History Lesson

Pony
Lesson

Express

Grade Level: 4
Time: 10 minutes
Lesson Design by Robin
Murphy

Objectives

Materials:

1. Students will learn the trail Pony Express Riders took.

2. Students will be able to sing the song about the Express.
3. Students will understand how hard it was to be a Pony
Riders.

Activities/Procedure

Song lyric copy

Computer
Tape for making the trail (possibly,
if it doesnt wreck the carpet)

1. Begin by telling the students a brief history about the Express.

Curricular Connection

It was run from April of 1860 to October 1861.

Music, History

It took ten days for letters on the express to get from San
Francisco to New York.

Common Core Standards

It was a very tough job. This is the job description ad: Wanted:
Young, skinny, wiry fellows not over eighteen. Must be expert
riders, willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred.
Among the Pony Riders, the most famous of them was Buffalo
Bill Cody.
2. Teach the song about the Pony Express
3. After singing the song, make a trail in the classroom and
have students pretend to be pony express riders.

Pony Express Song

Rider Applicants
Pony Express Oh
Lesson
I wish I were a rider for the Pony:
That is what Id really like to be.

Music Standards: Singing

A.4.2 Sing expressively with
appropriate dynamics, phrasing,
and interpretation
A.4.5 Sing in groups blending
vocal timbres, matching dynamic
levels, and responding to the cues
of the conductor.