Ranch hands gathering around the campfire on a cattle drive.
Our 5th graders completed a unit on westward expansion and got a taste of trail life. The teachers prepared an activity where students gathered in ranches and prepared for a cattle drive. With unforseen events, students lost heads of cattle and endured other calamities on the trail like cattle rustlers. At the end of the "cattle drive" the ranches had to calculate their losses and profits. They ended with a nice bowl of beans and rice and tried their hand at tossing a lasso. What a great way to bring hisotry to life.
