D.+Bulletin+Board

Bulletin Board

The class bulletin board for the California Missions thematic unit contains four activities spanning the content areas of History, Geography, Math, English, Theater, and Music to help keep students engaged in fun, meaningful learning activities. In the center of the bulletin board is a map of California, along with the location of the 21 California Missions, which will not only serve as a resource for students during their Social Studies curriculum, but also as the map the students will use to complete the math activity. Each activity is explained below (counterclockwise from top left)



After learning about the history of California's Missions and the missionary "padres" and native people who built, farmed, and lived in the missions, the students will integrate their history knowledge and empathy into an English assignment, completing the //A Day in the Life Of...// activity, in which they compose a one-page journal entry from the perspective of a person who lived at one of the missions during such an important time in history. The students may choose to write from the perspective of either a padre or native person. Prior to writing their entry, the students are asked to read the provided "Questions to Consider" sheet, which prompts the students to consider such aspects of mission life as "When did the day start at most missions?" and "What would happen if a Native American resisted mission life?" Also included in this activity is information about various mission characters, as well as sample diary excerpts from the perspectives of: a Spanish padre, a child, a young woman, a young man, an older woman, and an older man. The students must include at least 3-5 pieces of information pertaining to the "Questions to Consider" sheet and sample journal entries.



In the //California Missions Directed Read//, students will form groups of 4 and read a script pertaining to the history of the California Missions. This activity will integrate history, reading, and theater as the students read "loudly, dramatically, enthusiastically, and with feeling," using gestures, body language, and facial expressions to act out the mood of the script.



In the //Mapping Missions// math activity, students will learn that scale is the relationship between the distance on a map and the "real-life" distance on the ground. They will use the large map and the rulers provided to determine the approximate distance between various missions given the map's scale (1 inch = 15 miles). This activity integrates mathematics into geography in helping students develop a sense for spatial relationships, which in turn will give them better understanding of events, patterns, and phenomena - both locally and globally.



Finally, in the fourth activity, //California Mission Songs//, students will practice and memorize two songs pertaining to mission life: "California Missions" by Claudia Rubino and "European Explorers Chant" by Jabbar Beig. The students will use their creativity to create hand motions that accompany the verses, then the entire group will sing the songs together.