California for Students. California for Educators.
Welcome!
This website is designed to assist educators who are teaching social sciences to third and fourth graders in California. Here you will find a collection of resources and lessons that we hope you find useful.
For students and teachers in Los Angeles, Ventura and Orange Counties there are additional resources designed to help make teaching and learning about the Southland easier.
To get started click on a link in the list on the left.
Who is Responsible for this Web Resource?
This website was originally designed to be a resource for students and instructors in either Geography or History 417 and its focus was squarely on the 4th grade social studies standards (California's history and geography). Funding for its construction was made possible with funding from a Title II grant, via the Michael Eisner College of Education.
A grant from the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences funded the expansion and renovation of this website, which now includes resources for third graders and their teachers who want to know more about the history, geography and economics of Los Angeles, Ventura and Orange counties.
Continuing interest from the Teachers for a New Era Program fuels the continual expansion of this resource. Steve Graves, Department of Geography: California State University, Northridge
Philosophy
The guiding pedagogic philosophy for the resources on this website are in part a reflection of CSUN's involvement with the Carnegie Foundation's Teacher for a New Era initiative, which spurred a active engagement of Arts and Science faculty with the preparation of school teachers.
TNE also helped focused our pedagogic energies on teaching disciplinary thinking. We believe that by concentrating our efforts on helping students to learn how to "think like a geographer" or "think like a historian" they will not only learn more, but they will be better equipped to learn independently outside of the classroom .