I recently had the chance to review the new books for
CALIFORNIA OUT OF THE BOX: An Interdisciplinary History Curriculum by educator Christine Echeverri. As I say in the review, it makes me want to be a fourth grader again. Based on literature, both fiction and nonfiction, along with a collection of primary source materials, it makes history come alive. One of the required books in the curriculum is my book
TRAPPED IN TAR: Fossils from the Ice Age about the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles and the treasure trove of fossils found there. It is one of my favorite places to take visitors to Los Angeles.
Here is my review of the
California Out of the Box curriculum:
California
Out of the Box: An Interdisciplinary History Curriculum
by Christine Echeverri makes me wish I were in elementary school again. I would
have loved the literature-based content and the associated hands-on writing,
art, and science projects. This interdisciplinary approach to California
history is built around a core selection of historical fiction books, field
guides, additional nonfiction resources, and a companion book called California
Collage: A California Out of the Box Reader. The curriculum is
engaging, approachable, and easy for students and teachers to use, either for
home-schooling or in a classroom environment. California Out of the Box is designed for students in grades 3 to 6
with 36 weeks of lessons paced for four days a week. It is adaptable to the
needs and learning styles of the students, with choices of ways to respond to
the material. There are two versions of the book: The Student Book and the Teacher’s
Book. The student book includes assignments as well as worksheets and space
to write comprehension answers. The teacher’s book includes answer keys and
notes for teaching the curriculum. Both books have QR codes with links for each
unit, making it easy for students and teachers to follow the curriculum and locate
videos and other material on the web. The California
Collage reader is a gold mine of supplementary material—stories, poetry,
natural history, people, places and notable events, first person accounts such
as the writings of naturalist John Muir, as well as material from the National
Park Service, newspaper accounts, letters, memoirs, images, maps, photos and
more. The three books together—California
Out of the Box teacher and student editions, and California Collage—make up a complete curriculum for studying
California history from pre-history to the 1930s and is aligned with California
State Standards for 4th grade. Using this curriculum students will
develop a deeper appreciation of the richness and variety of the state of
California--its people, natural history, geography, cultural traditions, notable
events. The California Out of the Box
curriculum makes history come alive.
The books are available at Amazon and at the Carrier Shell Book Store on the web.