Read Kansas! Middle School - M-9 Frontier Forts
The purpose of this middle school lesson is to discuss the reasons for and purposes of frontier forts in Kansas. The student will learn about Fort Leavenworth, Fort Scott, Fort Riley, Fort Larned, and Fort Hays. The lesson also focuses on everyday life at the forts and the economics of being a soldier. The lesson is presented over three class periods but can be adjusted to meet individual classroom needs.
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Kansas History Standards:
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Benchmark 1, Indicator 5: The student describes the role of early Kansas forts in carrying out the U.S. government’s policies in regards to relocated Indian tribes and travel on the Santa Fe and Oregon-California trails (e.g., Fort Leavenworth, Fort Scott, Fort Larned, and Fort Riley).
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Benchmark 3, Indicator 2: The student describes the U.S. government’s purposes for establishing frontier military forts in Kansas (e.g., protection of people, land, and resources).
Reading Standards:
- Benchmark 4, Indicator 8: The student explains cause-effect relationships in appropriate-level narrative, expository, technical, and persuasive texts.
Common Core Reading:
- RH.6-8.5: The student describes how a text presents information (e.g., sequentially, comparatively, causally).
Writing Standards:
- Benchmark 1, Indicator 3 The student clarifies the main ideas by selecting relevant details that enrich the central theme or storyline (Ideas and Content: prewriting, drafting, revising: N,E,T,P).
Common Core Writing:
- WHST.6-8.2(a-f): The student writes informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of historical events, scientific procedures/experiments, or technical processes.
