California's Resources

Bring life to your next California geography lesson with this great project! Learners design a three-dimensional wall relief map of California, painting and decorating regions using a variety of materials and labeling major geographical...

Young scholars relive history as they examine primary sources that document everyday life in the California missions. During a class viewing of the included slideshow presentation, children analyze documents, paintings, and drawings in...

Here's a nice example of assignment guidelines for a California mission project, as well guided notes for learners to complete as they conduct their research and write their final reports.

How did Native Californians and Franciscans influence one another in early California? Learners analyze a few cultural pieces to examine the impact that integration had on Franciscan and Native Californian culture.

Help your class transition as the setting in the novel Esperanza Rising, by Pam Muñoz Ryan, moves from Mexico to California. Beginning with prior knowledge, and moving into jigsaw research groups, class members add to and create posters...

Looking for alternative options to the traditional California missions project? This is the resource for you!

After viewing The Last Roundup, a documentary that examines the transitioning of Santa Rosa from a privately owned island to a National Park, class members adopt the point of view of Tim Vail, a member of the family that once owned the...

Take a trip to the Golden State with this informative ESL presentation about California. Slides detail the state bird, state flower, and state tree with pictures and explanations. Some of the information is dated, such as Arnold...

There's gold in them thar hills! A short cartoon introduces middle schoolers to the California Gold Rush of 1849. The video encourages viewers to dig deeper and mine for a lode of information about gold mining, the 49ers, and the...

Students compare contemporary cultural differences with historical differences based on population percentage. In this cross-curriculum Gold Rush/math lesson, students analyze aspects of California's Gold Rush population and diversity...