Target Students
This unit is designed for students that are in a grade level that requires them to learn about their local history, but it can be adapted to expand the geographical areas to state, country or world history.
The students that worked on this unit were third graders ranging from 8 years old to 10 years old. These students were from several different ethnic and economic backgrounds; such as Filipino, Mexican, American, low income families and working class families. GATE (gifted students) as well as resource students were involved in his project.

Major Goals
The goals of this unit are for the students to use the Internet for research, and to create a web site collaboratively while developing their skills in the standards of such academic areas as language arts, visual arts, and social studies. The final product is a web site created by the students about their local area.

Timelines
This unit can be expanded to take an entire year with weekly lessons in an intensive study of the local history, but it can also be done as a mini-unit in a month. The number of actual class periods used is minimal, but class time is needed for the students to complete the work. They need to have time to do the do research and to write up the new information they are finding in their research, as well as creating a web page.

Types of Assessments Used
Point System: i.e. Lesson One Assessment    Lesson Four Assessment

Standards Addressed

Social Studies:

Continuity and Change

Students in grade three learn more about our connections to the past and the ways in which particularly local, but also regional and national, government and traditions have developed and left their marks on current society, providing common memories. Emphasis is on the physical and cultural landscape of California, including the study of American Indians, the subsequent arrival of immigrants, and the impact they have had in forming the character of our contemporary society.

Students describe the physical and human geography and use maps, tables, graphs, photographs, and charts to organize information about people, places, and environments in a spatial context.
1. Identify geographical features in their local region (e.g., deserts, mountains, valleys, hills, coastal areas, oceans, lakes).
2. Trace the ways in which people have used the resources of the local region and modified the physical environment (e.g., a dam constructed upstream changed a river or coastline).

Students describe the American Indian nations in their local region long ago and in the recent past.
1. Describe national identities, religious beliefs, customs, and various folklore traditions.
2. Discuss the ways in which physical geography, including climate, influenced how the local Indian nations adapted to their natural environment (e.g., how they obtained food, clothing, tools).
3. Describe the economy and systems of government, particularly those with tribal constitutions, and their relationship to federal and state governments.
4. Discuss the interaction of new settlers with the already established Indians of the region.

Students draw from historical and community resources to organize the sequence of local historical events and describe how each period of settlement left its mark on the land.
1. Research the explorers who visited here, the newcomers who settled here, and the people who continue to come to the region, including their cultural and religious traditions and contributions.
2. Describe the economies established by settlers and their influence on the present-day economy, with emphasis on the importance of private property and entrepreneurship.
3. Trace why their community was established, how individuals and families contributed to its founding and development, and how the community has changed over time, drawing on maps, photographs, oral histories, letters, newspapers, and other primary sources.

Students demonstrate basic economic reasoning skills and an understanding of the economy of the local region.
1. Describe the ways in which local producers have used and are using natural resources, human resources, and capital resources to produce goods and services in the past and the present.
2. Understand that some goods are made locally, some elsewhere in the United States, and some abroad.
3. Understand that individual economic choices involve trade-offs and the evaluation of benefits and costs.
4. Discuss the relationship of students' "work" in school and their personal human capital.
 

Language Arts

Writing

Writing Strategies
Students write clear and coherent sentences and paragraphs that develop a central idea. Their writing shows they consider the audience and purpose. Students progress through the stages of the writing process (e.g., prewriting, drafting, revising, editing successive versions).

Writing Applications (Genres and Their Characteristics)
Students write compositions that describe and explain familiar objects, events, and experiences. Student writing demonstrates a command of standard American English and the drafting, research, and organizational strategies.

Visual Arts

Processing, Analyzing, and Responding to Sensory Information Through the Language and Skills Unique to the Visual Arts.
Students perceive and respond to works of art, objects in nature, events, and the environment. They also use the vocabulary of the visual arts to express their observations.

Creating, Performing, and Participating in the Visual Arts.
Students apply artistic processes and skills, using a variety of media to communicate meaning and intent in original works of art.

Understanding the Historical Contributions and Cultural Dimensions of the Visual Arts
Students analyze the role and development of the visual arts in past and present cultures throughout the world, noting human diversity as it relates to the visual arts and artists.