The Transcontinental Railroad And You

“The Transcontinental Railroad — And You” — gives your students an overview of the construction of the railroad, and provides them with opportunities to reflect on what this meant by writing journal entries in the “I was there” style. By imagining they were construction workers on the Transcontinental Railroad, they will have four chances to write about why the railroad was built, who built it, how workers lived and labored, and how the railroad changed America. The 21-slide presentation has over 30 illustrations, while the 11-page narrator’s script has over 100 facts. Templates are provided for each of the 4 journal entries on which students can take notes. Another general template is provided on which they can write their journal entries. The art project gives students a chance to create their own map of the railroad’s route and things that happened during the building of it — a template of a blank map is provided. All text is available in PDF’s and the slide show is formatted in both Apple’s Keynote and Microsoft’s Powerpoint.