California Missions - History and Resources
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California Missions History Project
If you live in California and you are a 4th grade student, 4th grade teacher, or a 4th grade parent, this website is your starting point for the California missions research and model project. In this lens, you will find tips for doing research and for making models, as well as links to aggregated resources for each individual mission. (Image taken by Mr. Missions.)
Table of Contents
Links to every California mission
The links below will take you to a specific portion of this page. You will find links to individual missions divided by their general geographic area.
Where's Your Mission Project?
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Tips for Researching the Missions
Get excited about the project!
Here are a couple of suggestions that can make the history research project fun and relatively painless. (Image taken by Mr. Missions.)- Start early! We all know procrastination is fun now but not fun later.
- Arrange a trip to visit the mission you've been assigned. It would be a great day trip, and you may be able to talk to experts on the tour or pick up brochures with mission-specific information. Check out Mr. Missions' tips for visiting and the California Missions Resource Center for visitor information.
- Find general information online. Start with Wikipedia for an overview of Spanish missions in California. Then, follow the links at the bottom of this page to find resources for your assigned mission.
- Hit the library! The library has lots of great books about missions. Talk to the librarians, too. Lots of students do this project every year so the librarians have a lot of experience.
General Books on the California Missions
Tips for Building the Model
The best part of the project!
Typically, the teacher will require a model to go along with the report. The model either turns out to be the most fun part of the project or the most dreaded. With these tips, hopefully it will be the most fun. (Image from Paper Models Online.)- Start early! We all know procrastination is fun now but not fun later.
- Arrange a trip to visit the mission you've been assigned. Check out Mr. Missions' tips for visiting and California Missions Resource Center for visitor information. Try to take many pictures if you can and sketch out the organization of the grounds and building. You'll be able to add great details to your model like the trees and shrubbery.
- Finding a blueprint of the mission is difficult. Hit the library! Look for books with lots of photographs and hopefully an aerial view.
- Visit a museum. You could take a trip to the California Missions Museum. They have hand-crafted models of all the missions.
- Build a small paper model to help you visualize the mission for your big model. It helps to buy a small cutout model from Amazon or Paper Models Online.
- Use creative building materials to set you apart from the rest. A hot glue gun might really help you out. Think about balsa wood, sugar cubes, salt dough, cereal, cardboard, foamcore, etc. Also, don't forget to paint your mission! Spray paints (with adult supervision) produce very even and clean color with clever use of stencils and masking.
- Get a little parental involvement (just a little!) to help out with the tricky parts.
Books to Help with the Model
Map of the Missions
The numbers indicate the order of their founding.
Image from The Spanish Missions of California
Los Angeles Area Missions
Get the Book
Southern Coast Missions
Get the Book
Central Coast Missions
Get the Book
San Francisco Bay Area Missions
Get the Book
Monterey Bay Area Missions
Get the Book
Inland Valley Missions
Get the Book
California Mission Links
- California Missions Foundation
- Foundation for the preservation and restoration of the California missions. If you would like to make a donation towards the "Save the Missions Campaign," this is the place to do it.
- Architecture of the California Missions
- Wikipedia article that discusses construction methods and architectural style.
- California Missions
- A very brief introductory history of all 21 missions. Also has a 60 second video but access is slow.
- The California Mission Site
- Contains both a short and an in-depth history for each mission. Site also has authentic mission music and links to other mission history sites. Also has links to more general Spanish colonial history. Historical photographs are temporarily unavailable.
- California Mission Internet Trail
- The Escondido Union School District is constructing this site as part of the State Building the Future Project. Content is written by 4th grade classes throughout the state and includes history, field trip pictures, and "then-and-now" comparisons. Many pages are still empty as this site is still under contruction. Teacher resources are available for a few missions.
- California Missions On-Line Project
- A series of pages by Rob Garretson in partial fulfillment of his Master's of Arts Degree from Cal Poly Pomona. Has a brief paragraph on a variety of subject areas as well as an understanding assessment quiz for each mission.
- Virtual Tour of the Mission
- Mr. Missions has visited every mission and compiled a large number of photographs. Photographs are organized by mission. Also has useful travel tips for visiting the missions.
- California Missions Resource Center
- A very well put together, professionally designed site about the missions. Highly recommended are the Mission Visual Journeys and the Mission Timeline. Ask the Experts is also a great section to help you in your research. The site also has a very extensive links page.
- Missions of California on About.com
- Well written histories of the missions but in particular, you can find an in-depth biography of all the founding fathers.
- California Missions Museum
- Located in Sonoma, this museum houses hand-crafted models of all 21 missions. The models were created for the 1939 World's Fair.
- California Missions eBooks
- The Peninsula Library System offers a complete collection of free downloadable ebooks about every mission. Must have Adobe Acrobat to read.
- The Last Mission - Problem Based Learning
- This site can be a great resource for teachers and homeschoolers. It discusses in detail how you can organize a missions study project for your students.
Did you find everything you need?
Let me know if there's anything I should add to this page. I am committed to keeping this page updated in both links and content. Thank you! Also, you can rate this lens at The Isle of Squid or even submit your own lens there.
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waldenthree.net
Jan 8, 2012 @ 6:39 pm | delete
- This is a valuable topic. Are these Missions associated with Catholic Church Today ? Like to know more about the network of the missions today if possible. Congrads on reaching Squidoo level 55. Going for Level 56 now. Visit again soon. Thanks.
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VillaDejaBlue
Jan 3, 2012 @ 4:50 pm | delete
- Nice lens.
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sarahrk
Dec 15, 2011 @ 1:44 pm | delete
- I love visiting the missions. So interesting.
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OneRabbit
Apr 30, 2011 @ 8:59 pm | delete
- Thank you for your help! I am teaching the Missions for the first time this year. I feel it is important to tell the whole story, so here is a link to some alternative web sites: http://cla.calpoly.edu/~coneill/es210/missions/phase3.html
The Missionaries did not come in "contact" with the Native Americans, they used forced coercion to rope them into a system of indentured labor which resulted in genocide.
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mannasugar
Jan 13, 2011 @ 1:02 pm | delete
- I am from Pismo beach, I use to live in San Luis Obispo, great Lens....
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California Missions on eBay
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mosaic
As a Californian, I have been through the missions project several times with my siblings. I know that it's an exciting part of the 4th grade curricul... more »
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