Palmer's chipmunks live in a "sky island" mountains in southwestern Nevada surrounded by deserts the chipmunks cannot cross. They are common there, foraging where rocks or fallen logs provide cover. Learn more about the Tamias palmeri,...

The kit fox has been thought by some to be a subspecies of the swift fox. This fox currently inhabits desert and semi-arid regions between the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Rocky Mountains and on down into Baja California and the North...

The range of the Lodgepole Chipmunk follows the high Sierra Nevada, and continues along the tops of the San Bernardino and San Jacinto mountains near Los Angeles. Most of the time the Lodgepole Chipmunks forage on the ground, climbing on...

Long-eared chipmunks are striking, with sharp, bright markings and the longest ears of any chipmunk. They live at middle elevations (970-2,290 m) in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Learn more about the Tamias quadrimaculatus, more commonly...

Students think that classic literature and historic events have little in common with life today, right? Think again! In this activity, students get a chance to compare themes from classic novels or from American history to those found...

Inspired by Roanoke The Lost Colony, An Unsolved Mystery From History, students will learn and discuss this mysterious part of American history. Doing their own detective work they will make predictions and come to a conclusion regarding...

In this lesson, writers will create a detailed journal entry from the point of view of a character who never actually existed. The journal entry will be for a day in history that the writer has researched and found interesting...

For Dickens' opening to his Tale of Two Cities, he uses one of the longest series of comma splices in the history of literature. Dickens seemingly did this for stylistic effect. In this lesson plan, learners create their own Dickens-like...

Inspired by Gene Barretta's Now & Ben: The Modern Inventions of Benjamin Franklin this fantastic cross-curricular activity has students comparing or contrasting a particular topic of history with how things are in this day and age.

For this lesson, young scholars will Use "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald", sung by Gordon Lightfoot as a model. They will write poems that tell a detailed story of a historical event. The poem will be brought to life using a...

Inspired by Barry Lane's book 51 Wacky We-Search Reports, in this cross-curricular lesson students learn to present researched material in a collage format.

Students will identify the main message and story behind the song "Cold Missouri Waters," by James Keelaghan; they will use a note-taking strategy and create a "found poem." They will then apply this strategy to an article from a printed...

This web site contains excerpts from the writings of Dan DeQuille, a knowledgeable reporter who lived during the developement of Comstock Lode.

The National Women's Hall of Fame offers a biography of the extraordinary life of Sarah Winnemucca of the Paiute Indians.

A brief history of the development of mountain man James Beckwourth's trail during the westward expansion. Beckwourth Trail begins near Reno, Nevada and heads through Marysville towards Lake Oroville. The path was effective for traveling...