The Valley of Gardens, a History of The Santa Maria Valley (local history)

How it works:

Valley of the Gardens is an in depth unit about the local history of The Santa Maria Valley. It can be used as a unifying yearlong theme. A mural that is ever changing/growing/being added to serves as a constant review of what has been learned about the local area, as well as a tool for learning new material about the subject. The mural is colorful and artistic. It serves as an art wall of sorts at the same time it is addressing social studies curriculum. The studies begin with the first people in the area, The Chumash (local Native Americans). It moves into ranchero life (Mexican Rule), then continues with town builders, economy builders, community makers, and end with the present day. Throughout this unit the students are taking notes, doing research, and writing summaries for the final project, which is a web site about The Santa Maria Valley. Needless to say, the creation of a web site is very exciting and challenging for the students. The mural and student created web site are great for showing off the students' achievement at open house night.

Assessment:

A point system for each lesson in the unit

Standards:

Social Studies-

 Students describe the American Indian nations in their local region long ago and in the recent past.

 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.

 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.

Language Arts-

Reading Comprehension

 Writing Strategies

 Writing Applications

Estimated Number of Class Periods:

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.

Software or Materials Used:

Computer with Internet access, Digital Camera, Microsoft Word (or any other word processing software) and a web authoring program.

Keywords: 

Santa Maria, Santa Maria Valley, local history, Central Coast, California Central Coast.

The Students: 

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, field working families and middle class working families. GATE (gifted students) as well as resource students were involved in his project.

Overall Value:

The major 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. This unit is multidisciplinary and can be a unifying theme throughout the year

Details:

Subject Area: Social Studies

Second Subject Area : Language Arts                                  

 Starting Grade Level: In California it is a third grade standard to learn about the local history, thus this unit is appropriate for third grade, but it can be adapted to other grades.

 Ending Grade Level: Any grade in which local histories are studied

Tips for the Teacher:

Adapt this unit to your local area. Find web sites resources of your local history.

Name: Jessica N. Rivera

School: Ida Redmond Taylor

E-mail: jrivera@gw.smbsd.k12.ca.us

Jessica N. Rivera has been teaching in Santa Barbara County for The Santa Maria-Bonita School District since 1989. Her experience includes teaching kindergarten through third grade.

She earned her first teaching degree in México where she taught for a year before moving to the US. Later she earned an A.A. degree in Bilingual Cross-Cultural Studies at Ventura college, a B.A. in Art Studio at UCSB, a Bilingual Cross-Cultural Multiple Subject credential with emphasis in Spanish at UCSB, and most recently a master's degree in Educational Technology at Pepperdine University.