Your students will learn about the California Gold Rush through these low-prep station activities! Students rotate through five stations to view historical images and learn about the Gold Rush from multiple perspectives. An introductory reading passage is included. Simply print the materials and the student response booklet. Answer keys are included.
 
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This resource includes/covers the following:
- Introductory Reading Passage (build background knowledge and context)
- Station A: Sutter's Mill
- Station B: Prospecting for Gold
- Station C: Heading West
- Station D: Getting Rich (Maybe)
- Station E: People of the Gold Rush
- Booklet Cover (triple staple all work in one notebook)
- Station Labels (fold into a tent)
- Teacher Notes
- Standards Alignment
- Answer Keys Included!
 
Station Information/Content:
Sutter's Mill (James Marshall)
President James Polk & Congress
Public Perception
Impact on Indigenous people
Forty-Niners
Travel Routes (land and sea)
San Francisco
Challenges & Mining Techniques
Gold Mining Camps
Different Historian Perspectives
First Known Millionaire
Women of the Gold Rush
Enslaved People
Chinese Immigrants
 
This resource is LOW PREP! All of the student analysis pages are included in a student booklet. Just print and triple staple! The questions include a variety of short answers, fill-in-the-blank, and map skills. Answer keys included.
 
Station materials are super easy to implement. Just print and trim (optional). Station labels are included (just fold into a tent).
 
Other Ways to Use this Resource:
Conduct this activity whole group. Project the station materials from the PDF over your large screen and go through the response questions together with your students.
 
Standards Alignment:
- Common Core Standards for Reading Informational Text
- California 4th Grade Social Studies Standards
- Can cross-walk to many different state standards