Route 66 Day
Celebrate the highway's 100th birthday with a single class period. No sign-up needed to teach it. Joining a stop is optional.
Lesson flow
This highway is older than everyone in the room, and everyone they know. Show a 1926 road map. What was here before roads had numbers? What does 66 connect?
On the map, trace Route 66 through 8 states. On the route: find the stop nearest your school. Far from it: find where you are, then figure out how far you'd travel to touch the road.
The road ran about 2,448 miles. Pick the prompt that fits your grade, from "how many days at 8 driving hours a day?" to comparing it with today's interstate drive.
Each student picks a stop and writes a postcard from 1926 or from today: what they see, hear and eat there. Save the drawing side for early finishers or home.
Photograph the postcards (no faces or names). Tell students that classes across the country are helping write the guidebook this spring.
Road-trip math, by grade
The whole trip takes about 54 hours of driving. At 8 hours of driving a day, how many days is that?
The road ran about 2,448 miles. At 45 miles per hour, how many hours of driving is that? How many days at 8 hours a day?
Today I-40 covers much of the same trip at 70 mph. How much time did the interstate save? Why might you still take the old road?