SubUnit 1 Introduction
SubUnit 2 California Indians
SubUnit 3 Missions and Ranchos
SubUnit 4 California: 1800-1849
SubUnit 5 The Gold Rush
SubUnit 6 California: 1849-1899
SubUnit 7 California: 1900-1939
SubUnit 8 California: 1940-present
SubUnit 9 Review Pack I
SubUnit 10 Review Pack II
Each SubUnit (not Unit) costs $19.95 - This price includes permission to photocopy
The story of the history
of California makes fascinating reading. Using the Waldorf approach
students will hear or read the stories, told from an autobiographical
or biographical viewpoint, of some of the important contributors
to the State's history.
We begin, in SubUnit 2, with Ishi
(told from an autobiographical viewpoint). From his story we
can appreciate his gentleness and wisdom and view California
society at the beginning of the century from a unique standpoint.
(SubUnit 1 covers the geography of California).
Next,
in SubUnit 3, comes the story of Junípero Serra and the missionaries and how they
introduced European plants, agriculture and way of life to
the region. This is followed by the true and, in many ways,
sad story of Concepción Argüello.SubUnit
3 Missions and Ranchos also contains the story
of Maria Antonia Vallejo (the Vallejo's were one
of the first families to settle in California)
and her experience with pirates.
SubUnit
4 covers the history of California from 1800-1849.It includes
the story of the explorations of Lewis and Clark,a short separate
story on Sacagawea and her importance to the expedition. This
leads us to the Mountain Men. We tell of the story of Jedediah
Smith (and others). John Charles Frémont and his adventures
and exploits, is the subject of our next story.
This is followed by the tragic tale of the Donner party. We complete this
SubUnit with the stories of two pioneering women. Firstly,
the story of Virginaia Reed Murphy, a member of the Donner party.
Secondly,the story of Eliza Roberts who was a member of the
successful wagon train that made its way to California in 1847.
Included in SubUnit
5 are many stories of the Gold Rush. We tell the story of the
Mexican War and this is followed by biographies of some of
the early settlers such as Samual Brannan and John Sutter.However,
one fo the the most important and interesting persons of this
period was James Marshall. We write his story (4 stories in
total) from an autobiographical viewpoint.
We tell the story
of the history of California from 1849 to 1899 (SubUnit 6) through
the eyes of an (fictional) immigrant John Smith and his experiences
and adventures (story is in 4 parts). We add the true stories
of John Muir and Henry Ford.
The
story of California, from 1900 to the present (SubUnits 7 & 8),
is told through the eyes of a fictional character Mary
Tu. Her story tells of a third generation immigrant (her father
was Chinese) who succeeded although she had to overcome many
obstacles. The biography of the founder of the Bank of America,
Amadeo Giannini is also included in this SubUnit.
SubUnits 8 & 9 are composed of Review
Exercises. These SubUnits were written at the request
of teachers and are not based on the Waldorf approach. Besides
stories the SubUnits include many dramas including Where
am I in time?, 1906 Earthquake, Hollywood, Agriculture
and Aerospace. Dispersed through the SubUnits are a considerable
number of activities including many art and craft.These
include Indian Games; Indian, Weaving and Artwork;
a Model of Mission and Rancho;Branding; Letter Writing;
Model of a Frontier Town; and Paper-cutting.
Click here to
view scanned pages of Program Overview
(Please note that these are
scanned pages and do not reflect the quality of the original material)
Click here for Order Form for History of California
Click here for series of 64 e-lessons based on the 10 SubUnits
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