4th grade Gold Rush characters (4-09)

Add a Comment

Comment by Laura on May 28, 2009 at 19:24

You can see the details of each photo on facebook. Thanks for the feedback!

Comment by Elaine Reimann on May 28, 2009 at 16:22

Wow! fabulous work! Thank you for sharing this!

Comment by Laura on May 19, 2009 at 21:02

My students studied migration including the Gold Rush here in California, said to be the first world event captured in photographs. They examined period photos, then created these images of themselves as immigrants to California. Each image includes props or details of clothing, hairstyle, etc. which reflect the imagined life of the immigrant. They began with a black and white print of a digital photo, retouched it using black and white oil pastels, then I photocopied the result and reduced it in size. The frames are made of recycled mat board covered in heavy "gold" aluminum craft foil, then embossed using a pencil or sharpened dowel and a math template with geometric stencil shapes. Also in this unit the kids videotaped friends and relatives to take oral histories of their own stories of migration to California, a process which has dramatically shaped our state.