California History is the main Social Studies exploration of Fourth Grade. In our homeschool we’ve been slowly working out way through history in California starting with the earliest Californians to the present.
I don’t share much about our homeschooling here, but this unit is particularly inspired by and focused around a children’s book and it’s just so good, I couldn’t resist sharing this.
The Nerviest Girl in the World by Melissa Wiley takes place just east of San Diego in the early 1900s. It worked perfectly for bringing to life some of the life, language, and setting of California in that time period.
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About the Book
The Nerviest Girl in the World was written by Melissa Wiley. It is set in the early 1900s in southern California. It is about a little girl who gets involved in the world of silent films. The story is full of dynamic characters, interesting history, and loads of adventure. It is funny and full of heart and such a delightful middle grade book.
Social Studies & History with The Nerviest Girl in the World
At the beginning of the year we created a huge timeline that stretches across one wall of our home. We added some major events to start with – world wars, 9/11 and then on a parallel line some family dates.
My kids interviewed their grandparents to learn about when they were born, when their side of the family immigrated to the USA, etc.
Then we started with 1500 and the earliest Californians and worked our way forward through history.
THE NERVIEST GIRL IN THE WORLD by Melissa Wiley took place in the late 1800s/early 1900s when silent films were being filmed, small towns were inhabited outside of San Diego, and ostriches were being farmed. Cinema is a huge part of California history and this is it’s earliest beginnings.
We added this book to our timeline with silent movies.
One Sunday, we drove out to La Mesa, CA which isn’t far from San Diego so they could get a modern day look at the setting for this movie. We talked about the mountains, plants, and tried to imagine it less populated. If you live in the area and want to go a step further, the Girl on the Move blog has a California Adventure related to this book.
Language Arts with The Nerviest Girl
We are members of The Read Aloud Revival and this provided some of the activities for this book. They offered related drawing lessons, some activity ideas, and a talk with the author, Melissa Wiley.
Two Additional Language Arts Activities:
1. Five Dollar Words
Pearl’s dad talks about “Five Dollar Words” in the book. We discussed what this might mean and related it to learning how to use a thesaurus to strengthen our word choices in writing.
I made a worksheet for my kids to use, you can DOWNLOAD IT HERE.
2. Prologues
The beginning of the Nerviest Girl starts with an epic prologue that sets the stage for the excitement that is to come. We talked about the purpose of prologues and then my kids each wrote a prologue to a book they love. One did a picture book, the other wrote one for a Plants Vs. Zombies graphic novel. This activity works for any good, well loved book.
Science with Nerviest Girl
Learn more about the animals in The Nerviest Girl. Ostriches and horses are the two main ones we focused on.
- We have a Mystery Science membership and they had a fun video about Ostrich Eggs, which play a big role in the book.
- On Brain Pop they also have a video and lesson about Horses which play an equally large role in the story.
You could read books, go see them at the zoo, learn to draw them and more if your kids are interested.
Art with The Nerviest Girl
Along with the drawing lessons with Read Aloud Revival, we also explored Silent Films a little. We watched a few short clips so my kids could get the general idea. Then I challenged them to come up with their own.
Challenge: Create a 5 minute silent skit using only action and maybe an occasional sign to fill in dialogue if necessary. Younger kids might need some prompts to get them started. Invite them to retell a familiar favorite story or picture book through silent action.
Materials: Any props for story. Dry erase boards or construction paper for dialogue signs. Costumes.
Time Limit: I gave my kids 30 minutes to create their silent skit.
This was such a fun mini-unit. My kids and I LOVED the book and the dialogue, setting, and characters brought the time period to life so well.
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