Celebrate a completed year of California history by connecting the state's official symbols to events and facts learned throughout the year.
You have earned a celebration. This week, look at California's official state symbols and notice how many of them connect directly to what you studied all year. The state flag shows a grizzly bear, the same image raised during the 1846 Bear Flag Revolt you studied in week 18 -- though California grizzly bears no longer exist in the wild today, hunted and pushed out as the state grew. The state motto, "Eureka," is a word meaning "I have found it," chosen because of the Gold Rush you studied for weeks. California's nickname, "the Golden State," points to that very same history.
Other symbols include the California poppy as the state flower, blooming across many of the region's landscapes you studied in week 1, and the California valley quail as the state bird. Spend today connecting each symbol to a real fact, sharing a favorite project or fact from the year with your family, and marking the end of a year spent learning this remarkable state's history honestly, from its first peoples to today.
Mastery looks like: They can connect at least two state symbols to real events or facts learned this year and share a favorite fact or project from the whole year.
Common stumbles: Treating the symbols as random trivia instead of connecting them back to real events studied all year.