Gold Rush Badge

(Discover Knowledge)
By Kerry Cordy

 

Preschool: Do three requirements including the two starred *

_____1.* Learn about what the Gold Rush was and why it was important.

_____2.* Learn to pan for gold.

 

Level 1: Do four requirements including the two starred *

_____1.* Do Preschool requirements 1 & 2.

_____2.* Learn about when and where the Gold Rush took place. Where does the term “49ers” come from?

 

Level 2: Do five requirements including the two starred *

_____1.* Do Level 1 requirements 1 & 2.

_____2.* Discuss how the Gold Rush affected the development of California and the western states.

 

Level 3: Do six requirements including the two starred *

_____1.* Do Level 2 requirements 1 & 2.

_____2.* Learn about the different types of jobs and business that came west as a result of the gold rush. What types of businesses were needed to support the new boom towns? What were the prices of common goods?

 

Level 4: Do seven requirements including the two starred *

_____1.* Do Level 3 requirements 1 & 2.

_____2.* Create a map of the largest gold fields discovered during the Gold Rush.

 

Level 5: Do 9 requirements including the two starred *

_____1.* Do Level 4 requirements 1 & 2.

_____2.* Teach someone how to do a skill from this badge or teach some knowledge about this badge to someone. You can teach kids, your spouse, seniors, anyone, just as long as you are sharing your new found knowledge. If for some reason you cannot teach what you have learned to someone else, you may choose an additional 2 optional requirements instead.

 

Optional Requirements:

_____3. Learn what a sluice box is and how one is used.

_____4. Learn what a gold rocker is and how to use one.

_____5. Read a book about the Gold Rush.

_____6. Watch a movie about the Gold Rush.

_____7. Learn how to tell the difference between real gold and fool’s gold. What is fool’s gold made of?

_____8. Visit a Gold Rush exhibit or Gold Rush Days festival.

_____9. Create a booklet or poster about what you have learned about the Gold Rush.

_____10. Learn some miner’s folk songs.

_____11. Find out what type of animals miners used and for what purposes.

_____12. Create a Gold Rush craft such as making pretend gold nuggets by spray painting small rocks with metallic gold paint.

_____13. Learn a poem about the Gold Rush

_____14. Discuss why different people may have given up everything and headed west for the Gold Rush. Examples might include veteran miners, merchants, families, single women, or single men. What were the advantages and disadvantages each faced?

_____15. Cook a recipe that a miner during the Gold Rush may have eaten.

 

Third Party Resources:

History Channel: Gold Rush of 1849 

American Mining Rights Association: How to Pan for Gold

 

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