Lesson Plan - Where Does This Golden Spike Belong?

Watch a Video
Play the video “5 Ways the Transcontinental Railroad Changed America” and ask: How did the transcontinental railroad improve travel and communication in the United States?

Preview Words to Know
Project the online vocabulary slideshow and introduce the Words to Know.

• campaign
• artifacts

Set a Purpose for Reading
As students read, have them think of an important object in their own state’s history.

1. What does the author mean when she writes that “a new age of transportation had begun” on May 10, 1869?
The author means that for the first time, people could travel by train all the way from New York to California. Travel become much faster, and trade became easier.
^{(RI.4.1 Text Evidence)}

2. Based on the article, why do you think the golden spike ended up at Stanford University?
Based on the article, you can infer that the spike ended up at Stanford University because the university’s founder, Leland Stanford, had played a big role in the railroad. He was the head of one of the two companies that built the railroad.
^{(RI.4.1 Inference)}

3. Why do you think the author included the fact that Stanford University’s display of the golden spike did not have a label?
The author probably included the fact that the display did not have a label to show why David Pendleton was disappointed in the display—and why he began thinking that the spike would receive better treatment in Utah.
^{(RI.4.8 Author’s Purpose)}

FEATURED SKILL: Paired Texts
Explain that not all of the effects of the transcontinental railroad were positive. Use the skill builder “Another View of the Railroad” to explore the railroad’s devastating impact on many Indigenous people.
^{(RI.4.9 Paired Texts)}