Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Gold Rush Experience: Create Your Own Exhibit

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students create a virtual exhibit. In this gold rush lesson, students watch a movie about the California gold rush, view a virtual image of the gold nugget that started the gold rush and examine the sources. Students research and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Movement and Migration: the Gold Nugget that launched the Gold Rush

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Learners learn what it was like to be a gold miner. In this California gold rush lesson, students watch a movie about the California gold rush and discuss what they learned. Learners use the Internet to examine the gold nugget that...
Lesson Plan
San Francisco Public Utilities Commission

Water from the Well

For Teachers 4th - 6th Standards
How much water does it take to brush your teeth? How about to wash your clothes? Perform an experiment that measures water usage in everyday tasks and compares them to the days before indoor plumbing, specifically the California...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

California Gold Rush

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
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...
Lesson Plan
PBS

Baker's Gold

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students examine art of the California Gold Rush. In this visual arts lesson, students analyze the photography and art of Isaac Wallace Baker. Students also conduct further research about the miners of the era in order to create...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Teaching with Objects The Gold Nugget

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders complete activities related to the California gold rush. In this gold rush lesson, 4th graders go to an Internet website video that discusses the gold rush. They complete discuss miner's experiences, sing a gold rush song,...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Baltimoreans in the California Gold Rush

For Teachers 11th
Eleventh graders explore the reasons for migration to California during the Gold Rush.  For this American History lesson, 11th graders read letters about the opportunities and obstacles people faced.  Students create a map of...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Motivational Introduction to the California Gold Rush

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders download pictures and write script for narration as they create a KidPix slide show to introduce the study of the California Gold Rush.
Worksheet
abcteach

Gold Found in California

For Students 4th - 5th
In this historical reading comprehension learning exercise, students read a factual account of the Gold Rush. Students answer 14 questions about the passage.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Traveling to the Gold Rush

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders research the experiences the people who traveled to California during the Gold Rush by land and sea. They create a map showing the various routes that individuals took to get to California. Students explain the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Gold Rush -- Lesson 4

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students continue their examination of the Gold Rush in California. In groups, they use a map to examine the original sites of the towns and what happened to them. They work together to create a brochure for one of the towns and...
Worksheet
Curated OER

Gold Rush

For Students 6th - 8th
In this gold rush instructional activity, students utilize a word bank of 10 terms or phrases to answer 10 fill in the blank questions about the nation during the time period. A short answer question is included as well.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Days of '49: "I've Been Toiling Hard for the Last Two And a Half Years"

For Teachers 6th - 11th
Students trace the stages of gold mining in California. They discuss the life of a gold miner and how the discovery of gold influenced towns and cities in California during the 1949 Gold Rush.
Unit Plan
Annenberg Foundation

Masculine Heroes

For Teachers 6th - 12th
What were the driving forces behind American expansion in the nineteenth century, and what were its effects? Scholars watch a video, read biographies, engage in discussion, write journals and poetry, draw, and create a multimedia...
Worksheet
Curated OER

Mystery State #26

For Students 4th - 6th
In this mystery state learning exercise, students answer five clues to identify the state in question. They then locate that state on a map.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

How is Gold Found in the Ground?

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders participate in a series of activities designed to simulate mining for gold. They pan for "gold" and create a safe tunnel.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Yukon Gold Rush

For Teachers 7th
Seventh graders explore the background information for the book, Call of the Wild. They use electronic and video resources to establish the background. Students discuss the poem "The Cremation of Sam McGee" and the Yukon Gold Rush.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Foreign Miners

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students examine primary source documents from miners who went to California in the search of gold. They compare and contrast the letters they read and discuss what types of discrimination still exists today.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Gold Fever

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Young scholars read the story Gold Fever about the Gold Rush and write journal entries as if they were miners. In this Gold Rush lesson plan, students also pull out rocks from a back, and if they pick a gold one, they have struck it rich!
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Ethnic Family Life

For Teachers 11th
Eleventh graders examine the impact of the gold rush on different cultures.  In this American History lesson, 11th graders examine the reasons for ethnic diversity in the west. 
Lesson Plan
San Francisco Symphony

By the Great Horn Spoon!

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
By The Great Horn Spoon is a fantastic novel for introducing learners to life during the California Gold Rush. First, kids research and analyze American folk songs, then they connect to the text as they listen to symphonic pieces written...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Gam Saan Adventure- Are You Willing to Risk it?

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students explain how California became an agricultural and industrial power, tracing the transformation of the California economy and its development since the 1850's.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

THE GAM SAAN ADVENTURE ARE YOU WILLING TO RISK IT?

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders study the lasting influence of the Pony Express, Overland Mail Service, Western Union, and the building of the transcontinental railroad, including the contributions of Chinese workers to its construction. They explore the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

San Francisco Explodes

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students investigate why San Francisco grew so quickly during the Gold Rush. They