Our fourth-grade students have been focusing on how human migration can lead to new opportunities. As a way to enhance that lesson, our fourth graders experienced a day in the life of an individual living through the California Gold Rush. The students explored and investigated the various reasons people migrated, the effects it had on California, and the new opportunities that surfaced after the Gold Rush. Set in the 1850’s the students dressed up, ate food available during the Gold Rush, worked collaboratively to build tents, mined for gold, washed clothes using washboards, created wanted posters using green screen, strategized the best way to build horse carts, and created maps. The students made connections, and comparisons, and questioned the lifestyles of then and now.
It was definitely a fun day for all!
