Excerpts from the diary of Sallie Hester, a fourteen-year-old girl who tells her family's journey along the Oregon-California Trail during 1849-1850. Includes activities and a timeline related to the era.

"Presents excerpts from the diary of Sallie Hester, a teenager who traveled West on the Oregon Trail in a wagon train in the mid-1800s"--

Teenager Sallie Hester and her family packed their supplies into a wagon and set off on a dangerous 2,000 mile journey to California. They faced disease, raging rivers, and blazing hot deserts. Through it all, Sallie wrote down her experiences in a diary. Read her story, and learn about the Oregon Trail from someone who traveled it.

The diaries and letters of women on the overland trails in the mid- to late nineteenth century are treasured documents. These eleven selections drawn from the multivolume Covered Wagon Women series present the best first-person trail accounts penned by women in their teens who traveled west between 1846 and 1898. Ranging in age from eleven to nineteen, unmarried and without children of their own, these diarists had experiences different from those of older women who carried heavier responsibilities with them on the trail. These letters and diaries reflect both the unique perspective of youthful optimism and the experiences common among all female emigrants. The young women write of friendship and family, trail hardships, and explorations such as visits to Indian gravesites. Some like Sallie Hester even write of enjoying the company of men, and many speculate about marriage prospects. Domestic roles did not define the girls’ trail experience; only the four oldest in this collection recorded helping with chores. As they journey through Indian lands, these writers show that even their youth did not prevent them from holding notions of white racial superiority. Two of the selections are newly published, having appeared only in limited-distribution collector’s editions of the original series. For all readers captivated by the first Best of Covered Wagon Women collection, this new volume’s focus on youthful travelers adds a fresh perspective to life on the trail.

The women who traveled west in covered wagons during the 1840s speak through these letters and diaries. Here are the voices of Tamsen Donner and young Virginia Reed, members of the ill-fated Donner party; Patty Sessions, the Mormon midwife who delivered five babies on the trail between Omaha and Salt Lake City; Rachel Fisher, who buried both her husband and her little girl before reaching Oregon. Still others make themselves heard, starting out from different places and recording details along the way, from the mundane to the soul-shattering and spirit-lifting.

Teaching English language arts at grades K-5 is both a science and an art. Educators must teach literacy skills and content with best practices, while also keeping focus on each student's individual needs. They are challenged to monitor students working independently while also conducting small group instruction. And they must focus on providing differentiated support with a rather complicated text. With increased attention to rigor, requirements, and personalized instruction, it can be a challenge to make sure all students are receiving instruction that is just right. Comprehensive Literacy Basics: An Anthology by Capstone Professional contains useful tips to support educators. Chapters focus on each part of the literacy and language arts block, including whole group, small group, writing, and differentiation. A collection of expert authors specializing in literacy and language arts instruction contributed chapters to the book. The quick tips and suggestions within will reinforce current practices while providing an invaluable go-to reference.

This collection of passages for Grade 4 provides students with close reading practice. Inside this book, read excerpts from the diaries of three girls who lived during different times in American history. In their own words, find out what it was like to travel west in a covered wagon, fear for your life during the burning of Atlanta during the Civil War, and watch a runaway slave mistreated and returned to his owner. Also included are places to pause and reflect on the text and opportunities to respond to the reading.

Use technology to bring history to life for students in grades 6–8 with Using Primary Sources in the Social Studies and Language Arts Classroom. The lessons in this 64-page book use online technology to access and examine historical primary documents. Each topic features national standards correlations, activities that promote inquiry-based learning, a list of bookshelf resources, and suggestions for related Web sites. The book supports NCSS and NCTE standards.