CALIFORNIA OUT OF THE BOX: Making History Fun for Kids

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 4^th 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.