What is a paragraph?

You will study the Features of a paragraph.

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What is a paragraph?

The Oregon Trail

Imagen: Map showing the location of the Oregon Trail. Public Domain.https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Oregontrail_1907.jpg

Instructions: Read the text about the Texas War of Independence. Look at the words in bold.

Introduction The Oregon Trail is a 2,170-mile (3,490 km) historic east-west, large-wheeled wagon route and emigrant trail that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon.
Development The Oregon Trail was laid by fur trappers and traders from about 1811 to 1840, and was only passable on foot or by horseback. Wagon trails were cleared increasingly farther west and eventually reached all the way to the Villamette Valley in Oregon, at which point what came to be called the Oregon Trail was complete, even as almost anual improvements were made in the form of bridges, cutoffs, ferries, and roads, which made the trip faster and safer.
Conclusion From the early to mid 1830s the Oregon Trail and its many offshoots were used by about 400,000 settlers, farmers, miners, ranchers, and business owners and their families. Its use declined as the first transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869.

The Oregon Trail. Retrieved and adapted October, 2016 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_Trail

Getting started: A wagon route

Instructions: Read the text again to do the activities suggested.

The Oregon Trail is a 2,170-mile (3,490 km) historic east-west, large-wheeled wagon route and emigrant trail that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon.

The Oregon Trail was laid by fur trappers and traders from about 1811 to 1840, and was only passable on foot or by horsebak. Wagon trails were cleared increasingly farther west and eventually reached all the way to the Villamette Valley in Oregon, at which point what came to be called the Oregon Trail was complete, even as almost anual improvements were made in the form of bridges, cutoffs, ferries, and roads, which made the trip faster and safer.

From the early to mid 1830s the Oregon Trail and its many offshoots were used by about 400,000 settlers, farmers, miners, ranchers, and business owners and their familiers. Its use declined as the first transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869.

The Oregon Trail. Retrieved and adapted October, 2016 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_Trail

Interesting facts

Instructions: Match the two parts of the sentences.

used the Oregon Trail.
the Oregon Trail from about 1811.
the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon.
on foot or by horseback.
  1. The Oregon Trail connected
  2. Fur trappers and traders laid
  3. People could only pass the Oregon trail
  4. About 400,000 people

Let’s find out how you can recognize a good paragraph.

Instructions: Read about the features of a paragraph.

A paragraph is a group of about 6 sentences of a topic.


In a good paragraph, every sentence is about the same topic.


Together, the sentences express the most important facts or ideas about the topic.


When the writer wants to write about another topic, he or she begins a new paragraph.

Quiz

“Jumping off” places on the Oregon Trail.

Instructions: Read the paragraph. Then in each letter select the number of the sentence that provides information about the corresponding place on the map.

(1) The Missouri River west from St. Louis. (2) Here, most emigrants traveling to the west loaded thier wagons onto steamships to start the journey. (3) It was easy traveling, but didn’t last long. (4) Two hundred miles from St. Louis, the river takes a sharp turn to the north. (5) So the pioneers unloaded their wagons at one of the small towns along the Missouri River called “jumping off” places. (6) The town called Independence was the first option. (7) Further upstream were Westsport, St. Joseph, Omaha and Council Bluffs.

Quiz

Dangers on the Oregon Trail

Instructions: Listen to the paragraph to decide if the statements are T (true) or F (false)

Imagen: Wagon train. Retrieved August 2014, from: http://amadorgold.net/logansalley/photo/WagonTrain.jpg

  1. Cholera was one of the enemies of the people heading west.

  2. A lot of immigrants walked without shoes.

  3. The native tribes didn´t want to help the travelers.

  4. Sometimes accidental gunshots killed the pioneers.

  5. Most of the immigrants died along the way

Evaluation

A wagon route

Instructions: Match each number with the paragraph that it represents in the images.

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2
3
4
5
  • The first immigrants to Oregon arrived by ship. But traveling by ship was very expensive, so it wasn´t a popular means of transportation among the pioneers.
  • In the 19th century, the Oregon Trail was the only way to travel to the western United States. The Rocky Mountains separated Oregon from the rest of the country and the Oregon Trail was the only path that crossed those mountains.
  • The big wave of western migration started in 1843, when about a thousand pioneers made the journey, and over the next 25 years more than half a million people went west on the Trail.
  • But in 1869 the glory years of the Oregon Trail ended, because the transcontinental railroad was completed.

  • Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, a missionary couple, were the first immigrants who arrived to Oregon in a covered wagon. They started their journey in March 1836 and arrived at Fort Walla Walla, on the western side of the Rocky Mountains, in September of the same year. Later, they built their Whitman Mission in this area.