The lesson that I am using is one that I had to make for one of my other classes. It is a fourth grade lesson on Why people moved to California. It is a 2 day lesson and I am going to post my lesson plan to this post.
Lesson
Plan
Concept / Topic to Teach: How and why did people travel to California?
History and Social Studies
Standards: CA Standard 4.3.2
Compare how and why people traveled to California and the routes they
traveled (e.g., James Beckwourth, John Bidwell, John C. Fremont, Pio Pico
Historical
and Social Sciences Analysis Skills:
·
Chronological
and Spatial Thinking
o Students
use map and globe skills to determine the absolute locations of places and
interpret information available through a map’s or globes legend, scale, and
symbolic representations
·
Historical
Research, Evidence, and Point of View
o Students
differentiate between primary and secondary sources.
o Students
pose relevant questions about events they encounter in historical documents,
eyewitness accounts, oral histories, letters, diaries, artifacts, photographs,
maps, artworks, and architecture.
·
Historical
Interpretation
o Students
summarize the key events of the era they are studying and explain the
historical contexts of those events.
o Students
identify the human and physical characteristics of the places they are studying
and explain how those features form the unique character of those places.
Multiple
Intelligences:
·
Mathematical-Logical Intelligence
·
Visual-Spatial Intelligence
·
Interpersonal Intelligence
·
Intrapersonal Intelligence
Organization:
Divide class into 4 groups
Grade
Level: 4th grade
Time
Duration: 2 Days (1 hour each day)
Required
Materials:
·
PowerPoint Presentation
·
Map of world (enlarged/should already have up in
classroom)
·
Explorer Biographies
·
Handouts
o Outline
Map of the Western United States
o California
Travelers Graphic Organizer
·
Art Supplies
Step-By-Step
Procedures:
Day 1
o PowerPoint
Lesson Plan (attached printed out slide)
§ Go
through the PowerPoint lesson and perform the mini ACT IT OUT that is included
in the PowerPoint
Day 2
o Introduce
Activity:
§ Explain
that the people who came to California in the 1700s and 1800s traveled in many
different ways. Using a classroom map of
the world, describe many ways settlers came to California: overland from the
East, across the Pacific Ocean from Asia, around Cape Horn, and across the
Isthmus of Panama
o Activity
Steps:
1)
Divide the class into four groups. Assign each group one of the following
people: James Beckwourth, John Bidwell, John C. Fremont, and Pio Pico, and five
them the corresponding Biographies. Give
each student and Outline Map of the
Western United States handout and a California
Travelers Graphic Organizer hand out
2)
Have members of each group read their
biographies and record key points about the person in the appropriate section
of the graphic organizer. They most also
label the route their person traveled on the map
3)
Project a large version of the Outline Map of the Western United States
handout on the board. Provide time for
each group to share its findings with the class (6 minutes per group) and label
the person’s route on the large map.
Have the rest of the class record the key points in the appropriate
section of their graphic organizers, and then label the person’s travel route
on their outline maps. Conduct a
discussion comparing and contrasting the journeys.
Extending
the Lesson:
·
Depending on the time you have you can take the
students outside for PE and have them complete and obstacle course and you can
relate it back to the difficulties people had when coming to California and all
the obstacles they had to overcome.
·
If you are teaching this lesson in the fall and
you have a corn maze nearby, you can take a class field trip their and divide
the class into four different groups and they have to find their way out of the
corn maze. However, they have to keep
track of the route they take and you can relate it back to this topic.
References:
·
“Our California.” White, William. Our California. Illinois: Pearson
Education Inc., 2006.
·
http://www.eduplace.com/kids/socsci/ca/books/bkd/
·
http://www.cahistorysocialscience.com/pdfs/g4_teacher_pp.pdf
