Heroes inspire. Everyone wants to be associated with ordinary people who accomplish extraordinary feats. As educators, we should recognize the importance of using heroes to teach children and adolescents various subject matters ranging from values to science.

The use of heroes in the classroom is becoming more and more popular. However, careful thought should be put in the curriculum design if educators want to ensure the effectiveness of the method. Here are a few tips:

The instructor needs to find a suitable hero to use. There is not generic hero that can be used across all subject matter, although heroes by and large have universal attributes. For instance, it may be more appropriate to use Michael Jordan as a role model when teaching sports rather than using Oprah, obviously.

It is important we don’t take away the human element in heroes. They are not super humans, and it is important for children and young adults to understand this. They need to know that they can be their idols; they can be the heroes who always put things into perspective, who makes sound decisions based on careful reasoning, and who thinks of the greater good more than self-interest. The purpose of examining heroes is for students to be able to see the hero potential in each of them.

In 4^th grade, we have the students choose a California hero.  They don’t necessarily have to have been born in California, but significantly added to California’s history in a rich way.  Students choose from a list of heroes I’ve provided for them.  Some of the names include John Sutter, James Marshall, Eliza Tibbets, and Walt Disney.

The students are required to write a research report about their hero, answering specific questions about their personal life and how they had a great impact on California’s history.  They also present their hero to the class using a 3-dimensional display, while dressing in clothing their hero would wear.

This assignment combines all the standards we want our students to learn from researching techniques, writing a 5 paragraph essay, and presentation skills.  It also adds the added bonus of researching a relevant hero.

To download my Hero Report Unit, click here.

Recently my students have been learning about the 4 regions of California: Coast, Mountains, Desert, and Central Valley Region. Today the students created a four-square chart to organize information about the regions of California. Each student chose a region he/she wanted to learn more about. The students researched their region using our history book, atlases, and encyclopedias.

Here’s how we made the four-square chart:
The students took a blank paper, folded it in half “hamburger style,” unfolded the paper and refolded it “hotdog style.” When they opened their paper, they saw it was divided into four squares.

Here’s what info went into each square:
Square 1: The students wrote which region they chose to research. I told them to write their region in bubble letters and create a picture to go around the title.
Square 2: The students were asked to research and draw the different wildlife that can be found in their region.
Square 3: The students researched, drew, and labeled vegetation present in the region they chose.
Square 4: The students researched and drew pictures of how the region’s land is used.

This was a great extension activity that my students really enjoyed. Here's what the finished products looks like.

To see more activities click here.

On Friday, we had our annual California 49er Day celebration with both 4th grade classes.  We spent the entire day with the students doing activities that the 49ers would’ve done.  

In the morning, we spent time playing the Miner-Merchant game.  Half of the 4th grade students were miners and the other half were merchants.  The job of the merchants was to create a storefront (they did this for homework before 49er day) and sell items to the miners that they would need to be successful in “striking it rich.”  Some of the items were a pick, shovel, gold pan, pillow, blanket, tent, etc.  The merchants worked in pairs to come up with items they wanted to sell and price those items, remembering they are in competition with other merchants selling their goods.  

Here’s an activity my students really enjoyed.  We did a unit on the Spanish explorers and I asked my students to work in research groups.  During this cooperative learning assignment, each group was responsible for finding information on a different explorer.  They were expected to answer specific questions about their explorer, then create a poster highlighting fun facts they learned.  

The kids loved being able to work in groups and become “experts” on the explorer they researched.  At the end of the day I allowed them to share their posters with the class.

I have included pictures of the posters you can use as a reference.