Grade 4 Lesson at a Glance: Chapter 5, Lesson 4

Houghton Mifflin Social Studies
Oh, California

Lesson at a Glance
Chapter 5, Lesson 4: Gold Mining (pp. 125-129)

The Big Idea
Framework Concept: Change The reality of life as a gold miner proved to be much different than many forty-niners imagined.

Write "Dreams" and "Reality" on the board. Have students generate words and phrases that the forty-niners might have used to express their dreams of finding gold before they arrived in California. Then have them suggest words that describe the reality of life for miners and for the Indians who worked at the mines. Use the list to compare the forty-niners' dreams with the reality of finding gold. Ask students whether they think something like the gold rush happens, or could happen, today.

Lesson Outline
Use the Lesson Outline to preview the content of the lesson. You may wish to print it for your students as a guide during reading.

Check for Understanding

Have students write a newspaper article describing life in a mining camp. They may want to describe unfair treatment of Indians and Chinese, what it was like to strike it rich, or the failure of many who did not find much gold.
Have students demonstrate mining for gold. They can show and explain concepts such as: "staking a claim," the panning method, the rocker method, use of technology, and camp life.

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