The school year is flying past.  And if it hasn’t already been done, it’s time to decide what to do this year for the 4th grade’s grand finale.  A year of California history and the gold rush deserve  a big finish.

Questions . . .

So, do we load the students on buses and take them off campus for a few hours of activities?  Is it worth the cost for the location and the transportation?    Is the travel time worth the hours spent on the bus?  Are we locked into a location’s program? Will be be sharing the space with other schools?

or . . . .

Do we host an on-campus event?  Is it economical, safer and more productive from a time saving standpoint?  Does it gives the students more time for activities and learning? 

Bringing the experience to the campus as an on-campus field trip is becoming the popular choice for many districts and schools.  The activity can be planned, organized and carried out by the staff and parents, but it takes a fair amount of effort.  Or it can be brought to the school by an outside source.  This option is more economical than taking the students off-campus, and easier than doing it yourself.  On-campus programs are designed to be flexible to meet the specific needs of the particular school and offer a host of other advantages.

Lewis Events, offers a 4th grade California History program that focuses on the Gold Rush era.  The program generally begins with an assembly that covers topics such as: Merchants versus prospector’s success, types of mining and tools, western trick roping performance, brief historical overview, student participation, props and all presenters in historical wardrobe.  Assemblies can be held indoors or outdoors.

In addition to the assembly, students also have the opportunity to rotate among a variety of exciting hands-on activities. These experiences may include:  Gold panning, virtual calf roping, ink quill writing, rope making, frontier photo scene,  trick roping, old time games, square and social dancing and leather crafting, all in a setting accented with unique western decor (there are many more rotation choices available not listed here).  Lewis Events works with educators to determine the  rotation choices, schedule and appropriate number of activities for the amount of students.

Occasionally, schools choose to add to the program utilizing their own resources. Schools have put on frontier style lunches serving fried chicken, biscuits, baked beans, corn on the cob and cobbler all served on a tin plate.  One school awarded points based on how many rotations each student visited.  The points were cashed in for prizes of varying value at a general store.  

Give us a call or email us at Lewis Events and we’d be happy to talk to you about your assembly and activity ideas.  Whether you bring us to campus for a program or just need some ideas to do it yourself we’d love to hear from you.  Call us at 626-536-8091 or email us at “info@LewisEvents.com“.  You can also contact us through this website.

Happy trails!