Teachers - California Overview

Welcome to Walk Through California™!  This dynamic 4th grade presentation is California Weekly Explorer’s signature “Walk Through”. It continues to be loved by thousands of teachers, students, and parents each year. Visit our reviews page to see what teachers like you have to say!

By participating in Walk Through California, fourth grade students grow in performance literacy, listening skills, and vocabulary development, all while learning about California’s rich history and geography. The presentation allows fourth grade students an opportunity to actively participate in their learning with games, music, re-enactments and storytelling to make history come alive! It explores some of the famous events, historical figures, and vocabulary studied in fourth grade curriculum based on California state standards for History and English.

Click here to read what standards are supported and what specific history standards are addressed within the presentation. The presentation is a supplement to what is being taught in the classroom providing an overview of many key events that support classroom learning and student retention. It is designed to spark student interest in the subject matter therefore allowing for better in depth classroom discussions on perspectives of history as detailed in the California State Framework.

Content Details:

The first half includes California history from the indigenous period up to statehood (1850). Students will go “back in time” with our friendly time machine, “Herman” and some will be picked to portray historical California figures such as Wishtoya, from the Chumash tribe; Cabrillo, the first explorer from Spain; and Father Junipero Serra, the first Spanish missionary to California. They will learn about the earthquakes of 1812, Russian and Spanish trade at Fort Ross, dance in a fiesta to celebrate Mexico’s independence and rule over California, join the Bear Flaggers in declaring California’s independence, be given a chance to find gold, possibly dance in a hoe down during California’s gold rush, and sing to the United States National Anthem when California joins the union. The presentation concludes with students building a large topographical map of California on the floor, experiencing California’s geography hands-on.

Throughout the presentation students are awarded points by the presenter in a friendly competition to try and become the first-place team! Students are encouraged to display teamwork, sportsmanship, respect, and enthusiasm. The presenter calls out pre-assigned vocabulary words (Expert Cards) for students to come up and recite as the “expert” for the class. Students receive points for their team for recitations of their Expert Word cards and some may receive additional points for being caught with “greatness” by pulling a gold-tipped lollipop out of a display relief map of California!

To prepare, teachers are provided with a digital Preparation Guide containing detailed instructions and all materials to print. Materials include an assignment list for placing students on teams (typically 4 teams but smaller classes may have 2 or 3), Expert Cards to be distributed to each student (there are 36 total), a Name Tag template for making student name-tags, a parent/caregiver invitation letter, lyrics to the Star Spangled Banner, a score sheet for keeping track of points awarded by the presenter and a “do not disturb” sign for the door. The Expert Word cards contain a definition and question for students to look up the answer and recite for the presenter when called up to the front. An answer sheet for these questions is also provided.