Curriculum Haul | California History 

yay! We did an entire year on California History this year. 4th grade California history is always my favorite when it comes around.

That How to Draw Native California Plants and Animals book looks wonderful. I wish there was something similar for our state. My daughter would love it. We are in Ohio. I might just buy the California one anyway. (My husband grew up there.)

The audio book for Island of the Blue Dolphins was amazing. My kids loved it. And after there is that one special from PBS that was so cool. Worth the look up. We got the audio book from library. We've been studying California history all year. We don't do it daily though. We are just now getting to the Gold Rush and have that same project.

Nice selections. I used BFB's California History. The old and new one-both guides are really helpful. Obviously, the newer one is updated and has a nice, easier to find, selection of books. If you need more ideas: Dover has the California Gold Rush coloring book, There is also the book (look for it used) Our Golden California by Juanita Houston. It has oodles of info for reference. Chang's Paper Pony was an easy read and fun (for my son) also. That is by Eleanor Coerr. Have you read Blue Willow? It is a story of a girl (so I read it aloud) from I think the great depression (been a couple years-LOL) but it is good too. It's by Doris Gates. Some other good reads: If You Lived at the Time of the Great San Francisco Earthquake (Ellen Lavine), Riders of the Pony Express (my son loved) by Ralph Moody; and a fun one but not easy to find (it's old) is This is San Francisco by M Sasek. They also suggest Pedro: The Angel of Oliver Street (but never found via the library, so never read)-for the study. The Cruise of the Arctic Star is an interesting but sometimes boring (oh did I say that?) read by Scott O'Dell. My son liked it but that is b/cuz he's into that sorta thing. He intertwines the explorers into the story here and there. If your son is interested, and hasn't covered the explorers yet-then this is a good time to add them in. Cortes, Drake, Cabrillo, Viscaino were all notable ones for CA. HTH

So the audio book of Island of the Blue Dolphins was fantastic. We really enjoyed it. There is also a show on PBS (I think I'm going to try and find it) on the Channel Islands (I grew up on Catalina so I loved it) that talks about all the islands and The Lone Woman of San Nicolas, animals, restoration, etc. my kids loved it.

Yes I live in California and need all the education I can get.

Ok I'm cracking up. I just realized I've already commented on this video and just watched the whole thing again making notes. 😂😂😂😂. That's how awesome the videos are....

i love the what was or who was books too... so much books Hana, love it. We have Songs of the Swallow,....How long does the unit take you? If you said it here I totally missed it. TFS!

It was called West of the West ... www.thecifilm.com/west-of-the-west-trailer.html

how far south are you? I grew up in Sacramento and going to Sutter's fort was always a fun field trip :)

HI Hanna, Just curious, how do you incorporate your unit studies with your Waldorf curriculum social studies? does it get overwhelming? I was looking at Oak Meadows for next year and I love thematic/unit study learning, but it looks like there are set social study lessons in the Oak Meadow curriculum.

These are some great selections! We'll be starting California history next year so I'm definitely saving your video for review again later. I love the replica coins!

I would love to know how much time was devoted to this unit!