Get Your Kicks on Route 66

Display slide 7, which includes a link to the sample tour “Route 66 Road Trip” created in Google Earth. Take students on a virtual tour of the three featured sites on the map. Ask students if they can guess why each site is significant. For each site (Blue Whale of Catoosa, Arcadia Round Barn, and Steven Grounds' mural at Concho Indian School), ask students the following questions:

• What is this site?

• Where is it located?

• Why was it built?

• What do you find interesting about this place?

Consider asking the additional questions listed on the Route 66 Trip Planner handout to encourage students to better understand the historical and cultural significance of each site. Explain to students that they will be designing a similar trip that will take them to three different sites along Route 66.

Display slides 8 and 9, which detail the instructions for the trip planning portion of the Extend activity.

Organize students into groups of three, and have each member of the group pick an item from one of the three sets of prepared Name Strips so that each group has one item from each of the three sets. The items they choose will determine the "road trip" they will be taking along the highway.

• Set 1 includes sites along or near Route 66 that are either culturally significant to members of American Indian tribes in Oklahoma or are examples of cultural misappropriation.

• Set 2 includes sites along or near Route 66 that reflect the role the highway played in shaping Oklahoma's economy by catering to the needs of migrant workers, aiding in the growth of communities, or allowing for the transportation of goods across the state and to various points between Chicago and Los Angeles.

• Set 3 includes tourist attractions along or near Route 66 that show the role the highway played in enabling people to drive across the country, especially in the years following the end of World War II.

(All three sets list the sites from east to west.)

Distribute one copy of the Route 66 Trip Planner handout to each group. Tell groups that they will explore their chosen sites and create maps to document their visits.

Have students begin by researching their sites. As they conduct their research, encourage groups to use various online resources as they answer the questions on the handout. The National Parks Service website is particularly useful, but students might also wish to consult the websites included in “Oklahoma’s Route 66 Repositories,” published by the Oklahoma Historical Society.

Once students have completed their research, they should refer to their answers to compose a paragraph about each site to include as a caption on their map.