Fort Ross Staff encourages students to develop respect for the human difference of all people and encourages an understanding of different cultures and ways of life. Developing a ‘Sense of Place’ by learning as much as possible about one place, one era, and those people and events that make up this place can lead to a better understanding of the whole picture and other events in history. This study of cultural interaction and inter-dependency will help students know and feel that our lives are not so different today.  History is a thrilling subject to teach and in which to be involved.  History is truly the story of ourselves. The education team at Fort Ross aim to make our programs and our presentations align with California state guided curriculum standards. We have incorporated into our curriculum these guidelines.  

 

3rd grade - Continuity and Change -

Students studying Native Americans might want to focus on the local native people, the Kashaya Pomo or the Coast Miwok. In addition, numerous Native Alaskans tribes were part of Settlement Ross and might fit into your studies. You can examine the relationship between the Native peoples here and the RAC. How were the Native Peoples’ traditional ways changed and how did they stay the same? Before the Russian American Company came, the Kashaya and Coast Miwok got everything they needed from the materials available on their own lands and from trade with neighboring tribes. How might the RAC have changed those trade relations?  How might the RAC been helpful and how might they have been harmful? How did the way of living change? We have included in this manual many actual names of local native peoples.  What folktales and legends do the Kashaya and Coast Miwok have?

 

4th grade curriculum - A Changing State -

Tremendous change took place in California during the years of the Ross Settlement, 1812-1841.  The trade economy of Spanish California was drastically changed after the Russians arrived and built their settlement on claimed Spanish land. The entire political structure of California changed in 1821 when Mexico declared independence. During all the changes the RAC continued to carry out commerce, farming, hunting, and trade.  A classroom exploration of 19^th Century trade items and patterns can be a great point to help students understand life in California during pre-statehood times.

 

5th and 6th grade curriculum - The Age of Western Exploration - or Settlement Ross and the Age of Exploration through the eyes of Kashaya, Coast Miwok, Alaskans, and Russian. Russian eastward expansion and exploration started in the 1500’s in Russia. Vitus Bering’s explorations of the North Pacific in the 1700s was a logical extension of this eastward movement. These voyages culminated in Russian exploration and settlement in Alaska and eventually in California. International trade and commerce was one of the most motivating factors in the Russian, American, British, and Spanish expansion of the North Pacific. What trade routes did those in the North Pacific take?  And whom did the RAC trade with? What ships were used? What were the trade prices and for what trade item? Who gained economically and how? Did everyone make a profit?

 

Junior High and High School Curriculum -

Suggested activities for older students might include: a greater focus on the international aspects of the RAC’s trade activities - research about and mapping of trade routes with attention to where commodities were coming from and where they were going; a more intensive study of the structure of the Russian American Company, the Government at that time and how they were related. What was happening around the world? What are some other events in the world taking place? Biographies of characters who worked for the RAC and/or of those that had dealings with the company - Spanish or Mexican officials, American or British ships’ captains, etc. are available.