While the Spanish claimed to bring civilization to California indigenous peoples, in reality, they also brought violence and forced assimilation to European values. Primary sources, such as the reports of Catholic priests and Europeans...

Discover the ways America has opened its borders to international refugees, and the ways other countries have been more or less welcoming, with an informational passage about United States and international policies on refugees....

Believe it or not, this is a 76-page series of lesson plans published by the California Commission on Agriculture which is designed to teach upper-elementary learners about agricultural practices and products in the state. There are two...

The sovereignty of U.S. Native American nations is the focus of a resource that asks class members to compare the Right to Self-Determination in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples with a fact sheet that...

Challenge writers to compose an essay detailing their stance on, and the history of, voting. Three assignments, each broken down into three parts, requires fifth graders to take notes, read and complete charts, write paragraphs, compare...

The city of Los Angeles' 1979 Special Order 40 states: "LAPD officers shall not initiate police action with the objective of discovering the alien status of a person." After reading a fact sheet that details the history of Special Order...

Everyone living in the United States today is a descendant from an immigrant—even Native Americans. Learn about the tumultuous history of American immigration with a reading passage that discusses the ancient migration over the Bering...

Who gets to come to the United States? Examine cases of individuals seeking asylum with an informative reading passage that includes examples, statistics, and representations of public opinion regarding asylum. Groups then go on to...

Though the Statue of Liberty welcomes political refugees to her shores, the welcoming sentiment has not always been reflected in the American citizenry. High schoolers read about the regrettable period in United States history...

Why are some immigrant groups in the United States embraced while others become disenfranchised? To answer this question, teams investigate why groups emigrated to the US, why some of these these peoples were...

Think like an engineer and an agricultural scientist over the course of 12 lessons in a STEM based unit. Young scientists take on the roles of animal physiologists, animal geneticists, agricultural engineers, animal nutritionists,...

Examine everyday life during the Great Depression, as well as the effects if the Depression on American population, society, and economy. Learners write who, what, where, when, and why summaries of a person who relocated to California...

What happens when a non-native species is introduced onto an island? Santa Cruz Island, part of the Channel Island chain located off the coast of southern California, provides the perfect laboratory for young environmental scientists to...

Take a break from vocabulary development and have your Spanish scholars immerse themselves in Spanish culture. What are common Spanish proverbs? In short sessions over the course of a few weeks, the class will learn about different...

How do scientists provide evidence to support the theories they put forth? What clues do they put together to create these theories? After watching West of the West's documentary Island Rotation class members engage in a series of...

If you've never heard of the Equal Rights Amendment, it's probably because there isn't one in the United States Constitution. Delve into the contentious history behind the ERA, its founders and supporters, and reasons for its political...

Through the journey of four stories of immigration, scholars complete graphic organizers and apply knowledge to create a visual representation of their findings on a large poster. Third and fourth readers write a letter to their...

Class members research citizenship in Ancient Rome and in the United States and use the provided graphic organizers to compare the rights and responsibilities of citizens in these two democracies.

Slavery in India, Sudan, and Mauritania? What about in the United States? Groups research modern slavery in these four countries, collecting factual evidence (What), determine their feelings about this evidence (So what),...

Getting kids thinking about climate change now, will hopefully push them into action when they become adults. Young environmentalists discuss the evidence and causes of climate change seen in the state of California. They brainstorm ways...

Venn diagrams are helpful in understanding the idea of a set and using attributes to sort items. This basic plan is an introduction with an added bonus of an applet that can be used to demonstrate the activity. If a classroom of...

Dive your class into a reading of Island of the Blue Dolphins with this in-depth study guide. Breaking the novel into three parts, the resource begins each section with a focus activity that identifies a specific theme or question...

How many hands tall are you? Challenge kids to measure themselves the way the 19th century Oklahoma horse traders measured their prize horses (can they guess how many hands tall a horse had to be?). There's some background information...

Americans wanted to fulfill Manifest Destiny, and this pattern continued with the Mexican War. The resource specifically teaches about the Mexican War through a variety of exercises including a research project, group work, brainstorming...