Resources on the Mississippi River: Grade Three: Day One

1. General History of the Mississippi River
Students will create a timeline with significant dates of how the Mississippi river development and changed over time. They will expand on two dates of their choice; they will need to create a short presentation for the class the following day.
2. Materials needed:
-white board
-overhead
-time line worksheets
-pencils/markers
-photos from past and present (check out slides from WHS)
-Huckleberry Finn Novel
3. Goals for my lesson:
A. The student will recognize significant events that contributed the history of the Mississippi River.
B. Students will place events in chronological order and construct time lines.
4. Objectives
The students will know the basic history of the Mississippi River. They will be able to create a time line and place specific events in chronological order. The timeline will show when the river first started and how it has changed over time.
5. Procedures
A. Introductory Experiences:
1. On the white board, create a brief time line of my life. Starting with where and when I was born, placing dates when I graduated from elementary, middle and high school. On the time line adding in other dates that were important in my life. Explain to the student that you can show change over time on a time line, where the information is in chronological order. (7 minutes)
a. Definition of chronological order: Arranged in order of time of occurrence.
2. Using events that happened this week in class to create another timeline on the board. Have the students pick the events and where they would go on the timeline. (7 minutes)
B. Developmental Experiences:
3. Hand out the timeline paper. Inform the students that they will be filling in important dates that they feel shaped the Mississippi River when I go through the lecture. (2 minutes)
4. Lecture about important dates along the Mississippi River. With the overhead create a timeline that the students can follow along with and fill out their own. During lecture share pictures from early Mississippi days and how it has changed along with other photos showing where these events took place. Encourage students to take notes along with the dates presented. (30 minutes)
a. May 8, 1541- Hernando de Soto was the first recorded European to reach the Mississippi River. He called it the “Rio de Espiritu Santo”, the River of the Holy Spirit.
b. 1682- Rene Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salla and Henri de Tonty claimed the entire Mississippi River Valley for France.
c. 1718- New Orleans was established by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville.
d. 1795- Pinckney’s Treaty/ The Treaty of San Lorenzo
e. 1803- Louisiana Purchase
f. December 1811- First steamboat to travel the length of the Mississippi River from the Ohio River to New Orleans, the boat was called New Orleans
g. 1830- 1870- Steamboat races, these were published in the Harper’s Weekly in seven parts in 1875 including unfinished passages from Huckleberry Finn.
h. 1848- Illinois and Michigan Chanel were built to connect the Mississippi River to Lake Michigan via the Illinois River.
i.1852- Lumber business starts up in Winona, an assembly point for logs floating down the River, city becomes major logging center
j. 1900- Replaced the Illinois and Michigan Chanel, now called the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal.
k. June/July 1922- The sport of water skiing was invented in Lake Pepin, Lake City Minnesota
l. 1925- First water jump was created and preformed on Lake Pepin.
m. 1927- Great Mississippi Flood of 1927
n. October 20, 1976- MV George Prince was struck by a ship traveling upstream as the ferry attempted to cross from Destrehan, Louisiana to Luling, Louisiana.
o. 1993- Great Flood of 1993
p. 1997- American Heritage Rivers
q. 2002- Martin Strel swam the entire length of the river (after each point expand for less than 2 minutes)
C. Culminating Experiences:
5. Following lecture and creating the timeline students will choose two dates that are interesting to them. They will be assigned those two dates and required to research new information for both of those date either at home or in the library. The next class they will need to share their short presentation on the two dates they chose. Rather than just information about the dates they can find photos that go along with the date or event.
6. Assessments
A. If students have followed the lecture and created the timeline with correct information they understand the basic knowledge of the Mississippi River. The following day will be the assessment for this class, if they can correctly inform the class about two new pieces of information about the Mississippi River.

I. Photos from WHS (below)