Use this reading passage(and extension activities) to learn about the Santa Fe Trail and specifically Wind Wagon Thomas. As people were beginning to travel west by covered wagon along the plains of the Santa Fe Trail, William Thomas, had a most unusual idea. The average trip along the Santa Fe Trail took about eight weeks! He envisioned prairie schooners with sails that could move across the plains on wind-power much faster than wagons hitched to horses.

The resource includes a map activity, a Did You Know fun facts about the Santa Fe Trail and several discussion questions. The Teacher page has several extension activities and the keys.

Other resource of interest:

Check out my Reader’s Theater Script on Narcissa Whitman: If you are studying Westward Expansion and pioneers, specifically the Oregon Trail, this informative Reader's Theater Script will be a positive addition to your lessons. Based on a true person, the play is about one of first woman to go on the Oregon Trail. Narcissa Whitman kept a journal of her trip. She and her husband(and Henry and Eliza Spalding) left upstate New York for Independence, Missouri(most popular starting point) for their journey along the Oregon Trail to Oregon, where Marcus and Narcissa would become missionaries. The play, packed with lots of information, is part of myMs. Bie Ografee series, includes a Did You Know? fun fact section, comprehension questions and a teacher page with extension activities. https://www.TeachShare.com/Product/Oregon-Trail-A-Visit-with-a-PioneerNarcissa-Whitman-Readers-Theater-Script-6034419?st=c428b4429e24e244bedafb4e87760c79

Check out my resource on the National Road: https://www.TeachShare.com/Product/The-National-Roadclose-reading-extension-activitiesDistance-Learning-1309909

Other Reading Passage Resources in my Let's Meet... series include:

I have a number of similar reading passages on famous people in this series, “Let’s Meet…” including: Catherine Kate Moore Barry(Heroine of the Battle of Cowpens/Revolutionary War,(Phillis Wheatley(poet), Sojourner Truth(abolitionist, Women's Rights Activist, Author), Mary Anning (paleonotologist) ,Caroline Herschel(Astronomer), Hildegard of Bingen(writer/composer), Artemisia(Female Naval Commander during the Battle of Salamis), Sophie Brahe(Astronomer), Enheduanna(first known Poet),Hanno(Sea Explorer of the Phoenicians), Agnodice(First Female Doctor of Ancient Greece), Hypatia(First female mathematician), Aglaonike(astronomer), Alexander the Great(famous general), Aesop(Fable Writer of Ancient Greece), Hannibal(famous general), Ramses(Great Pharaoh), Hatshepsut(Female Pharaoh) and Socrates(Philosopher of Ancient Greece).

Reading Passages:

George Washington and the Camel

Calvin Coolidge and the “Pennsylvania Avenue Zoo”

John Quincy Adams Takes a Swim

Thomas Jefferson and the Mammoth Cheese

Sojourner Truth

Santa Fe Trail: Wind WagonThomas

Revolutionary War Heroine: Catherine “Kate” Moore

Barry(Battle of Cowpens)

Enheduanna, First Known Poet in History

Artemisia(Female Naval Commander during the Battle of Salamis)

Hanno: Phoenician Explorer

Ramses the Great

Hatshepsut

Hammurabi

Alexander the Great

Aesop

Socrates

Hannibal

Hypatia: First Woman Mathematician

Aglaonike(Greek astronomer)

Agnodice(First Female Doctor of Ancient Greece)

Julius Caesar

Archimedes

Sparticus

Diocles

Joan of Arc

Phillis Wheatley

Mary Anning

Caroline Herschel

Sophie Brahe: Astronomer and Horticulturist

Hildegard of Bingen(Middle Ages)

Aida de Acosta(First Woman to Fly a Powered Aircraft)

Women’s Suffrage: The Silent Sentinels

Sir Edmund Hillary

History of Pretzels

History of Marshmallows

History of Tulips

Snowmen in History

History of April Fools’ Day

Great Wall of China

Eiffel Tower

Ayres Rock(Uluru)

Taj Mahal

Travel to Iceland

Travel to Greece

Travel to Japan