the dictionary. The activity sheet requires students to write down the guide words, definition, and create their own sentence. Blank sheets have been provided as well.

Overview

Students will utilize the Historic Oregon Newspapers website to study print advertisements from the nineteenth century to the early twentieth century. Contemporary advertisements from current newspapers will also be examined in order to compare and contrast the development of advertising styles, content, and strategy across history, thus bringing more awareness to advertising methods and developing further critical thinking skills.

Oregon Common Core State Standards

Language Arts Standards:

• ELA.RI.4.1 Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
• ELA.RI.4.7 Interpret information presented visually, orally, or quantitatively (e.g., in charts, graphs, diagrams, timelines, animations, or interactive elements on web pages) and explain how the information contributes to an understanding of the text in which it appears.
• ELA.RI.4.8 Explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support particular points in a text.

Social Studies Standards:

• Historical Thinking 4.6: Create and evaluate timelines that show relationships among people, events, and movements in Oregon history.
• Historical Thinking 4.7: Use primary and secondary sources to create or describe a narrative about events in Oregon history.
• Economics 4.17: Analyze different buying choices and their opportunity costs while demonstrating the difference between needs and wants.

Materials

• Historic Oregon Newspapers website
• Access to Internet
• Activity sheet
• Questionnaire
• Compare and contrast graphic organizer (optional)
• Newspaper (current)

Key Vocabulary

• Newspaper Vocabulary List

Lesson

• Preparation: Assign students the homework of finding and bringing advertisements from recent newspapers and magazines that they find appealing.
• Introduction: Start lesson with students presenting their advertisements and discussing the reasons for their appeal.
• Some discussion questions to consider:
  • What drew you to this particular ad?
  • What strategies have the advertising professionals used to capture your attention and convince you to buy the product?
  • How accurately does it represent the product it was intended to sell?
  • How much does this matter?
• Background on Advertising: Far from being a “modern” development, advertising has been an important part of the American economy from its earliest days. Newspaper and magazine publishers have long used the sale of advertising space in their pages in order to help make their ventures profitable. Businesses that make products and professionals who provide services to the community have always relied on some form of advertising to attract customers, and consumers have used ads to help them decide how to spend their money.
• Activity: Students will use the Historic Oregon Newspapers website to explore past issues of periodical publications in order to study their advertising content. You may choose to have the entire class look in their local or regional newspaper, or individual students may be assigned different papers from throughout the state.
  • Instruct the class to examine issues of the paper from two different eras: 1870 and 1920.
  • The aim will be to compare the ways that print advertising style and strategy remained unchanged over this fifty-year period, and contrast the ways that ads evolved and changed between 1870 and 1920.
  • Provide students with a graphic organizer to organize the ideas that they find, as well as an activity sheet to guide their research. (Example provided in PDF Download.)
• Discussion: Facilitate a class discussion about the findings of the class.
• Some discussion questions to consider:
  • Were you surprised by the nature and quality of ads from yesteryear?
  • How do they look to our modern eyes?
  • How do you think they looked to people living back then?
  • What are the major ways that current advertisements have changed from those of the past?
  • How has the invention of modern communications technologies such as radio, television, and the Internet changed advertising?
  • What are the differences between a “good” and a “bad” advertisement?
  • Can you think of any “sneaky” ways that products get advertised without most people even realizing it?
  • How do you think advertising affects your life?

Extension Activity Ideas

Activities can be modified several different ways depending on grade level and focus of study. Listed are some activity ideas that can be adapted and extended to and for any grade level.

• Compare and Contrast: Ask students to bring in a complete newspaper that was written during current times. Using this newspaper, have students fill out the activity sheet (provided in PDF Download). Then using the compare and contrast graphic organizer along with the questionnaire, have students compare and contrast the newspaper from 1870 with the newspaper from 2015.
  • Additionally, students may compare and contrast the newspaper from 1920 with the newspaper from 2015.

Overview

In 1912, Oregon became the seventh state in the Union to pass an amendment granting the right of suffrage to women. This lesson aims to personalize the effects of this amendment for students via an in-class voting exercise, then deepen their understanding of the issues framing the suffrage debate through further research on the Historic Oregon Newspapers website.

Oregon Common Core State Standards

Language Arts Standards:

• ELA.RI.4.1 Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
• ELA.RI.4.3 Explain events, procedures, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text, including what happened and why, based on specific information in the text.
• ELA.RI.4.9 Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.
• ELA.RL.4.9 Compare and contrast the treatment of similar themes and topics (e.g., opposition of good and evil) and patterns of events (e.g., the quest) in stories, myths, and traditional literatures from different cultures.
• ELA.W.4.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.
• ELA.SL.4.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 4 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
• ELA.SL.4.1a Come to discussions prepared, having read or studied required material; explicitly draw on that preparation and other information known about the topic to explore ideas under discussion.
• ELA.SL.4.1b Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions and carry out assigned roles.
• ELA.SL.4.1c Pose and respond to specific questions to clarify or follow up on information, and make comments that contribute to the discussion and link to the remarks of others.

Social Studies Standards:

• Historical Knowledge 4.2 Explain how key individuals and events influenced the early growth and changes in Oregon.
• Historical Thinking 4.5 Distinguish between fact and fiction in historical accounts by comparing documentary sources on historical figures and events with fictional characters and events in stories.
• Government 4.15 Describe and evaluate how historical Oregon governments affected groups within the state (citizens, foreigners, women, class systems, minority groups, tribes).

Materials

• Historic Oregon Newspapers website
• Paper ballot or adapted ballot (see example in PDF Download)
• Place to “go to the polls” (optional)
• Document camera, whiteboard, or SMART Board
• Chart paper
• Markers

Key Vocabulary

• Consensus
• Suffrage
• Tabulate
• Ballot
• Compare
• Contrast

Lesson

• Preparation:
  • Optional: Set up an area of the classroom that students can experience “going to the polls.” This may include a table in the corner or blockers at desk without a box.
  • Print copies of the paper ballot (included below); set up survey questions using technology (such as Google Docs or Survey Monkey) or written questions on whiteboard/document camera/SMART Board.
• Introduction: Introduce key vocabulary.
  • Some activities to introduce vocabulary are jigsaw share, with students taking one vocabulary word and becoming experts to present to fellow classmates; whole group discussion of vocabulary words; and word search.
• Introduce activity: Introduce simulation prior to the topic of study.
  • Inform students that you would determine the popular—or consensus—opinion of the class on a number of topics.
  • Ask them to “go to the polls” and cast their votes on a secret ballot. A sample paper ballot is provided below. However, you may wish to change the questions to align to your classroom—the intent is to pose questions whose responses would be expected to skew along boy/girl lines.
  • To further simulation, you may appoint official ballot collectors or counters to tally up the ballots when finished.
  • Have official ballot collectors or counters tally up ballots for ONLY boys, publicly displaying the tally marks on SMART Board/whiteboard/document camera so the class may review them.
• Discussion:
• Some discussion questions to consider:
  • Are the boys in class largely satisfied with the results? How about the girls?
  • How confident did the boys feel when they found out only their votes would count?
  • How did the girls feel when they learned they would be left out?
  • To what extent does the result of this vote accurately capture the opinion of the whole class?
  • Was this vote truly fair and democratic?
• Re-tabulate ballots including both boys and girls.
• Discussion:
• Some discussion questions to consider:
  • Were the results of any poll results changed by including both boys’ and girls’ votes?
  • How were the votes affected?
  • Is this result more or less fair and representative than the boys-only vote?
  • Would a girls-only vote be any more or less fair?
• Newspaper articles to support lesson:
  • “Some Are Pretty: Women’s Club Has Debate” from Portland Morning Oregonian, January 23, 1904
  • “A Protest” from Coos Bay Times, November 4, 1912 (Counterpoint arguments from a women’s group opposed to suffrage)

 Extension Activity Ideas

Activities can be modified several different ways depending on grade level and focus of study. Listed are some activity ideas that can be adapted and extended to and for any grade level.

• Mock Debate: After students have debriefed on this voting simulation, and participated in an in-class discussion about their experiences, choose a period-related topic for students to debate. Assign roles to students, allow for preparation, and give opportunities to compile and research evidence to prove their side. Additionally, prepare students by having practice debates, watching videos of famous debates, and analyzing the elements for a strong debate, i.e. opening statements, arguments, rebuttals, etc.
• Group Presentation: Assign students to a period-related topic to research using the Historic Oregon Newspapers website in order to create a presentation for the whole class. Some topic ideas include: suffrage, women’s rights, equal rights, property rights, marriage, voting rights, slavery, etc. Have students use the advanced search option to input keywords and specify timelines. Some useful articles are listed below:
  • Women’s Suffrage: “Oregon for a Square Deal: First Free State on Pacific Coast” from Morning Oregonian, June 1, 1906
  • Women’s Suffrage: “Equal Suffrage” from Sunday Oregonian, June 3, 1906
  • Property Rights: “Fighting for Slavery” from Morning Oregonian, January 4, 1900
  • Marriage: “Tradition of Good Omen Accompany Easter Brides” from Sunday Oregonian, April 4, 1920
  • Marriage: “Civil Marriage Is Required in Russia” from Sunday Oregonian, March 21, 1920
• Scavenger Hunt/Compare and Contrast: Using an adapted scavenger hunt worksheet (example provided below), students browse through the History Oregon Newspapers website finding the elements and key features that determine a document as a newspaper, narrowing the search to specific timelines i.e. 1890-1900. Additionally, students can compare and contrast these elements of a newspaper written in the time frame to newspapers during modern times. Refer to the Newspaper Vocabulary List for a compilation of newspaper-related terms, which can also provide for an extension activity opportunity. Once students have had exposure to the elements of a newspaper, they can create their own newspaper, either in small groups or individually, using the same stories but creating this piece according to the elements of a newspaper used currently and those used in the past. This activity can be partnered with a language arts lesson focusing on writing styles and what makes an interesting, descriptive piece.
• Compare and Contrast Activity: Compare and contrast Abigail Duniway and Susan B. Anthony, providing interesting lessons in the ways that seemingly unified political movements can also harbor deep ideological divisions within their ranks. It can also demonstrate the ways in which differing personal histories and backgrounds can lead like-minded people to take very different approaches to a shared problem. This activity can be extended into analysis of famous politicians or famous figures whom were/are part of the same “side” but had/have differing platforms. Some useful articles are listed below:
  • Susan B. Anthony: “Half a Century of Suffrage Work” from Sunday Oregonian, March 26, 1905
  • Susan B. Anthony: “Susan B. Anthony Dies at Rochester at the Age of 86” from Oregon Daily Journal, March 13, 1906
  • Abigail Duniway: “Notable Life of Mrs. Duniway Ends” from Morning Oregonian, October 12, 1915
• Compare and Contrast Activity: Using the Oregon Blue Book, compare and contrast the original Oregon Constitution of 1857 with the constitution as it currently stands. This activity can be extended into creation of amendments to the constitution as it currently stands or to the original version.
  • The voting rights section is found in Article II, Section No. 2.
  • The constitution as it currently stands.

Resources

Background About the Life and Work of Abigail Scott Duniway

Abigail Scott Duniway was Oregon’s most prominent early advocate of women’s rights. From 1871 to 1887, she published the New Northwest, a Portland-based weekly newspaper dedicated to women’s issues and rights, particularly suffrage—the legal right to vote and to run for elected office.

Abigail was born in Illinois in 1834; when she was eighteen years old, her family traveled 2,400 miles over the Oregon Trail and settled near Lafayette in the Willamette Valley. Her mother and her youngest brother died on the journey west. In 1859, she wrote a book inspired by her pioneer experience, Captain Gray’s Company, or Crossing the Plains and Living in Oregon, which was the first novel to be professionally published in Oregon. In 1866, Duniway, along with her husband, Benjamin, and their five children, moved to the town of Albany. Benjamin Duniway had been injured in a farming accident, and Abigail was thrust into the role of providing for her family. After working for a time, she would prove her business acumen by opening a hat shop, which she successfully ran for five years before relocating to Portland to launch the New Northwest.

Eighteen seventy-one—the year of the New Northwest’s debut—also saw the first campaign to try to win the vote for Oregon women.In the pages of the New Northwest, Duniway advocated not only for voting rights, but also for greater social and legal equality for women in general. In managing this effort, Duniway was personally advised by the prominent national activist Susan B. Anthony, who came west for three months to help Duniway strategize and wage the battle. The two women became fast friends but also discovered differences in their personalities and modes of tactical thinking that would, through the years, place a strain on their relationship. Anthony considered Duniway stubborn, overbearing, and disorganized, while Duniway, for her part, regarded Anthony as something of an eastern elitist.

Background on the State and U.S. Constitutions

Complete text of the U.S. Constitution is available from a number of online sources, including usconstitution.net (http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html). The most relevant sections to this discussion will be the 14th Amendment and 19th Amendment.

As it was originally written and ratified, the U.S. Constitution made no direct mention, positive or negative, of the right of women to vote—social conventions of the day simply implied that women did not have that right. The nature of the suffragists’ struggle was striving to change this mind-set. In the pages of New Northwest is an Oregon suffragist’s speech arguing that the Constitution, in fact, guarantees women the right to vote:

“The Constitutional Right of Women to Vote: Read Before the Yamhill County Woman Suffrage Association May 17, 1876” (Note: Story begins top of column 5.)

The Oregon Digital Newspaper Program strives to continually add more content to Historic Oregon Newspapers online. To view a list of Oregon titles that are currently available for searching and browsing online, as well as a list of forthcoming titles, please visit our informational Title Selection page.

The left column, “NDNP Titles,” lists all Oregon newspapers that have been digitized through the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP) with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, in partnership with the Library of Congress. These titles are available both on Historic Oregon Newspapers online and Chronicling America, a nationwide historic newspaper database hosted by the Library of Congress. Forthcoming titles will be made available online as soon as possible. Stay tuned to our blog for announcements of newly added content and other project updates and highlights.

The right column, “Oregon-Only Titles,” lists all Oregon newspapers that are available on Historic Oregon Newspapers online, with funding from various grants, donations, and partnerships with public libraries, historical societies, and other heritage groups across the state.

Happy Searching!

Spilyay Tymoo, the current newspaper of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, is now available from 1986-2005 on the Historic Oregon Newspapers website, thanks to a partnership with the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, with funding from University of Oregon Libraries donors. The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, located in Central Oregon, is a federally recognized Indian Tribe made up of Warm Springs, Wasco, and Paiute Tribes.

The Spilyay Tymoo has been in publication since 1976, and continues on a bi-weekly schedule today. While the University of Oregon Libraries has the earliest issues of the paper available in Special Collections, only the issues published between 1986 and 2005 have been microfilmed, and were thus the first to be scanned and made available online. This 19 year span of local, regional, and national Native American news can be keyword searched, via the Historic Oregon Newspapers’ Search page, and the paper’s Calendar View makes it easy to browse issues by date.

The most recent issues of the Spilyay Tymoo can be viewed on the Warm Springs News website, and more information can be found on the Spilyay Tymoo Facebook page.

Content from the Spilyay Tymoo, and all newspaper content on Historic Oregon Newspapers that was published after 1922 is available online through a Creative Commons, Attribution-Non Commercial 3.0 license. Many thanks to the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, for partnering with the Oregon Digital Newspaper Program to make the Spilyay Tymoo available to the public online!

Thanks to collaborations with the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and funding from University of Oregon (UO) Libraries donors, three new important titles are now available for searching and browsing on Historic Oregon Newspapers online:

• Smoke Signals (1978-2013) – newspaper of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde

•  Weekly Chemawa American (1901-1910) and The Chemawa American (1914-1915) – student newspaper from the Chemawa Indian Boarding School just north of Salem (collectively referred to as Chemawa American)

This content is now available online in addition to the Klamath Tribune, which was published from 1956-1961 and documents the termination of the Klamath Tribes. (See our blog post from last spring for more information on the Klamath Tribune.)

Smoke Signals, the current newspaper of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, is now available for searching and browsing online with issues dating from 1978-2013. Smoke Signals started off as a monthly tribal newsletter in the 1970s as the Tribes were organizing to restore their tribal status, which had been terminated by the federal government in 1954. The U.S. Congress passed the Grand Ronde Restoration Act in 1983, restoring federally recognized status to the Tribes.

In 1995, the paper started appearing twice a month, and in 2005, Smoke Signals became part of the Tribes’ Public Affairs Department. During its lifetime and through numerous staff changes, Smoke Signals has won many journalism awards from the Native American Journalists Association and Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association.

The majority of issues from Smoke Signals were scanned from microfilm negatives at the University of Oregon (UO) Libraries, but the Tribe scanned and provided several early issues that were missing from the UO Libraries’ microfilm collection.

The Weekly Chemawa American, available online from 1901-1910, featured news articles, literature, and photographs by students who were attending a journalism class taught by staff of the Chemawa Indian Boarding School. The paper covered school news, student achievements, and events, and reported on interesting articles and topics found in various newspapers, such as the Oregonian, in addition to student editorials. By late 1914, the publication shifted to a monthly schedule, dropping “weekly” from the title to become The Chemawa American, now available online from 1914-1915.

Chemawa Indian Boarding School is the oldest continually operating Indian Boarding School in the United States, established in 1880 by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Forest Grove, Oregon, and then moved to Salem in 1885. The school has hosted students from throughout the western United States, including special groups of Alaskan natives, Navajo Indians, and in the earliest years, primarily students from Oregon’s tribal reservations. The school is still in operation today under management by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

All issues of the weekly and monthly Chemawa American were carefully scanned from the original paper documents, borrowed from the Cultural Exhibits and Archives program of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, where they are housed as part of the Charles Holmes collection. Charles Holmes was a teacher and the student newspaper advisor at the Chemawa Indian School from the 1950s – 1970s, and the collection includes thousands of photographs, correspondence, media, and other documents. Students at Willamette University have been working to catalogue and archive the many photographs from the Chemawa Indian School that are part of the Charles Holmes collection, led by archaeology professor Rebecca Dobkins in collaboration with the Tribes (read more about this project at http://www.grandronde.org/news/articles/dobkins-tells-chemawa-indian-school-stories-at-salem-library/).

Special thanks to the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, as well as Jennifer O’Neal, University Historian and Archivist at the University of Oregon Libraries, and David Lewis (CTGR Tribal Historian), for facilitating this significant digitization project!

Just in time for the holidays! Thanks to a partnership with the Morrow County Museum and the current Heppner Gazette-Times newspaper in Heppner, Oregon, historic issues of The Gazette-Times (1912-1925) and the Heppner Gazette-Times (1925-1951) are now available for keyword searching and browsing on Historic Oregon Newspapers online!

The Morrow County Museum has partnered with the Oregon Digital Newspaper Program (ODNP) to digitize a wealth of historic newspaper content from Heppner, and these new additions provide a comprehensive view of the area’s history from a local newspaper perspective. (Please see our blog titled “Morrow County Now Represented in Historic Oregon Newspapers Online!” for an introduction to the history of Heppner.)

The following Heppner titles are currently available for viewing online, free and open to the public:

• Heppner Weekly Gazette, 1883-1890
• The Weekly Heppner Gazette, 1890-1892
• Heppner Gazette, 1892-1912
• Heppner Times, 1903-1904
• The Gazette-Times, 1912-1925
• Heppner Herald, 1914-1924
• Heppner Gazette-Times, 1925-1951

The majority of content on the Historic Oregon Newspapers website was published before 1922, due to the public domain copyright law that allows free and open use of anything published on or before Dec. 31, 1922. The new additions from The Gazette-Times and the Heppner Gazette-Times, as well as the post-1922 content from the Heppner Herald, is made possible with copyright agreements from the publishers for a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial license. This means that any content that you find on the site that was published after 1922 can be used for non-commercial purposes, as long as proper attribution is given to the publisher and the Historic Oregon Newspapers website. For more information on copyright and newspapers, see our blog titled “Copyright and Historic Newspapers.”

‘Tis the season for exploring Oregon’s history through newspapers! Discover these and other Oregon newspaper titles at Historic Oregon Newspapers online, using the Title page to browse, the Search page to do advanced keyword searches across the collection, and the History page to learn more about newspaper history (more essays coming soon!). Happy Holidays!