Going for the Gold! Life During the California Gold Rush
My students need stimulating books, including 33 copies of, "By The Great Horn Spoon!", to learn about the Gold Rush, and art materials to produce illustrations of daily life during this historical period.
$558 goal
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month
This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because
it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.
This project is part of the Black History Month celebration because it supports a Black teacher or a school where the majority of the students are Black.
My Students
My students are oh so curious about what life was like in other times, but it is difficult to research effectively without a school library! Budget cuts have cost us our librarian and our computer lab staff so we are limited to two classroom computers. This slows down research a lot.
My students are enthusiastic learners.
If only you could have seen their excitement about a visit to the local public library! We completed applications and got our own library cards. We learned a lot about how to do research in books and on the Internet, and they are really looking forward to completing projects and presentations of their own.
Our school is in an inner-city urban area and we are strapped for resources here. We do have two classroom computers but one is often unreliable. The loss of our librarian closed our library doors, and the loss of the computer room staff cut our lab time to 1 weekly 30 minute session where students have to share computers. Unfortunately, a large slice of that time is taken up with struggling with getting everything turned on and running smoothly! Without technical staff on-hand to troubleshoot, any problems force us to abandon that computer and double or triple up.
My Project
My students excel at group project work in math and science. That's when they are the most motivated. I'd like to bring some of that focused energy to social studies with a history project. These books will teach us about the Gold Rush, specifically (an important 4th grade standard). They will allow us to learn how to research information from texts and learn important note-taking skills. With their durable library bindings, I hope they will be of use for years to come.
Why art materials? Research is certainly important, but I hope to go further with bringing the era to life for the students. They will be given the choice of producing a scene from daily life of the Gold Rush era or a presentation about life back then. Looking through historical sources of the time, we see lots of black and white photos and illustrations. Students will learn to use the art materials to produce faux photos of themselves in a Gold Rush scene.
Donations to this project will really help bring history to life for my students.
It will also allow them to use 21st century skills like teamwork, researching, and public speaking. The chance to integrate art and drama in producing the final project will provide a chance for arts instruction which they always enjoy.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Anderson and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
