Have you ever included a vocabulary activity in your history lessons? While vocabulary is usually associated with Language Arts instruction, these lessons can be a powerful tool for teaching history!
But sifting through the myriad of words used in your history units to find meaningful vocabulary terms? No, thank you! To help get you started, I have created a Westward Expansion vocabulary list – complete with definitions and teaching suggestions!
Why Teach Westward Expansion Vocabulary?
Vocabulary is the key that unlocks understanding. If students don’t know certain words, there are just some concepts they will not understand.
For example, imagine you are teaching a lesson about the precedents set by George Washington’s presidency. If your students do not have a solid understanding of the word precedent, most of your discussion will go right over their heads! Sure, students can use context clues and pull together a meaning. But without being explicitly taught the vocabulary word, they will not be able to grasp the full meaning of the word – with all of its nuances and deeper implications.
In this blog post, Lauren Brown illustrates the power of vocabulary. She said:
Students often whine about vocabulary tests. They just don’t see the point about memorizing a bunch of words that to them just mean the same thing as other words they already know. “Why do we need to know squalid,” they ask. “Can’t we just say dirty?”
But the [immigrant] tenements weren’t just dirty. They were, according to one definition of squalid, “extremely dirty and unpleasant, especially as a result of poverty or neglect.” This seven-letter word speaks volumes about the conditions of the urban poor at the turn of the century in a way that “dirty” or “really bad” just doesn’t convey.
According to Brown, “vocabulary is a tool of thought.” As such, student thought is simplistic if they do not have a rich vocabulary. When students develop a more complex vocabulary, they are able to have more complex thoughts. And more complex thinking leads to greater overall school success!
Tips for Teaching Westward Expansion Key Terms
To develop a wide vocabulary, students need both direct and indirect instruction. In addition, it is important for students to be exposed to the words multiple times. As vocab words are studied repeatedly and in a variety of meaningful contexts, student understanding will increase.
Here are some of my favorite ways to teach vocabulary:
- Teach the meaning of each word using Marzano’s six-step approach. This process includes the following steps:
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- Explain: Provide a description, explanation, or example of the new term.
- Restate: Students restate the description, explanation, or example in their own words.
- Show: Students construct a picture, pictograph, symbolic representation, or act out the term.
- Engage: Engage students in activities that help them add to their knowledge of the terms.
- Discuss: Periodically ask students to discuss the terms with one another.
- Play: Involve students in games that enable them to play with the terms and reinforce word knowledge.
*This blog post describes some excellent websites and apps that can help you in this six-step process.
- Play games with the terms. Playing games with vocabulary terms will help students understand and internalize word meanings in a fun and non-threatening environment. For example:
- Memory: The goal of this game is to match the vocabulary term with the correct definition.
- First, create your memory cards. Do this by writing the vocabulary terms and corresponding definitions on separate cards (ex: if you have 15 vocabulary words, you should have 30 memory cards).
- Next, lay out all of the memory cards face-down so students cannot see the words/definitions.
- Then, students take turns flipping over two cards, one at a time. After each card is turned over, the student says the vocabulary word/definition aloud. If the definition matches the word, the student keeps the pair! The student with the most pairs “wins.”
- Hint: Extend this activity even further by having your students make their own memory cards!
- Memory: The goal of this game is to match the vocabulary term with the correct definition.
Why I Chose these Westward Expansion Words
When searching for vocabulary words, I tried to include a mix of words students would experience throughout their study of social studies (like territory) as well as words that are more specific to studying the Westward Expansion (like homestead). I also chose words students would likely encounter multiple times in my Westward Expansion unit!
15 Westward Expansion Words
- Manifest Destiny – The 19th-century idea that Americans were chosen by God to settle all the land between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans
- Homestead – Land in the Western U.S. that was given to a family to farm and live on
- Westward Expansion – The movement of people in the American West from 1787-1860
- Territory – Land that is part of the United States but is not yet a state
- Annex – The taking over of land
- Cession – The surrender of land
- Expedition – A journey for a specific purpose
- Overland Trail – Routes traveled by settlers from the Missouri River to the Western United States
- Emigrant – A person who leaves their home country to live somewhere else. Emigrants who traveled west on trails were also called pioneers
- “Indian Removal” – The forced migration of Indigenous Peoples by the U.S. government
- Gold Rush – The rapid movement of people to a newly discovered goldfield
- Transcontinental – Reaching across a continent
- Frontier – Where unsettled land begins
- Reservation – Land that is set aside for Native Americans by the United States government
- Wagon Train – A large group of covered wagons traveling west together
Download the FREE Westward Expansion Vocabulary List
I hope these tips and resources help to make vocabulary learning more exciting and meaningful in your classroom.
Download the free Westward Expansion vocabulary list here!
Need more help teaching about Westward Expansion?
Are you looking for more resources to help you teach about Westward Expansion?
- 3-Week Westward Expansion Unit: This all-inclusive unit provides interactive lesson plans that will keep your students engaged and help them learn the information in a meaningful way.
- Westward Expansion Primary Sources: An outline of 5 primary sources, complete with teaching suggestions. I have also created a compilation of primary sources for several other U.S. History topics as well!
- Westward Expansion Picture Books: 6 powerful picture books to help bring Westward Expansion to life in your classroom.
- Westward Expansion Videos: An overview of 5 videos teaching all about Westward Expansion.
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