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4^th Grade Lesson Designs

Day 2 -- Piecing together Events in Light’s Life

I. Lesson Goal: The group activity and class discussion will give students an idea of how Mexican politics and the coastal hunting trade related to and affected each ethnic group in a different way. This lesson can be applied to meeting the following 4^th grade History-Social Science Content Standards as these relate to San Diego:

• 4.2.5 – Describe the daily lives of the people, native and non-native who occupied the presidios, ranchos and pueblos
• 4.7.8 – Describe the period of Mexican rule in California and its attributes
• 4.3.1 – Identify the locations of Mexican settlements in California.

II. Lesson Objectives:

A. Given sets of cards (undated and shuffled up) describing major events in Allen Light’s life and a separate list of dates, students will be able to organize events chronologically from Light’s birth to his appointment as Principal Arbiter by the end of the class with 85 per cent accuracy.

B. Given a copy of the translated text of Governor Alvarado’s letter, students will be able to write a description (in a document analysis) of Light’s job as principal arbiter of the Mexican Armada by the end of the class with 85 per cent accuracy.

• Time for entire lesson: 50 minutes

III. Materials needed:

A. Reproduction of Governor Alvarado’s letter page 1 page 2, copies of 4^th grade simplified translation of Governor Alvarado's letter, answer sheet for letter, timeline of Allen Light’s life, vocabulary words, pencils, paper.

IV. Preparation Guidelines:

A. Download the Date Chart of Allen Light, keeping one master copy as an answer key.

B. Xerox the middle column only (Events in Allen Light’s Life), cutting up each event to make ten individual cards. Make sure you have enough card sets for students to work in pairs or small groups. Using card stock enables you to re-use them. Separate the dates. Distribute the cards and give students 20 minutes to read through and arrange them.

C. Download the paraphrased translation of Alvarado’s letter and corresponding Document Analysis Sheet. Make copies of both and distribute to each student. Make one copy of the original document to show to class.

V. Lesson Presentation:

A. Introduction: (5 minutes) Today you will put together more information about Allen Light’s life. We have discovered certain facts about him. For example, a man who hunted otter with Allen Light referred to him in his diary. Someone else wrote him a letter in Spanish. Historians mention his name when they wrote about California history. The problem is, all these facts are mixed up. Your mission today is to put all these pieces of information in the correct order, from the time Allen was born until the time he got this letter. Later, you’ll read a translation of the letter, and that will help us figure out what he did next.

B. Reading Comprehension/Cause and Effect Cooperative Learning Activity: (15-20 minutes) Distribute sets of date chart cards (pass out only the Allen Light events column, no dates) to pairs or groups of students to organize from Allen Light’s birth to appointment as Principal Arbiter. Each group will have 10 cards to put in order.

While groups are working, write corresponding dates on the board. When everyone is done, discuss what order of events they came up with, writing each event next to the respective date. In cases of ambiguity, let the students explain why they think Light did one thing before he did something else, using context clues in the card’s text and/or logic.

C. Reading comprehension/individual writing activity (30 minutes) – Show class a reproduction of Alvarado’s letter, then distribute copies of its translation. Ask students to fill in the corresponding answer sheet. For more advanced classes, leave out the answer sheet and ask students to write down what they think Alvarado wanted Light to do.

VI. Evaluation:

A. Oral group reports on date card activity.

B. Arranged sets of cards.

C. Answer Sheets on Allen Light’s job filled in by individual students

VII. Extension Activity

Ask students to pretend they were Allen Light. Have them write a letter to Governor Alvarado either accepting or rejecting the job. In either case their letters would have to explain the reason for their decision, e.g.: "I’m happy to take this job because I think only Mexican citizens should be allowed to hunt otter"; or "I don’t want this job because …"