Long Ago Long Beach


In 2017, Rancho Los Cerritos created a new educational outreach initiative, Long Ago in Long Beach. The goal of this program is to expose young students to local history through a series of engaging social science workshops delivered in after-school daycare settings around Long Beach, and simultaneously to engage their families through extension activities that can be done at home. In 2020, due to the pandemic, we made our activity books and lessons available online as a resource for school children and their families.

Archaeologist’s Adventure Activity Booklet

A note to grown-ups: An Archaeologist’s Adventure contains fun, educational activities for grown-ups to do with children, while they are home from school. Rest assured, you do not need to have much knowledge of history to make use of it. We hope you will have fun with your children as you all learn a little bit more about our local history! The activities, which are geared toward children in grades 1-4, are based on the Content Standards for History/Social Science and English Language Arts developed by California State Board of Education. This activity booklet was created for our Long Ago Long Beach outreach program, but Rancho Los Cerritos is making this resource available free of charge to Long Beach students. Their caregivers have our express permission to download, print, and use of this activity booklet with their children during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Click below to download this activity booklet.

Archaeologist Activity Booklet

Archaeologist’s Adventure Video Lessons

Click below to watch the playlist.

Archaeologist’s Adventure Bonus Activities

Butter Making Activity – Pairs with Lesson 2

Click below to download a printable version.

RLC Homemade Butter Handout

Historian’s Adventure Activity Booklet

A note to grown-ups: An Historian’s Adventure contains fun, educational activities for grown-ups to do with children, while they are home from school. Rest assured, you do not need much knowledge of history to make use of it. We hope you will have fun with your children as you all learn a little bit more about our local history! The activities, which are geared toward children in grades 2-5, are based on the Content Standards for History/Social Science and English Language Arts developed by California State Board of Education. This activity booklet was created for our Long Ago Long Beach outreach program, but Rancho Los Cerritos is making this resource available free of charge to Long Beach students. Their caregivers have our express permission to download, print, and use of this activity booklet with their children during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Click below to download this activity booklet.

Historian Activity Booklet

Interactive Map

The people who lived and worked at Rancho Los Cerritos have roots all over the world. One example is the indigenous Tongva people who came from the area that is now Long Beach.


Map updated: 4/21

Each green dot represents the beginning of a story for one family. Use the form below to let us know where your story began so we can add it to the map!

Click below to download the map as a coloring page.

Where did your story begin?

Did you know that Long Beach has 84 neighborhoods? Click here to find yours!

 

Click below to download the map to color in at home.

Where did your story begin?

Design Your Own Cattle Brand Activity for All Ages

Click below to download this worksheet

Design Your Own Cattle Brand

About Long Ago Long Beach

Long Ago Long Beach is an after-school enrichment program that brings the Rancho Los Cerritos experience to underserved schools across Long Beach. “By taking the historic house museum ‘on the road’ to where many young learners spend their weekday afternoons – participating in after-school childcare programs at their school site – Rancho Los Cerritos is expanding its boundaries, diversifying its audiences, and sharing local history with younger audiences more than ever before. This innovative outreach initiative is an incredible opportunity for the museum and the participants, and by extension for their families and the larger community,” says Maguire. The five-week-long after-school program, started in 2018, teaches second and third-grade students about local and California state history. In the classroom, children interact with artifacts, photographs and documents from the Rancho Los Cerritos collection. Students also take part in a field trip to the Rancho that includes a tour of a 175-year-old adobe home. While on-site, students are immersed in 1800s-era life by participating in such activities as candle making and doing laundry by hand.

Photo: Students washing laundry by hand during a Rancho Los Cerritos field trip

“I think it’s great that we bring the museum experience to students who might not normally be able to visit one, let alone touch the artifacts there. The hands-on activities they participate in during the program really bring the history to life for them,” says Long Ago Long Beach
Coordinator Erin Perkins.

“The activities are definitely the highlight of the program. They give the students an opportunity to engage, share their creativity and learn new skills,” says Rosa Palacios, a teacher at Long Beach’s Patrick Henry Elementary.

Photo: Students in the classroom learning about 1800s ranch life

Long Ago Long Beach served more than 1,300 students in its first year alone and plans to reach even more as the program grows, thanks to funding from The Earl B. and Loraine H. Miller Foundation and The Rudolph J. and Daphne A. Munzer Foundation.