“Education is not the filling of a pail,
but the lighting of a fire.”
-William Butler Yeats

California Dreaming

This curriculum is intended to prepare Sparks participants for their travel experience through California. Students will visit important historical and cultural sites in San Francisco, Marin County, Monterey, Carmel, San Simeon, and Los Angeles.

California Dreaming encourages students to think about the experiences and perspectives of those who have immigrated to this special place through the centuries, from Spanish missionaries, to American pioneers and forty-niners, to Chinese and Mexican immigrants. They consider what motivated individuals to leave their homes to come to this new land and learn more about the challenges and opportunities that awaited them. They will see first hand the achievements of these various immigrant groups as they travel past the historic missions established by the Spanish, tour the city of San Francisco built by the hordes of gold prospectors seeking their fortune in the 1850’s, map the route of the transcontinental railroad built by thousands of Chinese immigrants, and experience the important impact of Latino culture and language on modern day California.

Selected Pre-Trip Lessons & Activities

• Our Families: Trees & Travels
• Traveling Through Time
• CA Then & Now: A Map Scavenger Hunt
• Never Turn Back: Biography of Father Serra
• Building a California Mission
• Coolies & Paper Sons: The Chinese Immigrant Experience
• Life of a 49er … For Better or For Worse
• The Mexican-American Family Album: Immigrants’ Stories
• California Past & Present – A Quiz Show!
• Where is My Fork?
• Packing the Bags!
• Interviewing a Guest
• Travel Photography

Trip Itinerary Highlights

• City sightseeing, Chinatown, Fisherman’s Wharf, Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco CA
• Muir Wood National Monument, Mill Valley CA
• San Francisco Bay Ferry Ride, Tiburon CA
• Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey CA
• Mission San Carlos Borroméo de Carmelo, Carmel CA
• Hearst Castle, San Simeon CA
• Pepperdine University and an afternoon on the beach, Malibu CA
• City sightseeing, Olvera Street, Museum of Tolerance, Universal Studios, Los Angeles, CA
  

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