Shelly Hehenberger

Summary:
This was a very interesting biography that does a good job bringing the text down to a young child's level. Some biographies can be very cut and dry, but this one had a lot of details that I had never heard before, such as Lewis tried to adopt Sacagawea's son, Pomp, when he was two years old, but she said no. This story also spoke more in detail about how she ended up with Lewis and Clark on their expedition because of her husband. It also said how valuable she was to the trip based on the fact that she knew things about the Shoshone tribe and their language because she was raised with them. All in all, this was a very interesting book that children can relate well to, and I enjoyed reading it as well.

Personal Reaction:
I used this story as a read aloud for the class I was visiting, and they enjoyed it very much. Sacagawea is someone that second graders are supposed to study in History according to the Oklahoma PASS Skills, so I chose this story to read as part of my classwork and also something that would be beneficial to the students. They really enjoyed all the details about her and her son (plus Lewis and Clark), and I did as well. I would definitely recommend reading this again to future classes.

Classroom Extension Activities:
1. A compare and contrast activity between this Sacajawea story and the story: Lewis and Clark: A Prairie Dog for the President.
2. A biographical presentation using her as the subject.
3. Use her story as a writing prompt. What do the students think happened to her? Did she really die when they thought she did, or do they believe the Shoshone people who believe that she lived to be almost 100 years old?… (mais)