School Programs
Registration for Columbia State Historic Park’s 4th grade school programs is now live. Registration link for all programs is here.
The staff, volunteers, and concessionaires at Columbia State Historic Park take great pride in the quality of our school presentations. We offer a variety of opportunities for school children to have first-hand experiences to augment classroom learning about the California Gold Rush. More than 10,000 fourth graders attend presentations at Columbia State Historic Park each year.
Four formal programs are offered and designed for the 4th-grade audience. The programs meet California State Curriculum Standards for fourth grade social studies content.
Parking and admission are free, and school groups are welcome to visit the park at any time for self-guided presentations. The park’s concessionaires offer many programs designed for school audiences.
The Columbia Passport, a self-guided touring aid, is available at the museum, or may be ordered in advance of your trip for $1.25 each.
IMPORTANT: If you are making reservations, and you are not the classroom teacher coming to Columbia, the information given when a reservation is made must be given to the teacher(s). There are rules, protocols, and information that are important for the visit to Columbia State Historic Park, and the specific program(s) the teachers and students are visiting.
Columbia's In Town Programs
Columbia Golden Gamble
Join staff on this interactive gamified program and explore how much of a gamble it was to journey to California and strike it rich. Students will be divided up into companies and will pretend to be miners who are journeying to Columbia to strike it rich. They will face many choices along the way. Will their gamble pay off or will they leave the gold rush broke.
The maximum number of 4th grade students per group is 35 with up to 5 adults. The minimum number of students is 12.
Reservation Information
Columbia 4th Grade Town Tour
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Join staff for a one hour program that interprets the history of what life was like in Columbia during the Gold Rush. A hands-on mining demonstration (weather and staff permitting) and a general mercantilism presentation are included.
The maximum number of 4th grade students per group is 35 with up to 5 adults. The minimum number of students is 12.
**Please note that some activities in this tour are weather permiting and programs may need to be modified due to inclament weather**
Reservation Information
Homeschool Option - 4th Grade Town Tour
The Columbia 4th Grade Town Tour program is available for 4th grade level homeschool students from formal homeschool programs. Each student is allowed one parent chaperone.
Other members of the homeschool program are not able to participate in the tour. However, students and parents will be able to visit the historic buildings, exhibits, and merchants of Columbia State Historic Park while they wait for their 4th graders to complete the program.
Columbia Schoolhouse 4th Grade Living History Program
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The Columbia Schoolhouse Living History Program is a 1-hour program at the 1861 historic brick schoolhouse where a period attired school teacher presents a program where 4th grade students experience what it was like to go to school in a 1861 classroom during the Gold Rush. Students will use slateboards and chalk to engage in history, spelling, reading and math lessons of that time period.
This “living history” program engages students by:
- Meeting inside the original two story brick schoolhouse built in 1860
- Sitting in historic wooden desks
- Participating in school lessons from the 1861 including history, rules/consequences, mathematics, (ciphering) reading, writing, and spelling.
- Using historic school tools like chalkboards and old textbooks
- Following instructions from a schoolhouse docents dressed in period clothing and teaching as if she was from that time period (1st person interpretation)
The maximum number of students is 35 with up to 4 adults. The minimum number of 4th grade students is 12.
Program Information
Homeschool Option - Columbia Schoolhouse 4th Grade
The Columbia Schoolhouse 4th Grade program is available for 4th grade level students from formal homeschool programs. Each student is allowed one parent chaperone.
Other members of the homeschool program are not able to participate in the guided walk. However, students and parents will be able to visit the historic buildings, exhibits, and merchants of Columbia State Historic Park while they wait for their 4th graders to complete the program.
PORTS Programs
Sign up for a virtual field trip to Columbia State Historic Park! Parks Online Resources for Teachers and Students (PORTS) program provides FREE, live, interactive videoconference programs, also known as virtual field trips. K-12 students from California and around the world are connecting with live State Park Interpreters and learning academic content standards within the context of California’s dynamic state park system.
You can view additional virtual field trips on the PORTS Program Page.
Diggins Tent Town 1852
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The 4th Grade Diggins Tent Town Living History Program at Columbia State Historic Park consists of a 2-hour program lead by park staff and docents that is meant to replicate the experience of a Gold Rush era tent town in California. Students are provided the opportunity to directly engage in this “living history” town and find out what life was like in 1852.
Educational programs for 4th graders are offered on the Thursday and Friday of Columbia Diggins Tent Town. Students get a chance to tour the camp and interact with characters from 1852.
This program adheres to the state’s curriculum standards and provides an unbeatable opportunity for students to experience first-hand what they’ve learned in the classroom. This program is very popular and reservations are required.
The maximum number of 4th grade students is 35 with up to 4 adults. The minimum number of students is 12.
To preserve the learning environment, classes without reservations are not admitted on Thursday or Friday of the event.
The cost includes $5 worth of “Columbia Eagles” which are redeemed for goods, food or services in the camp, giving students an opportunity to interact in the mercantile economy of the camp.
WAITLIST: Waitlist options are availible on the scheduling page.
Homeschool Option - Diggins
The Diggins Homeschool program is available for 4th grade level students from formal homeschool programs. Each student is allowed one parent chaperone.
Other members of the homeschool program are not able to participate in the Diggins program. However, non-participating students and parents will be able to enter the Diggins tent town event as a public visitor and participate in the special event. General admission prices apply.
For more information on park school programs contact the Columbia School Group Coordinator at columbiashp@parks.ca.gov
Local Merchant Student Programs
Students and teachers may also take advantage of the local merchants of Columbia that offer special student programs. These opportunities are separate from the state park programs and direct contact to the merchant is required.
For more information on park school programs contact the park at columbiaSHP@parks.ca.gov
Open Educational Resources
Columbia Padlet Columbia YouTube Flipgrid
Digital resources available through Smithsonian Learning Lab.
History of Columbia Mining in Columbia Mining Tools Mining Techniques Chinese in Gold Rush Columbia
Introduction California's Gold Rush Traveling to the Gold Rush
Photos of the cultures who came to the Gold Rush Coins of the California Gold Rush