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California! Coming to a New Land
Teachers’ Guide


This Web Activity was developed by Mary Ann Rechtfertig to help
4th grade students meet these California State Content Standards.

TEACHERS: Please print out this Guide. The class time needed to complete
this Activity, following the steps below, is approximately five hours.
Students will use computers for about ninety minutes.

Step One
Time needed: About 40 minutes in the classroom

Preparation:

A) Duplicate copies of Worksheet One: The Questions I Have for each student.

Procedure:

Introduce the activity by playing the Survival Game.
This Discovery Channel game will help students understand life during an ice age,
and some of the choices they will be making during California! Coming to a New Land.

A) Assemble students in front of an on-line computer (or, if available, use on-line presentation equipment, such as a computer and scan converter + TV, or a video projector.)

B) Introduce California! Coming to a New Land to students by showing and discussing Introduction and Asking Questions.

C) Then let students work independently or in pairs to complete Worksheet One. What questions would they have about surviving in their new region?

Step Two
Time needed: About 30 minutes in the classroom

Preparation:

A) For this step students need to refer to their completed Worksheet One.

 

Procedure:

A) During a class brainstorming session, students discuss their questions from Worksheet One.

B) The teacher documents students' questions using a white board, chart paper, or presentation equipment.

C) Students agree on the eight questions that they think are most important.

D) To provide an additional resource, the teacher can use Our Class Questions.

Step Three
Time needed: About 40 minutes using classroom computers, or the computer lab


Preparation:

A) Divide the class into four groups, each studying one region (the Central Valley, Mountain, Desert, or Coast Region.)

B) Pair-up students who are studying the same regions.

C) Duplicate copies of Worksheet Two: Answer Chart for each student.

(Note: The topics for Worksheet Two are based on 'Our Class Questions.' If your class has agreed on a different set of questions, you may want to devise your own similar Answer Chart.)

D) Students will need their completed work on Worksheet One.

Procedure:

A) Assemble students in front of an on-line computer and introduce this part of the Activity by reading and discussing Searching for Answers.

B) On computers, students study the Virtual Realities for their region, and think about their Worksheet One questions. They use what they see and their imaginations to decide how they might survive in their new land.

C) Students do Worksheet Two: Answer Chart,

 

Step Four
Time needed: About 45 minutes in the classroom

Preparation:

A) Pair-up students who are studying the same region.

B) Locate lessons in the Social Studies textbook about California’s Regions.

C) Duplicate copies of Worksheet Three: Reading & Taking Notes about a Region for each student. (To make it easier to write, students can cut out the graphic, and glue it onto binder paper.)

 

Procedure:

A) Using the textbook, and Worksheet Three, students read, locate information, and take notes to help answer their answer their questions from Worksheet One.

B) During a class discussion (or a jigsaw activity,) students discuss what they've learned so far about how they might survive in their new region.

 
 

Step Five
Time needed: About 30 minutes using classroom computers, or the computer lab

Preparation:

A) Duplicate copies of the worksheet: Worksheet Four: Making Decisions About Surviving In A New Land

(Note: The topics for Worksheet Four are based on 'Our Class Questions.' If your class has agreed on a different set of topics, you may want to devise your own Worksheet Four.)

Procedure:

A) Assemble students in front of an on-line computer and introduce this part of the Activity by reading and discussing Decisions: Can We Survive?

B) Students use the Virtual Realities and finished worksheets to do Worksheet Four.

 

Step Six
Time needed: Two (or more) forty-five minute class periods in the classroom,
with computers available as needed.

Preparation:

A) Duplicate copies of Narrative Essay and Narrative Essay Rubric.


B) Students need their completed worksheets, and should have the Virtual Realities available.

Procedure:

A) Assemble students in front of an on-line computer and introduce this part of the Activity by reading and discussing Conclusion.

B) Students think about what they have learned, and write an essay with at least two paragraphs.

They begin the essay with the sentence: My family and I will (or will not) choose to live in the _____________ region.

They then describe how they and their family might survive in the new land. They answer each of the eight questions about: 1. shelter 2. food 3. water 4. climate 5. clothing 6. geography 7. natural resources and 8. dangers.

They finish their essay by writing a concluding sentence.

C) Next, students reread their narrative essay and score themselves using the Narrative Essay Rubric. The teacher gives scores, and a final grade.

D) Students then read their essays aloud to their classmates.

 

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