Participating Schools: Casa Grande High School

Lead Teachers: Paula Biancalana, Jolene Thinnes

Participating Classes: 11th Grade U.S. History, 11th Grade English in the Health Career Pathway

Overview: Using American literature and history, what evidence can be discerned to show the reasons for the changes which have occurred on the river since the 1850's? The historical "ebb and flow" of the river has transformed Petaluma; students will revisit important landings, persons of interest and lost communities.

Curriculum Highlights

Key Learning Objectives: What are the key changes, that have occurred to the river and the surrounding area since the 1850's?

Fieldwork Activities:

Actual visitations, reflective journaling, and taking photos in groups for the following sites (this list includes the following but it is not excluding additional sites): Foundry Wharf, Donahue's Landing, Golden Eagle Turning Basin, David Yearsley River Heritage Center at McNear Peninsula, Haystack Landing, Shollenberger Park, D Street Bridge, Water Street, Washington Street Bridge, Lakeville, and the Water Street Train Trestle.

Map the Petaluma Watershed-referring to historical maps of the Petaluma River, such as the Sanborn Maps of 1906, locating important Ianding points, water sources: San Pablo Bay and the feeder creeks. Students will learn to see maps as more than just a tool for locating places that they are essential tools for modern society and can be primary source documents. This will help the students work collaboratively to explore sections of the old maps to grapple with the basic elements of people, space, time meaning, and purpose as
well as reflecting the society, time and culture that produced them.

CA Curriculum Standards Addressed:

US 11.2.2 - Describe the changing landscape, including the growth of cities linked by industry and trade, and
the development of cities divided according to race, ethnicity, and class.

US 11.2.4 - Analyze the effect of urban political machines and responses to them by immigrants and middle-class reformers. 

READ MORE of the Curriculum Standards addressed in this project.

Student Work