Last updated: November 22, 2021
Lesson Plan
Mining Unit: It's Mining Time
Download Lesson Plan
205KB
- Grade Level:
- Upper Elementary: Third Grade through Fifth Grade
- Subject:
- Math,Social Studies
- Lesson Duration:
- 60 Minutes
- State Standards:
- California History Social Science Content Standards: 3.3.3 and 3.5.1.
Nevada History Social Science Content Standards: SS.3.22. - Thinking Skills:
- Applying: Apply an abstract idea in a concrete situation to solve a problem or relate it to a prior experience. Analyzing: Break down a concept or idea into parts and show the relationships among the parts. Creating: Bring together parts (elements, compounds) of knowledge to form a whole and build relationships for NEW situations. Evaluating: Make informed judgements about the value of ideas or materials. Use standards and criteria to support opinions and views.
Essential Question
What impact did mining have in Death Valley?
Objective
Students will be able to:
• Articulate and analyze the impacts of the boom and bust period of the Death Valley mining operations.
• Create and calculate one and two-step word problems based on a Death Valley mining timeline.
Background
Unit Background: Since the 1848 discovery of gold in California, Death Valley experienced over 140 years of boom and bust mining. From the 1880s to the early 1900s, mining was limited and sporadic in the Death Valley region. In the mid-1900s, open pit and strip mines became popular. Legislation and Death Valley’s changing status to a national monument and then a national park put an end to most mining activity. Billie Mine was the last active mine which closed its doors in 2005.
Towns popped up and disappeared just as quickly around Death Valley based on where mining claims were somewhat successful. Populations in these towns ranged from 400 to 10,000 people. Some were simple tent camps while others had infrastructure and accommodations like saloons and hotels. Rhyolite, Skidoo, Greenwater, Harrisburg, and Chloride City were examples of these bustling temporary towns that are now infamous ghost town sites.
Lesson Background: Enter any of these mining camps now and you will truly experience a ghost town. A camp may have remnants of a few buildings, litter of town scraps, or it could just be an empty grass field. People rushed to an area as soon as rumors hit that ore was found. This also worked the other way. People quickly left an area when the ore stopped, news was better elsewhere, or supplies were scarce. You could usually tell how well a town was “booming” by main street. Tents were an indication of a new town or uncertainty. Simple log cabins were a sign of progression. Businesses would prop a quick sign on a log cabin to indicate the merchandise or service inside. This allowed businesses to change quickly. What was a retail store one day could be a newspaper shop the next. A camp with a post office typically meant you were in a meaningful town. The townspeople had to apply for a post office, and it wasn’t always granted. Even if it was, when the post office closed, so did your town. Few mining camps were made of permanent building materials, thus why there aren’t many structures left today. The materials for tents and simple log cabins could be taken down, moved, and rebuilt quickly in order to keep up with the movement of profitable ore. If there were signs the mines were about to “bust”, it was best to pick up and move to get in on the next mining camp before that ore was gone too.
This lesson highlights eight mining camps or ghost towns in and directly adjacent to Death Valley National Park. The history of this area indicates many more mining adventures than are indicated in this lesson. The towns in this lesson were chosen due to their size, importance, and uniqueness. Be sure to check out ‘Death Valley Mining Town Facts’ in the materials section for more background and fun information about each of the towns in this lesson.
Preparation
- Pre-work: “Our Local Town” -Teacher researches and records the year their local town was discovered and officially established. Also, record the year popular businesses opened (and closed) in the town. Create a timeline of the local town on long butcher paper or on a computer program. (See example)
- Death Valley mining event cards (Power Point). Cut out the cards before class. Optional: Laminate the cards for annual or multi-class use.
- Death Valley mining event cards (Microsoft Word). This is an alternate activity for students to work on the timeline at their own tables.
- Death Valley mining event timeline answers.
- Death Valley mining word problems worksheet. Optional: Laminate worksheets and pass out one per group.
- Death Valley mining word problems answer key.
- Individual student math journals
- Pencils
- Tape
- Optional: Calculators
Materials
This is an example of pre-work teacher needs to do before class. This example was done on MS Power Point. You can use this as a template or make your own.
Download DVNP_Local Town Example
This is a one page document outlining the correct years and events on the timeline.
Download DVNP_Timeline Answers
This is a more visual version of the mining towns' timeline. It puts all the years and corresponding events in a visual rather than linear manner. Teachers can choose whether or not they use this resource.
These are large copies of the years and corresponding events for the timeline. Teachers may choose to laminate these and use as a full class activity on the board.
Download DVNP_Board Event Cards
This is a smaller version of the years and corresponding events for the timeline. Teachers may choose to pass these out to individuals or groups of students to cut out and manipulate at their desks.
Download DVNP_Table Event Cards
This document is for individual or groups of students to work out math word problems based on the mining towns' timeline.
Download DVNP_Mining Word Problems
This is the answer key for the DVNP_Mining Word Problems document.
Download DVNP_Mining Word Problems Answers
Lesson Hook/Preview
- Display the local town’s timeline (teacher created for pre-work) on the board.
- Ask questions related to the timeline. Questions should include:
- What are your observations about our town based on this timeline
- Why do you think this business stayed open for so long in this town? Why do you think this business closed so quickly in this town?
- What are the pros and cons to working with a business that has operated a long time? A short time?
- From the information on this timeline, which business has operated the longest? How long? Which business has operated the shortest? How short?
- How long has our town been established?
- The goal of the questions is to spark a discussion about why and how towns exist, develop, and die-out. This discussion can take many forms. Follow the lead of your students.
Procedure
- Create a large horizontal line across the board under the first one.
- Place the first and last Death Valley mining event cards on the timeline.
- Pass out the other event cards to students.
- Students take turns placing their event card appropriately on the board’s timeline.
- Ask questions about the timeline using the words boom and bust. (ie: When was the boom time for the Rhyolite town? When did Skidoo bust? Why do you think there was so much boom and bust in mining operations? What do you notice about the post offices established in these mining towns?)
- Ask students to get out their math journals.
- Divide the students into small collaboration groups.
- Pass out a math word problem sheet based on the Death Valley mining event cards and a copy of the ‘Our Local Town’ timeline to each group.
- Groups should work together to determine how to solve the problem and come up with a solution in their math journals.
- Come back together to discuss the impact of the answers to their math problems. (ie: What is the longest amount of time a Death Valley mining camp was active? What is the shortest? Who would want to be a child in the longest/shortest camp? Why?)
Vocabulary
- Boom – (as related to mining) a fast settlement and development of a town
- Bust – (as related to mining) a failure or a business depression
- Math Operation – a process such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division
- Timeline – a table listing important events in order during a period of history
Assessment Materials
Assessment RubricThis rubric evaluates the students' skill levels for the DVNP It's Mining Time activity in group cooperation, group on-task, timeline, and math accuracy.
Supports for Struggling Learners
- Work the problems together as a class.
- Read each word problem together. Decide as a class which information is needed. Take those event cards off the timeline and tape on a different section of the board. Cover extra information from those event cards with sticky notes. This way, students only focus on what is needed for that specific math word problem.
Enrichment Activities
- Instruct groups to come up with their own math word problems based on the timelines. Groups write the problem on an index card and pass it to another group. Keep passing the cards around the groups until everyone has tried each problem.
- Creative Writing: Read stories about the Death Valley Ghost Towns. Instruct students to create their own short story about a fictitious mining town that went through an exciting boom and bust period.
Additional Resources
- Lengner, K.L (2017). Death Valley Region and Chronological & Pictorial History Books I & II.
- Beldon, L.B & DeDecker, M. (2000). Death Valley to Yosemite: Frontier Mining Camps & Ghost Towns: The Med, The Women, Their Mines & Stories.
- Death Valley National Park. (2015). Death Valley Ghost Towns.
- Western Mining History. (2020). California Mining Towns.
Related Lessons or Education Materials
This is the third lesson in the Death Valley National Park Mining Unit. The first lesson explains a mining stamp mill and the second lesson describes the different people who made up the mining communities.