I am so excited to be teaching California history this year.  We will make our way from the early days of settlement by Spanish missionaries, through the rip-roaring Gold Rush, ending with the Westward Expansion by pioneers.  We are lucky to live in a state with such a rich and exciting past!

We will study history in a variety of formats, including our social studies text and through the arts.  Students will use theatre, visual arts and movement to deepen their understanding of the emotion and passion felt by our state’s early people and the events that formed our state.  The work we will do is based in the work of Kennedy Center’s teaching artist, Sean Layne.  You can read about his work with Tableau at www.seanlayne.com.  We will also be using a variety of resources, including simulations, where students reenact the trials and tribulations of life as a pioneer or prospector.  A fourth grade highlight is our overnight field trip to Coloma, the site of the first discovery of gold in California, where students will experience the life of a gold miner first-hand!  We all look forward to this April trip!

We will begin the year with a study of geography, including reading maps and learning the layout of what will become California, as well as the countries whose initial interest in the New World eventually led to colonization.