`HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF CALIFORNIA
Unless otherwise noted, these books are by secular
publishers and many dealing with history assume that Native Americans inhabited California
as long as ten thousand years ago.
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 Multimedia
Collections: California Missions -- A Collection of Digital Photos, Clip Art,
Audio, and Video Clips by Paul Gardner and Jamie Wu Liu.
Publisher: Teacher Created Resources, 2003. Paperback. New book with
CD-ROM; Multimedia Collections; 4to 11" - 13" tall; 48 pages; Enhance your
classroom presentations with this collection of hundreds of exportable digital
photos, clip art, documents, and audio and video clips. You can use them for
slide shows, worksheets, displays, reports, art projects, and much more.
Teachers and students can search by keyword or browse by topic or media type.
The user's guide suggests ways both teachers and students can use them. It also
includes thumbnails of all the images, and listings of all the audio and video
clips on the CD-COM. It also provides installation and running instructions for
both Windows and Macintosh.
This
collection contains mission music, bird song, cow moo, fountain water trickling,
ringing bells, and sheep bleat. There are video clips of the interior, exterior,
and gardens of San Juan Capistrano and the church and crypt of Mission Santa
Barbara. There are more documents than I have time to name here, but they
include lists of the missions (alphabetical and by date), founders of the
California missions, and the histories of most of them, and plans, building and
grounds, artifacts, and activities of most if not all missions. BTH-2509.
$17.99-D. Please click on image to enlarge it.
Best
Book Ever about California Missions by Randy Womack, a Golden Education Center
reproducible lesson book. This is a comprehensive lesson resource that has it all for
those in grades 4-8 and their teachers. The first section of the book is full of
background information on the missions and includes maps, questions, and research
activities. This background information is very important to study before students begin
looking at the section on the individual missions, which follows. Although the individual
mission sections can be studied in any order, the author suggests using them in
order for two reasons: First, the "New Words to Learn" for each section are in
order of appearance, and second, the historical stories of the missions sometimes overlap
or have references to preceding sections.
Each individual mission section contains a map of the
mission chain with a space to write in the names of all missions with the space filled in
for the current mission. This is followed by new words to learn (look up in dictionary).
Then there is a diagram of the mission compound for the students to label. These pages are
followed by a fact sheet on the mission and a short history of the founding of the
mission. Whenever space allows, there is a crossword, word search or other puzzle relating
to the information that has been presented. Then there is "The Mission Today"
page followed by a page with review questions and bonus activities. for students to
complete. There is also a black and white photo of each mission included. In all there are
220 pages, including extra bonus activities -- overall reviews, current
addresses, founding
dates and information charts for both Californias, time line, craft ideas, and more --
answer keys, Resource List, and Glossary. Cat. #GEC-2913. All this for only $15.26-D
There is also a laminated California Missions
poster published by Golden Education Company that has color pictures of all the
missions and a map to show where each mission and California Indian Tribal Region was
located. On the back of the poster is some historical information with some suggested
activities related to the poster. Sorry, it's too large to scan for this page. Cat.
#GEC-2913. $5.95*
California a Mallard press
hardcover book. This is a 38-page color photo essay of some of California's most famous
scenic and historic places, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Sacramento, Disneyland,
Palm Springs, San Diego, Yosemite National Park, and more. List price was 8.95. If you can
put up with a light remainder mark on side edge, it's now only $3.93-B
while supplies last.
 California
Early History
by
Randy Womack, a Golden Education Center reproducible lesson book. This simplified yet
complete resource book details the history of California through its statehood. It
includes sections on the contributions made by Native Americans, Asians, Africans, and
Mexicans to the growth and development of the state. Review questions and bonus activities
follow each section. 94 pages. Teacher instructions and answer keys are included. Cat.
#GEC-2911, $10.76-D
California Geography: Map, Lessons, and Questions, by Randy Womack. Golden Education reproducible workbook. There
are seven sections. The first two cover the basics in map reading and give a world
overview. The other sections deal specifically with California's physical, economical,
climate and political features. The last section has review activities and questions over
the entire book. The lessons are reinforced with maps, exercises, review questions and
bonus activities. Answer key at back. 57 pages. Cat.#BTH-472, $8.05-D
 Pathways
of America: The California Gold Rush Trail
by Lynda Hatch. Good Apple, 1994. Now out of
print. Students in grades 4-8 can use this book to follow the journeys and
settlements of gold seekers and pioneers from Missouri to California. Each major
site is studied in the order it would be passed on the California Trail. (There
is a reproducible outline map of the trail with featured sites marked.) There is
extensive reproducible background information for each place of interest, along
with a variety of hands-on, map, oral, and written activities to encourage map
reading, research, writing, and synthesizing of information. There is also a
vocabulary list at the beginning with words that are found in the readings and a
bibliography at the end for further reading. 92 pages. BTH-3153. $8.93-B
 The
California Missions, by Elizabeth Van Steenwyk. Franklin Watts, trade paper.
In the late 1700s and early 1800s, Spanish missionaries came to the coast of what is now
California to colonize it and convert the Indian groups to Catholicism. They built
missions to house and train the Native American peoples, and many of these original 21
adobe buildings are still standing today. The author tells the story of how these
beautiful missions were founded and of the life that went on within their walls.
Illustrated with color photos and art reproductions.64 pages, including index
bibliography, and glossary of Spanish terms. $6.25-D.
 California
Missions Coloring Book by David Rickman. Two-page
introduction at the beginning. 45 pages of pictures to color with captions that tell the
story of the California missions and portray the daily activities of the residents.
Requires advanced coloring skill. Some pictures contain realistic nudity of Native
Americans.Text is in small print. Reproducible for home and classroom use. $4.46-D
Children of the Dust Bowl: the True Story of the School at
Weedpatch Camp
by Jerry Stanley. Random House Crown, 1993. Illustrated
with photographs from the Dust Bowl era. This true story took place at the
emergency farm-labor camp immortalized in Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath.
Ostracized as "dumb Okies," the children of Dust Bowl migrant laborers went
without school--until Superintendent Leo Hart and 50 Okie kids built their own
school in a nearby field. BTH-2621. $8.99-D. To enlarge image, please
click on it.
 From Sea to
Shining Sea: California, by Dennis Fradin. Trade paper, Children's Press.
Grades 3-6. A basic introduction to the history and geography of California, with full
color photos and art reproductions of California's most famous and important places and
activities. Includes California facts on a chart, a California timeline, a map, glossary,
and index. 64 pages. Current list price is 7.95. I have one left for 5.95.* Reorders when
the one is gone will be $7.15-D.
 Gold
Rush Thematic Unit by Nancy Bednar.
Teacher Created Resources, 2005. For grades 3-5. Books used in this study
include Treasure in the Stream by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler; Chang's Paper Pony
by Eleanor
Coerr; and By the Great Hornspoon! by Sid Fleischman. Besides all the literature
related activities, there are cross-curricular activities in the fields of
language arts, math, science, social studies, music, art, and life skills.
Culminating activities are Mining Camp Simulation and Treasure Chest of Gold --
a reproducible list of Facts about gold, stories and legends of gold, famous
gold rushes, old gold coins, California gold camps, and expressions and phrases
that use the word "gold." Reproducible. 80 pages. BTH-2563. $8.99-D
Great Indians of California by
Mariano Vallejo, Padre Francisco Palou, and H.H. Bancroft. A Bellerophon Coloring
Book. The stories are translated from Spanish manuscripts which are preserved in the
Bancroft Library at the University of California at Berkeley. This book has much more text
than a Dover coloring book, and the pictures to color are almost as intricate. Many of the
pictures do have realistic nude portrayals of Native Americans of both sexes. Biographical
sketches include Chief Palma, Padre Palou, Chief Marin, Chief Quintin, Chief Pomponio,
Chief Malaca, Chief Motti, Chief Chalpinich, Chief Pacomio, and Chief Stanislaus. 48
pages. I understand that the publisher is currently out of stock, but I have a few for $3.95*
History of California: A Literature
Approach, by Rea Berg, for grades 4/5. Beautiful Feet Books. This is a
study guide with a Providential view of California history. It does not stand alone,
but uses many fiction and nonfiction books as resources and texts. 30 pages, spiral bound.
$12.95*
 California
History Timeline from Beautiful Feet. 1991 edition. This timeline features line drawings of
major historic characters and events including Columbus' discovery in 1492 to the
completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869. Images are cut out and pasted on a
heavy, card-stock backer, then colored (fine-tipped, colored pencils are
recommended) and added as the various subjects are covered. When completed the timeline
will reinforce these milestones in history and can be used as a prop for an oral
presentation at the end of the year. $8.95*
 The Iron Dragon
Never Sleeps by Stephen Krensky.
Dell, 1995. Reading level 4.5. Ten-year-old Winnie moves to Cisco, California,
with her family in the summer of 1867 when her father, a mining engineer for the
Central Pacific Railroad, needs to relocate from Sacramento to help build the
transcontinental railroad. Cisco is small, and there seem to be no other
children at first. Most people were either miners or railroad workers, and many
of these were Chinese immigrant laborers who were brought into the country just
to build the railroad. The only friend Winnie makes is one of these -- a young
Chinese tea carrier. The stories he tells are very different from the ones her
father tells about the work. Sometimes Winnie doesn't know what to think. She
has already seen plenty of prejudice against the Chinese in town. Later in the
summer when the Chinese workers start to complain about their awful working
conditions, Winnie needs to decide which side she's on. 90 pages. BTH-2626.
$$4.49-D
New Enchantment of America: California, by
Allan Carpenter, hardcover library binding, Chidlren's Press, Revised Edition, 1978. Out
of print, but I have a few on hand. This is a historical and geographical description of
the state and an account of the people who have lived there. It includes recent industrial
and cultural development.Illustrated with color photos and art reproductions. Contains
handy reference section of California facts, a California hisotry chronology, lists of
governors and other famous Californians, and an index. Upper elementary reading level. 96
pages. $6.93-B
 Roadside
Geology of Northern California by David Alt and Donald Hyndman. Trade paper,
Mountian Press. This is written at the adult level and is a bit shopworn. It's a great
book if you are planning a trip in California and want to combine sight-seeing with
science. Illustrated with black and white maps and photos. Interesting geological
formations are pointed out on main roads and highways where you might be traveling, with
hisotrical and scientific background to help you understand what you are seeing. The
authors assume a very old earth. 249 pages. $11.50-S
Rosie and the Bear Flag: Stories of
California's Flags from the End of Spanish Rule to the Beginning of the United States and
the Story of the Bear Flag Republic as seen through the eyes of young Rosalía Leese, who
was there, by Harry Knill. There is also an amazing description of how
Rosalía Leese and her mother and sister (children and wife of General Vallejo) fool
Captain Frémont and the Bar Flag Men and how everything works out well in the end.
Illustrated with wonderful B/W drawings (which can be colored) by Nick Taylor and Donna
Neary. These illustrations are bound to catch the interest of children above primary
level. There are a few pictures of some rowdiness in the troops inspired, perhaps by
the alcoholic beverages in evidence. Nevertheless, this did pass my husband's
censorship, and he's pretty fussy. 64 pages of intriguing California history for all ages
above primary. $3.59-D
 San Francisco,
by Deborah Kent. Part of the Cities of the World Series by
Children's Press, trade paper. This begins with a discussion of the building of the Golden
Gate Bridge, followed by information on the people who live in San Francisco, earthquakes
and fires the city has lived through, the Spanish fathers, and the Gold Rush. There
follows a tour of modern San Francisco, its landmarks, and its culture. At the end are
charts of Fast Facts and a Chronology, a map of the city and its surrounding area, a
glossary and an index. 64 pages. $8.76-D.
 Song of the
Swallows, by Leo Politi. This is a picture book set in San Juan Capistrano,
where every summer the swallows leave and fly far away and then return in the spring on
Saint Joseph's Day. For elementary children. Will tie in nicely with studies of the
California missions. Paper. BTH-4050. $5.99*
Out of print. Only one left.
Story of the California Gold Rush Coloring
Book, by Peter Copeland. Dover. 45 pages of pictures to color with captions
that tell the story of the California Gold Rush. Requires advanced coloring skill. Text is
in small print. Reproducible for home and classroom use. $4.46-D
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