 What a day! This is activity comes at the very end of my Gold Rush unit. Kids start by completing a California Gold Rush Investigation. In this unit, each student will create their own historical fiction master piece. Throughout the investigation, students keep a journal in which they create their own character. This character starts their long journey to California from Boston in 1849. Students thoroughly research all things Gold Rush and incorporate these true facts into their own fictional story. I try to time the Gold Rush Day to coordinate with the end of the investigation which be found here. If you prefer, I have a webquest version here but will no longer be updating the links. The Gold Rush day is broken up into fun centers which you can find here. Below are some of the centers, in pictures. Enjoy! 
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A Journey Back in Time Each year I have my students investigate the gold rush through a webquest. The webquest is a project that can span over a month. Students explore the Gold Rush by traveling back in time. The project merges history with narrative writing. Students begin their journey as a resident of Boston in 1848. As they research historical facts, they take a journey to California. At each "check point" they write a journal entry describing how the journey might have been, based on decisions they make along the way. When they finally make it to California, they are able to explore real life challenges faced by the 49ers. The hunt for gold in 1849 wasn't an easy one! The Gold Rush Journals produced by the students are a great project to display at open house! I always try to time this to align with Gold Rush Day. Students make it to the "diggins" in their journals around the same time we have our Gold Rush Day Simulation. This way, students can incorporate their experiences from Gold Rush Day into their journals. I also have students use their journals to record and calculate gold prices in 1849. They weigh their gold, and calculate their earnings! I make them pay for their food on Gold Rush Day with their earnings as well. :) The journal and webquest can be done independently, but it is typically best to walk student's through the project one journal as a time. **Note- The webquest is no longer being updated. While most links one the webpage were built by me, some of the links are websites that may soon be out-dated. I created a new resource which can be found here and accomplishes the same wonderful learning experience described above!  |
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