California Out of the Box: An Interdisciplinary History Curriculum

California Out of the Box: An Interdisciplinary History Curriculum, revised in 2024, takes a unit study approach to the study of California history, incorporating geography, science, literature, language arts, anthropology, religious traditions, art, and critical thinking. While the curriculum covers the California State Standards for fourth grade (up through the 1930s) it can also be used with grades three through six. Coverage of history is sufficient for one school year, but other subject areas are not covered sufficiently for a full year’s credit.

Required Books

The 2024 revised edition of this course has a 303-page teacher's book and a 375-page student book. The student book has much of the lesson material so students can work independently through most lessons. Brief teaching instructions, discussion questions, and answer keys are only in the teacher's book. The student book has space for written answers to some questions, and its last 134 pages are student activities and worksheets.

As is typical of unit studies, 13 additional books are required for the course, although they are divided into two sets: Core and Digging Deeper. California Collage: A California Out of the Box Reader and the National Audubon Society Field Guide to California are both used throughout the study. California Collage is a collection of stories, non-fiction articles, first-person articles, and poems that were curated for this course. The other five Core books that are read within their own units are Island of the Blue Dolphins, Valley of the Moon: The Diary of Maria Rosalia de Milagros, By the Great Horn Spoon!, The Earth Dragon Awakes, and Esperanza Rising. The Digging Deeper books are briefer and are read within the other units. Those books are Trapped in Tar: Fossils from the Ice Age, Life of the California Coast Nations, Funny Bones: Posada and His Day of the Dead Calaveras, Coolies, My Visit to Mono Lake, and California's Complex Water System. Families can include younger students in the study by reading to them from other suggested picture books for each unit.

The two sourcebooks and California Collage are available only in print. The sourcebooks are printed in black and white, while California Collage includes full-color images. You might borrow the Digging Deeper books from the library, but you might want to own the Core books since they are each used over several weeks.

How It Works

The historical fiction books serve as the anchors for the study, providing students with a context for learning aspects of California history. California Out of the Box includes lots of hands-on activities, videos, online learning, and research, including choices to suit different types of learners. The student activity pages can be used to create a notebook or lapbook that includes mapwork, completed charts, artwork, and more.

Students learn history through literature, discussions, and videos. Timeline activities are included throughout the course. As the author explains, these can be done in a low-tech fashion with note cards or in a high-tech fashion using one of the free online web tools. Science is covered through nature observation, experiments, and activities as students study topics such as geology, weather, and habitats. Geography is taught through reading, discussion, worksheet activities, and map work. For language arts, students are exposed to several literary genres and they answer both comprehension and analysis questions. Critical thinking is developed through questions and discussions. The course occasionally presents research activities that direct students to curated links for videos and information through the Carrier Shell website. QR codes are included. Interdisciplinary learning expands into topics such as native American and Mexican cultures (including recipes for representative foods), religious observances, and technological advances.

Course author, Christine Echeverri, believes that effective learning includes taking children to deeper levels of thinking. While the curriculum includes comprehension questions, there are many methods students can use to reflect what they have learned—through discussion, art, writing, science labs, and projects. Examples of a few projects are making a Pleistocene shoebox diorama, an adobe brick, a mission-style pinch pot, a model of a covered wagon, and a model of a wetland estuary. Sometimes students choose from several project options, such as in the study of By the Great Horn Spoon! where students can choose one of the five suggested projects. Each of those projects has multiple parts. For instance, the music project on page 154 begins with a discussion of words used in the story that relate to gold. Students then become familiar with the song “Oh Susanna!” A discussion of the song’s lyrics follows this. The culminating activity for the project is for students to write a few verses of their own to add to “Oh Susanna!” On page 158, another project for this same lesson has students use recycled materials to create a model of a mining camp. For ideas of what to include, they draw upon what they learned in an earlier lesson. Then they come up with a name for their camp and write a paragraph about it.

Lessons are laid out for four days per week for 36 weeks in an easy-to-follow fashion. After a brief introduction by a parent or teacher, fifth and sixth graders should be able to complete most of their work independently. Third and fourth graders will probably need some assistance and more direction. All students need discussion time, and that can easily be handled in a once-a-week class.

Parents or teachers should choose which types of responses and activities to require from students, depending on their age and ability. For instance, an older student might write a multi-paragraph summary while a young student might give a brief oral narration. Online quizzes can be used with older students. An answer key is provided in an appendix for the few questions and activities with predictable answers.

Several "End of Curriculum Activities” include discussions, a few projects, an online quiz, essay assignments for fifth and sixth graders, timeline completion, games, and a few other options.

Religious beliefs, the California missions, and Catholicism (all taught in relation to California) are discussed, but the presentation is secular—it does not promote any religious point of view.

Summary

California Out of the Box should appeal to those who want a secular program that is simultaneously challenging for sixth graders and accessible for third graders. The interdisciplinary approach based on historical fiction and activities also promises to be a more interesting option than a traditional textbook.