I am so excited to get to teach this unit on California's gold rush. Last year I brushed it off and used it for the first time in many moon. This simulation is right on point for our 21st century skills...creativity, collaboration, communication, and creativity!
What the Teacher Learned: Everything old is new again!
In this simulation, students learn about California's gold rush through short passages that they summarize into an outline. Students must work in teams to help each other process the information. Students are always communicating with each other to process information. Creativity comes alive as students keep a "miner diary". Each team is expected in integrate knowledge of the gold rush into their diary and sprinkle it with a liberal dose of creativity!
Mining teams are constantly working together to solve gold rush related problems. I added in some
math spiral review that I found on TPT to make this unit a little more well rounded.
I have a little built in motivation. As students acquire more knowledge the "mine for gold" by answering trivia questions about California's gold rush. Students also earn "gold nuggets" for their outlines and journals. But my favorite way they earn or lose nuggets is through fate cards. "You came down with a bad case of cholera. Miss a mining round and lose 50 gold nuggets. At the end of the unit, the winning team with the most nuggets/points gets a vial of gold each.
As a culmination to the unit, students work collaboratively to create a Choose Your Own Gold Rush Adventure story. I love reading their work! It really shows me the depth of their knowledge. I will have to remind myself to post a link to view this project.
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