Nuggets of knowledge

Christine Carrillo

As Gold Grabbin’ Gus chased the money-hungry fourth-graders who

scoured the field for gold nuggets Wednesday to fill their personally

fashioned satchels, they got a chance to reenact the history they’ve

been learning about for the past month.

Adopting the mass hysteria of the gold rush that struck California

in the mid-19th century, the students at Lincoln Elementary School in

Newport Beach showed off their newly acquired social studies skills.

“The goal is to reenact gold fever,” said Courtney Ingle, one of

the fourth-grade teachers. “I think [this reenactment] engrains what

they’ve learned in their memory and it will stay with them longer.”

The students earned “miner bucks” for their good behavior and

participation in the classroom and, once in their hands, they could

use them to buy a plot of land on which to mine for gold. At the same

time, students could also lose their miner bucks for bad behavior,

which could make them lose out on a chance at the most desirable plot

of land and end up in Poverty Hill.

“It’s nice for them to be able to do something fun that also

reinforces their learning,” said Gary Langston, a fourth-grade

teacher.

For nearly eight years, Gold Rush Day has provided fourth-graders

at Lincoln an education filled with fun. Getting lasso lessons,

sewing lessons and a chance to see what it’s like having to perform

manual labor for food, these three fourth-grade classes learned a

load of lessons.

Adorned in bandannas, cowboy hats and boots, big buckled belts and

frilly blouses, students and teachers entered the reenactment event

with gusto.

“I think this was a great experience ... It was a bunch of fun,”

said 11-year-old Ethan Beigel, one of the fourth-graders

participating in the event. “We can see how it was hard work for the

miners back then.”

* IN THE CLASSROOM is a weekly feature in which Daily Pilot

education writer Christine Carrillo visits a campus in the

Newport-Mesa area and writes about her experience.