There's a snake in my boot!

Right now, I'm running a pioneer simulation with my class. Think Oregon Trail, minus the hunting and Aunt Carol screaming during the rafting (and the computer altogether), and adding in diary entries, coin tosses, and checker tossing to determine the fates of the pioneers.

I divided the class into wagon trains and each student picked an identity from a list which informed them of their family members, occupations, and animals. Then each student had to decide which supplies they were going to take with them in their wagon.

At the start of the simulation, one boy asked me how much time the simulation covered. He was very concerned because his wife was five months pregnant, and he wanted to know if he needed to bring a baby cradle, should his wife give birth on the trail.

Then on Wednesday, one of my students failed to throw a checker into a trash can over his shoulder from ten feet away, so he was shot in the arm with an arrow during a fight with Native Americans. The fate dictated that he had to wear his arm in a sling for the next two days. I could've brought one of the gender neutral baby blankets we have for him to use as a sling, but you better believe I made him wear the one with the pink fairies on it. (If only I had thought to take a picture!)

On two separate occasions, pioneers on a certain trail lost livestock if, from 20 feet away, they failed to throw a checker less than 12 inches from the wall. Friday a boy asked me, "Mrs. Erickson? How am I pulling my wagon? I don't have any more animals!" For some reason I thought this was hilarious and couldn't stop laughing. I told him that perhaps someone else on his wagon train let him borrow a cow. Bahaha.

They don't know it yet, but at the end of the simulation, very few of them will actually make it to their destination alive. I can hardly wait! Mostly because by the time we get there, school will be almost out for the summer! Woohoo! (Those of you who have already finished the school year, bite your tongue. I don't want to hear it.)