Welcome back to this brand new series here at Mama’s Learning Corner: On This Day in American History!
Today’s historical event:
On January 5, 1933, the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California, officially began.
If you would like more details on how to use these On This Day in American History posts, please see this page: On This Day in American History in Your Homeschool
You can click here to see all of the posts in this series: On This Day in American History Series
January 5 – Golden Gate Bridge Construction Begins
Construction officially started on the Golden Gate Bridge on January 5, 1933. A ground breaking ceremony occurred 6 weeks later on February 26, 1933, with a joyous crowd of over 100,000 people in attendance.
To do:
1.) To understand how electricians keep the Golden Gate Bridge operating, you can watch this video: The Golden Gate Bridge Presents: Forged in the Fog. Sadly, they don’t play the actual fog horn! The up close views of the Bridge are fascinating, however.
2.) Each vehicle is charged a fee to cross the Golden Gate Bridge. Determine the cost of a regular car (2-axles) to cross the Bridge using a License Plate Account. Use this page to help you calculate: Golden Gate Bridge Tolls & Payment. Is a vehicle charged a toll both ways (coming and going)?
3.) Answer in a few well-written sentences: Why do you think the Golden Gate Bridge requires a toll to cross? For what do you think the toll money should be used?
4.) How easy is it to build a bridge? Choose a medium (popsicle sticks, blocks, LEGO, pencils, etc.) and see if you can build a functioning bridge.
If you are new to On This Day in American History
If you are new to On This Day in American History, Welcome!
Each day, I share an interesting event that occurred in our nation’s past. You will learn about famous Americans, interesting inventions and their patents, American art and music, and more.
You will also find suggested activities – labeled “To do” – if you would like to research this during your homeschool’s group time in the morning, or you can assign the activities for your children to work on independently.
If you think you will do more than one day of On This Day in American History, I would encourage you to have your child keep what I call a Notebook of Knowledge. A spiral notebook or sheets of paper stapled together is more than adequate!
Have your child write the day’s event and the date at the top of his paper. If there are writing activities, have him use his best composition, grammar, and penmanship as he completes the answers. After just a few weeks or even a month, he will have an excellent resource to read through!
If you would like to use this resource throughout the month, you might be interested in purchasing the full January Calendar. It contains:
- Access to the webpage with all of the January events listed, including all suggested activities for each daily event.
- A .pdf of the January Calendar, listed in chronological order with all suggested activities
- All necessary downloads to complete the assigned activities. These same downloads are linked on the webpage, however, they are also included here for easy access.
- The answers to any questions asked in the daily activities.
You can purchase that here:
On This Day in American History: January 4 – New York Stock Exchange Headquarters
Leave a Reply