Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Gifted Gab and Classroom Corner--Thar's Gold in Them There Hills!

I always love when my 3rd graders are ready to conclude our gold rush unit!  Towards the end of our study, the students and I treat ourselves to a special miner-themed celebration.  Our activities include a playground gold hunt (lima beans painted with gold spray paint), a gold exchange at the classroom assay office (gold is traded for its value in candy), and yummy miner snacks (beef jerky, apple juice, cheese cubes, etc).  I use bulletin board paper to create a special miner-themed back drop to hang outside the room.  This also makes a great place to snap pictures of my little miners who come to school dressed in their mining attire.  We will use these pictures at a later time to make covers for our gold rush learning logs.  

Here I am working at the assay office. 
That's right--step right up and trade your gold for candy!
Each student selected a travel ticket, based on 1 of 3 routes to California--overland across America, through Panama, or around the tip of South America!
Here is a snapshot of the backdrop I drew and posted in the hall.  We used this for our miner photos.
 And Tate...my own little miner!
If any of these ideas spark your curiosity or if your students study rocks, minerals, gold, mining, or westward expansion, you might also be interested in checking out my complete gold rush resource at my TpT store.  It is available at the link below:

My miner BINGO game is available there as well for just $1!

You might also be interested in some of my gold rush power point resources like these listed below, also available for just $1!

All gold rush resources are currently on sale, so head on over and check them out!  Hope these inspire you to try a mining adventure in your own classroom!  This unit is easily adaptable for students of all ages with various tiers of scaffolding!  Happy gold hunting!  Shannon :-)
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