Oklahoma Social Studies 5.C.7.3.B
The Standard
- 5.C.7
- Summarize the growth of a new nation under the leadership of Presidents Washington, Adams, and Jefferson.
- 5.C.7.3
- Explain the impact of President Thomas Jefferson’s presidency, including
geographic and scientific knowledge gained from the Meriwether Lewis and William Clark expedition
Oklahoma Academic Standards for Social Studies (2026) · 5.C.7.3
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students trace the expedition’s route along the Missouri River, across the Rocky Mountains, and down the Columbia River to the Pacific. They describe plants and animals the group recorded. They recognize that Native people shared knowledge of the land.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can place the major rivers and mountains in order on a map. They can name an animal the expedition recorded, such as a prairie dog, and describe one observation about it.
Common Misconceptions
- Some students draw one river running from the Missouri to the Pacific. Others say the expedition discovered plants and animals that Native people had known for generations.
How to Assess It
- Give students a blank map. Ask them to trace the route, label the Missouri River, Rocky Mountains, and Columbia River, and write one observation the expedition recorded about an animal.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Lay blue yarn on a paper map for the Missouri and Columbia rivers, then place folded-paper mountains between them.
Read a short expedition journal entry about prairie dogs. Ask what the writers observed and whose knowledge the entry leaves out.
Give pairs route cards for the Missouri River, Great Plains, Rocky Mountains, Columbia River, and Pacific Ocean to put in order.
Use a current road map to find where a trip from Missouri to the Pacific must cross the Rocky Mountains.
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Printable 5.C.7.3.B Worksheet
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Related Standards
- 5.P.2.3.A
Answer geographic questions by organizing geographic information from historical as well as contemporary perspectives.
- 1.C.1.6.C
Science and Technology (e.g., Benjamin Banneker, Meriwether Lewis, William Clark)
- 8.C.6.3.A
promote a western expansionist policy through the acquisition of the Louisiana Territory and authorization of the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery Expedition.
- 5.C.7.3.A
the purchase of Louisiana Territory and its effect on westward expansion
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