CHANGING CALIFORNIA
Lesson Goal: To understand cultural and environmental changes that occurred as a result of
people living in and migrating to California in search of natural resources.
Learning Objectives:
• Students will compare and contrast the daily life of six different
cultural periods of California history through participation in
representative activities.
• Students will observe how natural resources gained value through
human need and how human need changes over time.
• Students will learn how scarcity and competition for natural
resources requires that individuals and societies make choices, and
how these choices have led to environmental and cultural changes.
• Students will understand that the plants, animals, and cultures of
California have changed due to peoples’ choices. California will
continue to change as the students make wise choices regarding
the use of our limited resources.
Grade Level: 4
California History Social Science Standards
4.2.3.
4.2.4.
4.2.5.
4.2.6.
4.2.8.
4.3.3.
4.4.2.
4.4.4.
Spanish exploration and colonization of CA.
Spanish missions.
Daily lives of people.
Role of Franciscans in changing the economy.
Mexican rule in CA.
Effects of the gold rush.
How the gold rush transformed CA economy.
American immigration.
See accompanying standards correlations.
ACTIVITIES:
1.
Visit Native American Village. Play resource scavenger hunt or play deer stalking game.
2.
Visit mission era mural. Dress in period costume. Make adobe brick using clay soil, water, and straw.
3.
Visit Mexican California station. Dress in period costume. Learn to rope cow heads using lassos.
4.
Visit Gold Rush station to learn about 49ers. Dress in period costume. Pan for gold.
5.
Visit Banning School to learn about statehood and different industries in the late 1800s. Build railroad.
6.
Learn about conservation and preservation heroes. Discuss current uses of natural resources. Pledge to
become a steward of the environment and a future hero.
VOCABULARY
activist
adobe
competition
conflict
consequence
conservation
contribution
cultivated crops
cultures
demand
economy
environmental impact
entrepreneur
forty-niner
greed
hero
hide
immigration
Rancho El Chorro Outdoor School, Changing California/4th grade, Fall 2010. Page 1
lasso
migration
native
padre
pioneer
population
preservation
pyrite
railroad tie
resources
scarcity
spike
sluice box
supply
tallow
trade
transcontinental
tule
values
vaquero
RANCHO EL CHORRO OUTDOOR SCHOOL
CHANGING CALIFORNIA – 4th Grade
Standards Correlations
The following 4th grade History-Social Science standards are addressed on this trail:
4.2.
Students describe the social, political, and economic life and interactions among the
people of California from the pre-Columbian societies to the Spanish mission and
Mexican rancho periods.
4.2.3. Describe the Spanish exploration and colonization of California, including the relationships
among soldiers, missionaries, and Indians.
4.2.4. Describe the mapping of, geographic basis of, and economic factors in the placement and
function of the Spanish missions; and understand how the mission system expanded the
influence of Spain and Catholicism throughout New Spain and Latin America.
4.2.5. Describe the daily lives of the people, native and nonnative, who occupied the presidios,
missions, ranchos, and pueblos.
4.2.6. Discuss the role of the Franciscans in changing the economy of California from a huntergatherer economy to an agricultural economy.
4.2.8. Discuss the period of Mexican rule in California and its attributes, including land grants,
secularization of the missions, and the rise of the rancho economy.
4.3.
Students explain the economic, social, and political life in California from the establishment of the Bear Flag Republic through the Mexican-American War, the Gold Rush,
and the granting of statehood.
4.3.3. Analyze the effects of the Gold Rush on settlements, daily life, politics, and the physical
environment.
4.4.
Students explain how California became an agricultural and industrial power, tracing
the transformation of the California economy and its political and cultural development
since the 1850s.
4.4.1. Understand the story and lasting influence of the Pony Express, Overland Mail Service,
Western Union, and the building of the transcontinental railroad, including the contribution
of Chinese workers to its construction.
4.4.2. Explain how the Gold Rush transformed the economy of California, including the types of
products produced and consumed, changes in towns and economic conflicts between diverse
groups of people.
4.4.4. Describe rapid American immigration, internal migration, settlement, and the growth of towns
and cities.
Rancho El Chorro Outdoor School, Changing California/4th grade, Fall 2010. Page 2
Correlation to the Education & the Environment Initiative (EEI) Units and Learning Objectives:
To download the teacher units, please visit:
http://www.calepa.ca.gov/Education/EEI/Curriculum/Default.htm#CurriculumUnits.
H/SS 4.2.6. Cultivating California
• Identify the differences between hunter-gatherer and agricultural economies.
• Describe how the daily lives of native and nonnative people changed as the result of shifting from a
hunter-gather economy to an agricultural economy (e.g. human communities became rooted to one
location and had greater influence on local natural systems).
• Discuss the role of the Franciscans in changing the economy of California from a hunter-gatherer
economy to an agricultural economy.
• Provide examples of how changing the economy of California from a hunter-gatherer economy to
an agricultural economy influenced the natural systems in different regions of California.
• Describe how these changes to California’s natural systems in turn affected the daily lives of native
and nonnative people.
H/SS 4.3.3. Boom with a View: Witnessing the Gold Rush
Identify how the methods used to extract, harvest and transport gold in California influenced the
natural systems where the gold was being sought.
• Describe how the changing resource production and consumption patterns in California during the
Gold Rush resulted in the need for new laws, policies, and incentives regarding resource use and
management.
• Identify byproducts of the Gold Rush communities, and the mining and extraction practices that
influenced the health of the natural systems in the surrounding areas (e.g. the use of mercury in the
refining process).
•
Changing California also supports the instruction of the following Mathematics standards:
3.0.
Measurement & Geometry: Students demonstrate an understanding of plane and solid
geometric objects and use this knowledge to show relationships and solve problems.
3.1.
Indentify lines that are parallel and perpendicular.
Changing California also supports the instruction of the following English Language Arts
standards:
1.0.
Listening and Speaking Strategies: Students listen critically and respond appropriately to
oral communication. They speak in a manner that guides the listener to understand
important ideas by using proper phrasing, pitch, and modulation.
1.1.
Ask thoughtful questions and respond to relevant questions with appropriate elaboration in oral
settings.
Summarize major ideas and supporting evidence presented in spoken messages and formal
presentations.
Use details, examples, anecdotes, or experiences to explain or clarify information.
Use volume, pitch, phrasing, pace, modulation, and gestures appropriately to enhance meaning.
1.2.
1.8.
1.9.
Rancho El Chorro Outdoor School, Changing California/4th grade, Fall 2010. Page 3
VOCABULARY
activist
activista
adobe
adobe
competition
competición
conflict
conflicto
consequence
consecuencia
conservation
conservación
contribution
contribución
cultivated crops
cosechas cultivadas
cultures
culturas
demand
la demanda
economy
economía
environmental impact
impacto ambiental
entrepreneur
empresario
forty-niner
cuarenta nueve
greed
avaricia
hero
héroe
hide
piel o cuero
immigration
inmigración
lasso
lazo
migration
migración
native
nativo, natal, indígena
An especially active, vigorous advocate of a cause.
Sun-dried brick made of clay and straw, in common use in countries having
little rainfall.
Rivalry between two or more persons or groups for an object desired in
common, usually resulting in a victor and a loser but not necessarily
involving the destruction of the latter.
A fight, battle, or struggle, esp. a prolonged struggle; strife; controversy;
quarrel: conflicts between parties.
The effect, result, or outcome of something occurring earlier.
Official supervision of rivers, forests, and other natural resources in order to
preserve and protect them through prudent management.
The act of contributing; an article, story, drawing, etc., furnished to a
magazine or other publication.
Cultivated crops, including annual crops, orchards and plantations, are
usually monocultures in that only one plant species is cultivated.
The behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic, or age
group; the sum total of ways of living built up by a group of human beings
and transmitted from one generation to another.
The quantity of goods that buyers will take at a particular price.
The management of the resources of a community, country, etc., esp. with a
view to its productivity.
Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, resulting from
facility activities, products, or services.
A person who organizes and manages any enterprise, esp. a business, usually
with considerable initiative and risk.
A person, esp. a prospector, who went to California in 1849 during the gold
rush.
Excessive or rapacious desire, esp. for wealth or possessions.
A person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities or has performed
a heroic act and is regarded as a model or ideal.
The pelt or skin of one of the larger animals (cow, horse, buffalo, etc.), raw or
dressed.
To enter and settle in a country or region to which one is not native.
A long rope or line of hide or other material with a running noose at one end,
used for roping horses, cattle, etc.
A number or body of persons or animals migrating together.
Being the place or environment in which a person was born or a thing came
into being: one's native land; originating naturally in a particular country or
region, as animals or plants.
Rancho El Chorro Outdoor School, Changing California/4th grade, Fall 2010. Page 4
padre
padre
pioneer
pionero
population
población
preservation
preservación
pyrite
pirita
railroad tie
traviesa de ferrocarril
resources
recursos
scarcity
escasez
sluice box
canal de agua corriente
spike
clavo
supply
la oferta
tallow
sebo
trade
comercio
transcontinental
transcontinental
tule
tule
values
valores
vaquero
vaquero
Father (used esp. in addressing or referring to a priest or member of the
clergy).
A person who is among those who first enter or settle a region, thus opening it
for occupation and development by others.
The total number of persons inhabiting a country, city, or any district or area.
A place set apart for protection and propagation of game or fish.
A brass-colored mineral, FeS2, occurring widely and used as an iron ore and in
producing sulfur dioxide for sulfuric acid. Also called fool's gold.
One of the cross braces that support the rails on a railway track.
Something that can be used for support or help; The total means available for
economic and political development, such as mineral wealth, labor force, and
armaments.
Insufficiency or shortness of supply; dearth.
Mining. a long, sloping trough or the like, with grooves on the bottom, into
which water is directed to separate gold from gravel or sand.
A nail-like fastener, 3 to 12 in. (7.6 to 30.5 cm) long and proportionately
thicker than a common nail, for fastening together heavy timbers or railroad
track.
The quantity of a commodity that is in the market and available for purchase
or that is available for purchase at a particular price.
The harder fat of sheep, cattle, etc., separated by melting from the fibrous and
membranous matter naturally mixed with it, and used to make candles, soap.
The act or process of buying, selling, or exchanging commodities, at either
wholesale or retail, within a country or between countries.
Passing or extending across a continent.
Either of two large bulrushes found in California and adjacent regions in
inundated lands and marshes.
The ideals, customs, institutions, etc., of a society toward which the people of
the group have an affective regard. These values may be positive, as cleanliness, freedom, or education, or negative, as cruelty, crime, or blasphemy.
A cowboy or herdsman.
Rancho El Chorro Outdoor School, Changing California/4th grade, Fall 2010. Page 5