Gold Mining with COOKIES

Students learned about how gold mining changed the land as they used toothpicks and chocolate chip cookies. Great Lesson Miss G!

Westward Expansion Day

This year the students rotated to 3 different Westward Expansion Stations to review what they learned about moving WEST! My station included: Native American Traditions! Here the students listened to traditional Native American flute and drum music, watched a video of a Ghost Dance, created an Appaloosa Horse ornament or a ceremonial mask using Native American symbols.

In the other stations they drew pictures to help them remember the pros and the cons of the Transcontinental Railroad, and they MOVED WEST by covered wagon seeing what obstacles might get in their way!

"Gold" Mining

Today we were miners in Social Studies except we went mining for chocolate chips. Each student received a chocolate chip cookie and a toothpick. They had to try to get their chocolate chips out of the cookie. Some students did this very neatly and others' cookies crumbled. This mining activity showed the effects of mining on the West and how the natural environment was changed.