Sacagawea lived a short, but eventful life. She became a major part of United States history while just a teenager joining Lewis and Clark on their expedition to the Pacific Ocean. In this unit study, learn all about that adventure and what is known about her life before and after that trip.
Grab the book, sign-up to receive the FREE printable unit study and then explore the other resources below!
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The Book about Sacagawea
The Sacagawea unit study is based upon the book Who Was Sacagawea? This book shares what is known from the historical record about her early life and many details about the Lewis and Clark expedition. This is a great read aloud for early elementary ages or an independent reading assignment for children in about grades 3-6.
The Sacagawea FREE Printable Unit Study
The Sacagawea FREE Printable Unit StudyThe printable unit study includes the following:
Notebooking pages about Sacagawea’s life.
A timeline activity to chart her life.
Writing prompt: Imagine that Sacagawea kept a journal like Lewis and Clark did during the expedition to Pacific Ocean. What would she have written?
Following Directions with Sacagawea Follow the directions to learn more about where Sacagawea lived in her early life and where she traveled with the Lewis and Clark expedition.
Videos About Sacagawea
A good overview of what is known about her life. (3 minutes).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnT0k9wdDZo
Learn more about the Sacagawea at Ducksters.
This video gives some history of the Shoshone tribe of which Sacagawea was a member. (8 min.)
Lewis & Clark Expedition
Learn more about the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis & Clark Expedition. (4:30 minutes)
Learn more about Lewis & Clark at Ducksters.
Discovering Lewis and Clark has an immense collection of articles about the expedition, including details of the trail, what they ate and how they lived on the trip.
If you have Amazon Prime, Ken Burns American Lives Season 1 is included and Lewis and Clark is one of the topics he covers. There are two parts, each almost 2 hours long:
Hands On Activities
Sacagawea’s tribe were nomads, meaning they moved from place to place. Therefore, they lived in tipis (aka teepees) that they could pack up and take with them. Make a model of a teepee with a paper bag.
Sacagawea had a favorite blue glass bead necklace that she had to trade on the expedition. Use yarn and beads to make your own necklaces and other jewelry. Or for older children use actual bead thread and seed beads.
Study Native Americans
Lewis, Clark and Sacagawea came in contact with many different Native American tribes on their expedition. Use these ideas to study some of the tribes:
What other resources have you used to learn about Sacagawea? Please share below!!
Other Resources
Books for younger children:
Books about Lewis and Clark:
*We did The Captain’s Dog as a read aloud several years ago with my oldest son and we loved it!
