Gwendolyn and I continued to the next chapters in her text, learning about what happened next in history after reconstruction. We read about settling the west and about urbanization and industrialization. Gwendolyn learned many new vocabulary words and added them to her vocabulary cards. She was able to use these new words and understood them in context. We learned about the long drives, the invention of barbed wire, mining and boomtowns and ghost towns, the Comstock lode, the Dawes Act and the Homestead Act. We read about new inventions and technology that changed American life, along with the influx of immigrants and how that shaped our country. We were able to discuss examples of this specifically related to New York City.