Learning Centers | Lesson Plans
1. Classroom Preparation for Teachers
2. Materials for Reference at the Site
3. After-Visit Classroom Discussion and Evaluation
Citicorp Center Lesson Plan: The First Half of the Twentieth Century
(pdf version)
Rincon History Museum Lesson Plan: The Embarcadero
(pdf version)
Imagine the Bay then, explore the Bay as it is today
Stand in that expansive, art-deco room once known as Rincon Annex -- a Post Office Annex of the Main Post Office at Fifth and Mission Streets -- and place youself in the center of the history of the Gold Rush. In 1848 you are in twenty feet of the waters of the Bay. In 1900 you are in a cattle drive from a pier to a Mission District packing plant. In 1936 you are in an artist's studio, painting a wall-size mural. In 1960 you are in a United States Post Office.
Today you are in one of the City's fabulous and free museums! This room is now just the north side of Rincon Center, a bustling complex of office towers and restaurants and shops between Mission and Howard, Spear and Steuart. It is now officially called a gallery. For on its walls are evocative murals from the pre-World-War II days of the Great Depression. As part of the Works Projects Administration, or WPA, artists were paid to do their part in fashioning the story of the country. Other results of the WPA are somewhat harder to find -- stone work of bridges here and there, the paintings in Coit Tower, other decorative elements of public buildings. The murals at Rincon are intensely WPA.
First a word about the name 'Rincon' itself. In Spanish, it means, simply, "corner," and it was indeed the southernmost corner of the town. The name was transferred to Rincon Hill, which is indeed a corner -- the present western anchorage of the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge. But between Rincon Hill and Rincon Center lies a vast amount of history -- and fun. Here you will learn that the 'environment' is more than the great outdoors: the environment is the meeting of the sea and the sky and the land, even in the heart of a great city.
The Renaissance of Rincon and the Embarcadero
It is hard to visualize today, but in the last half of the nineteenth century Rincon Hill was what we now think of as Nob Hill, or even Pacific Heights. Photographs from that era show stately houses, if not mansions, lining the rough-cut streets of a truly prominent hill. We miss that hill today because it was considerably leveled by human hands after the earthquake and fire of 1906. Why? To make it easier to build here. What a shame!
The only remanant of what this area looked like before 1906 is South Park, between Third and Second, Harrison amd Brannan -- and some of the houses here actually bear some resemblance to pre-1906 days. This modest park shows the scale of thinking in that era: we would now consider it, for all its pleasant contours, just an amenity.
But now small businesses are flourishing here, and from here all the way to what is now called South Beach. Well, if North Beach exists without sight of water, why not South Beach, with water all around? The presence of PacBell Park, on the water at the end of Third Street, anchors a massive shift in the development of the City. Once simply an industrial area, interspersed with secondary housing, this whole 'South of Market' arena is now the direction of middle class life -- entertainment, employment, residence. Preservation of the land, sea, and sky is vital to this development. Preserving the environment means respecting the natural resources that underlie the health and vitality of what we build and what we do in the city.
Now, explore!
Our starting point, the Rincon Historical Room, is lined with display cases. Here are artifacts of Chinese and Russian and Spanish and English exploration of this site. Of course, before any western civilizations made their mark here, there were the American Indians. We know them now as the Ohlone tribe of the Costanoans, who inhabited this region since at least the 13th century. This surprising fact has been established by carbon-dating of artifacts discovered in the South-of-Market area.
Imagine! Ohlone Indians fishing on San Francisco Bay centuries before Columbus, before the invention of printing, at about the time of Marco Polo's expedition to the Far East.
Imagine, also, the interaction between these natives of the Pacific Coast and the first Europeans who walked into the spot where you are now standing. But that was not possible! Why? Because this spot where you are standing was completely under water.
Imagine -- water everywhere as far up as Montgomery Street, as far west as First Street. Imagine why First Street was named that!
This whole area was known as the Cove -- a very hospitable location for incoming ships. This is where traders from Spanish Galleons walked ashore... where the Ohlone Indians paddled out in their barks to offer fresh water to their visitors. The Bay was teaming with fish, and the Ohlones had explored it only for their own means of survival. It was a time before the American Revolution -- but it was a revolution in itself.
Take time for a brief examination of the exhibit cases here, where so many artifacts of early California are displayed. Then examine the murals themselves, which tell a consistent story of this land. (An audiotape for use at the site should be reviewed prior to the visit.) And after that, take a stroll to some of the riches that lie along the Embarcadero.
The Gold Rush Trail has identified locations of interest to students in several directions from Rincon Center:
- Hills Plaza, in the direction of the Bay Bridge, and what a great way to see San Francisco's bridges!
- The Audiffred Building, survivor of the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906
- The Federal Reserve Building, on Market, where displays about commerce and industry are updated frequently
- the Ferry Building, newly refurbished from top to bottom to match the new sparkle of the Embarcadero
In future visits to this location, you have numerous options for adding interest to your field trip.
2. Materials for Reference at the Site
An audiotape is available to guide the teacher through the visit. This tape walks the group through the large Rincon History Museum, using the murals on the walls and the information in the display cases.
It's not essential to follow the exact script of the audiotape. From classroom preparation, the teacher may find that a particular mural or exhibit case holds unusual interest for the students. Let this interest be your guide.
The focus is on history, California history. But there are many words that will arise from this visit that may not stand out in a book. Here are some to think about:
Embarcadero
Cove
Galleons
Barks
Murals
Settlers
Natives
Shoreline
Missions
Weaving
Habitat
Species
Now think about people. How many different kinds of people have lived or worked here since the original Native Americans? How many occupations, since the "Indians" first fished here? Here are some:
- The Conquistadors, who explored from Mexico and brought their religion with them, in the form of the Missions
- The Americanos, who rode across the country to find a adventure here
- The Gold Rush men and women, who came looking for gold in 1849
- The Chinese, who came across the seas for a new life and who built a new society
- The railroad builders, who brought commerce from all over the country to California
- Workers from all occupations, who made the buildings and the bridges
Hints:
-ask each student to learn just one new word here, and bring it back to the classroom
-ask each student to write one sentence, just one, about anything at this location: "I liked this because...." or "I wish I could see more of...."
-on the visit bring "cue cards" with key words, from complex ones, such as "artifact," to simpler ones, such as "society."
-this visit is a rare opportunity to make a long-lasting impression on a young mind.
Focus on ethnic diversity, on opportunity to be a leader, on the water all around us, or any way of expressing the positive aspects of the visual cues in this great room.
-above all, keep it simple. Let the children sop up the many sights and sounds around them. Make it an exploration, not a required tour!
-in terms of exploration, you can plant an item for the students to search for on the site. It can become a treasure hunt. But don't think you have to promise a lot to keep the children interested. It's a brand-new experience!
-above all, let the children ask questions. Give them the time. Give them the opportunity.
-tell the children they should write something about their visit. Just a sentence. Just a paragraph. Tell them this while they are there, so they can start thinking about it.
-let the seventh-graders be heroes. Allow them to aid the fourth-graders in having fun, in finding things. Let the seventh-graders learn subliminally. Let them learn by explaining things to the fourth-graders.
3. After-Visit Classroom Discussion and Evaluation
The first day after the visit, remind every child of the reports expected: A sentence or two for the fourth-graders to write, maybe something to share from a magazine. The seventh-graders can be given a week or so to prepare a thoughtful evaluation.
The focus is on history, and California history at that, but the visit involves wide-ranging topics. Suggest to the seventh-graders that they might explore:
- how the Bay was filled in, and what effect filling has on the environment: a science question
- how tall buildings are anchored in the mud of the Bay: an engineering question
- how shorelines change with the addition of piers
- how the habitat of birds and fish changes as a bay is filled in around its shorline
Create lists of things seen on the visit:
- the different kinds of jobs shown in the murals
- the nationalities of people shown in the murals
- the "mosts" observed: most interesting pictures, most unusual stories told in the murals, most unexpected thing seen on the visit, etc.
Use existing classroom materials, such as books, to tie-in with what was seen. For example, ask the students if what they learned on the field visit is something they read about before.
Finally, ask for suggestions about what the students want to see next. This can become a bridge for future visits.
Be sure to accept criticism. Was there something that could have been done better? Was the visit too long, too short? Was there time to see everything?
Most visits involve lunch or a snack. For younger children, especially, make sure there are opportunities to use bathrooms. Write your own report of how the visit went. Offer suggestions for improving the lesson plan.
Citicorp Center Lesson Plan: The First Half of the Twentieth Century
(pdf version)
Site: Citicorp Center, Sutter and Sansome, near Market, on the Commercial Loop of the Gold Rush Trail
The spacious plaza was created here when the Citicorp Center was built in the 1960s, replacing the Holbrook Building. The Anglo and London Paris National Bank, built after the Great Earthquake and Fire of 1906, was part of this building.
When large highrises such as this were erected in San Francisco in recent years, the owners created public spaces as a condition of being allowed to build such large structures. In some cases, as older buildings were torn down, the new buildings were required to keep some architectural features of the old. In this way, the leaders of the City hoped to preserve some reminders of the past.
1. Historical Landmark: The Great Earthquake and Fire, 1906
All around the downtown area, you will notice from history books that numerous buildings were erected from 1909 to 1912. This is because almost all the downtown was destroyed by this great earthquake and the fire that resulted from it. Since it took from three to six years to design and build the structures that replaced those lost, the period from 1909 to 1912 was very active in new construction.
Many of these buildings simply duplicated the ones that were destroyed in the disaster. So it's not surprising that these buildings became outdated over the next fifty years. That's why the Holbrook Building, completed in 1910, was considered obsolete and in need of replacement by 1960.
2. The Great Celebration: The Opening of the Panama Canal, 1914
As San Francisco started to rebuild, the leaders of the City decided to show the world how the disaster of 1906 had been overcome. They planned a great world's fair for 1915, to be held in the Marina District of the City. The theme for this fair was not just the new San Francisco, but a new way for the world to come to the Pacific ocean.
As it happened, another great project had been under way since 1904: the Panama Canal. After many false starts, the United States finally took charge of creating this waterway between the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans. After ten years of enormous work, the canal opened in 1914. So San Francisco called its fair the "Panama Pacific Exposition," and invited East to meet West on its shores.
The only building that remains from this gigantic party is the Palace of Fine Arts, now restored to what it was like in 1915. Inside this structure is the Exploratorium, a wonderful place for playing with science. The Palace of Fine Arts is just beyond the Marina on the way to the Golden Gate Bridge. As its name suggests, it is where paintings and sculpture from around the world were exhibited.
3. The Citicorp Center's Tribute to the 1915 Exposition: The Star Girl
In the plaza is a large bronze sculpture, a replica of the theme of the Panama Pacific Exposition. A world-famous sculptor, A. Stirling Calder, created this statue to symbolize the hope of a new world: a young woman with her arms raised up to the stars, welcoming visitors to the City. Mr. Calder's son turned out to be a world-class sculptor in his own right. The hundredth anniversary of his borth, in 1898, is being celebrated by an exhibition of his particular form of sculptures -- mobiles -- now on display at the Museum of Modern Art opposite Yerba Buena Gardens. See how this statue, which we would call classical, or 'old-fashioned', fits in well with the very classical architecture of the plaza. Notice the high ceiling, the ornate columns that support the ceiling, and the plain granite surfaces of the walls and floor. In many ways, this is a dignified building that shows us what architecture of the past tried to be.4. A Tribute to Another First for San Francisco: The United Nations
We think of the United Nations as being in New York -- where its headquarters are -- or in Europe -- where the World Court and most conference sites of the UN are held. What is often forgotten is that the United Nations was founded in San Francisco, just after World War II in 1945. Lesson number one: look for surprises in history, right here. At the Citicorp Center is a marvelous display of flags to commemorate this event. In fact, all 185 flags of the nations represented at the UN are flying from the ceiling of this spacious plaza. There are information sheets at the plaza that identify all these countries. The value of the United Nations is sometimes debated, and in its fifty or more years it has not prevented several devastating wars. But the UN is supported by virtually every nation in the world and offers hope for settling disputes and problems by peaceful means.5. What Happened in the First Half of the Century: The technology of the times
Before the beginning of this century homes were lighted by gas lamps -- there was no electricity from power companies. At about the beginning of the century, automobiles began appearing -- and in another ten years, airplanes! With the automobile came the great bridges -- the Golden Gate and the San Francisco-Oakland Bay bridges. And that was the end of the ferry boats! To celebrate the great bridges, San Francisco put on another party -- the World's Fair of 1939 at Treasure Island. We don't hear much about world's fairs any more, or expositions -- the information comes to us by radio, television, and now the Internet! But the great fairs of years past were the ways that cities called attention to their products and hoped to encourage commerce and visitors to come to them. The buildings grow taller, and people come to San Francisco to work from places farther and farther away, but a lot of old San Francisco remains. Just walking around the City, we can see some of the past. And if we can't learn about the past from what we see, we can find it in books. Lesson number two: whatever you see here that excites you, find out more about it by going to the library.6. Next: Things to Do in the Citicorp Center
First: Ask your students to ask questions!
Why is this plaza here? And just what is a plaza?
Why is the ceiling so high? And who thought of doing this?
What kind of building is next to this? What work is done there?
Why are so many Œold' things on the walls? Why do we like history?
Second: Explore!
Find out how a big building like this works -- where are the elevators?
Peek in at the restaurant -- would it be fun to eat here some day?
Look up at all the flags -- how many can you identify? (one or two is enough!)
Look out at the building across Sutter Street, and the one across Sansome Street -- how different are they, in age, in style?
Third: Write something!
Take a pad and a pencil and write today's date and time
Write your name, your class, your location (remember the cross streets, Sutter and Sansome; remember the name of the building, the Cicicorp Center)
Write a word or two about this place, this building, this location.
Write a word or two about what you like or dislike about this place
Write a word or two about the history you see here
Write a sentence about what you have learned or felt here
Fourth: Have fun!
Pretend you are a great actor, and make a pretend speech toward a crowd on Sansome
Pretend you are a dancer, and gallop around under the Star Girl statue
Pretend you are an author, and make notes for something you will write in the future about this place
Pretend you are a teacher, and think up lessons to be learned from visiting here
Pretend you are an artist, and imagine a painting or a statue you would like to see instead of the Star Girl, or in addition to that statue
Pretend you are a business person, and prepare a plan for getting more people to come here and learn more about Citicorp
Pretend you are a Gold Rush miner, brought back from 1849 to this date, and imagine what you would feel about the City that is now here
PRE-TOUR PREPARATION
1. Review some basic vocabulary words (see below)
2. Draw a basic map of the site:
--draw Sutter Street as a line coming from top of page
--draw Sansome Street at bottom of that line, as a line going off to the right at a right angle from Sutter
--draw Market Street as a line just touching the point where Sutter and Sansome meet, and NOT parallel to either Sutter or Sansome
Concepts: explain perpendicular (or right angle) and parallel in connection with this map
3. Draw the Cicitcorp Center into the corner formed by Sutter and Sansome
4. Look at photographs of this area. These will be supplied in connection with this lesson plan.
5. Ask students to estimate the size of the buildings in this photograph. Count the stories in the photographs
Concepts: explain how buildings are measured in terms or height (stories) and square footage. Explain square footage in terms of a baseball or soccer or football field.
6. Show overall photos of the City. Pick out the largest buildings.
7. Try to find the Citicorp Center in the overall photos.
8. Define what a restaurant is, and what a coffee shop is, and what a plaza with tables for those who want to sit down is, and what a lunch site is.
9. Explain what a newsstand is, and what out of town newspapers are.
10. Use the word Œamenity' and show how many ideas this covers.
Concepts: show how the City is a complex thing, with very small shops (newsstand) and very large businesses that are almost invisible (corporation names atop buildings)
School-to-work Ideas
Examine a list of occupations that can be glimpsed at this and surrounding sites.1. List at least ten such jobs or professions
2. Guess what ages are involved, whether men or women
3. Find pictures in magazines to identify the occupations, prepare a scrapbook
4. Be prepared to list what occupations are seen on site
5. See if the website gives any clues about occupations
Afterward: Thoughts about the Citicorp Center Trip
A Checklist of What Was Seen and Experienced:1. Review of papers and notes from 'Things to Do in Citicorp Center'
2. Volunteers who want to say things about what they saw
3. Any great surprises? Any great disappointments?
4. Would you want to go again, in three months?
5. Would you like to see more places like this in downtown San Francisco?
Projects for the classroom based on this trip:
1. Maps: start from this site and work outwards2. Statues: make a list of other public statues in the downtown area
3. Plazas: how many other plazas of this type, open to the public, are there in the City?
4. Newsstands: where else can one buy an out-of-state newspaper?
5. Flags: are this many flags on display anywhere else in the City? In the country?
6. The Calder who made this statue is the father of the Calder who created the mobiles now on display at the Museum of Modern Art. How often do artists run in families? Are their mothers and sons, fathers and daughters, mothers and daughters who are involved in art?
7. How has the Panama Canal changed the world since 1915? What has happened to the canal and Panama in recent years? Who now owns the canal?
8. What are the great Worlds Fairs in history? What cities have been the hosts of these fairs in the United States?
9. What will happen to Treasure Island, the site of the 1939 World's Fair?
10. Contrast these fairs with the county fairs that go on all over the country. Have you ever been to a county fair? What was it like?
11. What did you see at this location that this lesson plan did not mention?
12. Do you have an idea for another visit you would like to make?
Beginning of Citicorp Center Lesson Plan
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