All Aboard!

Accompany a reading of First Come the Zebra written and illustrated by Lynne Barasch with a teacher's guide equipped with before reading, vocabulary, and after reading activities. Additional social studies, science, music, art, math, and...

Students discover the people who lived in California before and after the gold rush. They use primary source documents to identify how the finding of gold changed the area. They also discover the discrimation that was present during the...

A three-part assessment challenges scholars to read informational texts in order to complete three tasks. Following a brief reading, class members take part in grand conversations, complete charts, and work in small groups to research...

Students take a virtual field trip around California using Google Earth. In this geology field trip lesson plan, students explore landforms and a variety of rocks located in California.  Students compare environments where rocks are...

Fourth graders use what they already have gathered on California missions to create a database. Using the different missions, they brainstorm, organize and categorize what they have gathered. They present their material to the class and...

It's time to hear about some adventures in travel! The Transcontinental Railroad changed life and travel in the United States during the 1800s. Practicing online research skills, pupils discover the features they would like to visit on...

Learners create a Road Trip. They work in small groups. Students are given a road map for each group. They plan a road trip between two cities on opposite edges of the map, estimating a reasonable distance to travel each day. Learners...

Fourth graders explore geography of four distinct regions of California: mountains, coast, central valley, and desert. They locate California on map, identify state's boundaries and borders, and explore agriculture, a major economic...

Join Science Companion author Belinda Basca and her family as they explore the land forms in Hawaii from a helicopter! Includes suggestions for teacher lessons, student activities, and web resources.