Past performances

On June 14, 1846, a group of ragtag American soldiers surrounded the home of Mexican Gen. Mariano Vallejo, demanding that he surrender his territories in California. Seeking a peaceful negotiation, Vallejo invited a group of the soldiers in for breakfast and brandy. His efforts didn’t help much, as they took him prisoner anyway.

On April 18, 2006, Vallejo was among the historical figures cited in Eastbluff Elementary School’s Walk Through California, proving that history is made up of many things: bravery, adventure, heroism and sometimes just rotten luck.

For 25 years, the Walk Through California educational group has brought its interactive history program to schools around the state. Last week, it made its fifth annual stop at Eastbluff, bringing the origins of California alive through costumes, music, props and a Mexican fiesta dance.

Eastbluff fourth-graders have been studying their state’s history for much of the year, at one point doing an extended project on the California missions. In preparation for the Walk Through California on Tuesday, they took the curriculum to a new level, with each student dressing up like a historical figure and memorizing vocabulary terms to recite to the class.

“It was so much fun doing the cards and wearing the costumes,” said fourth-grader Jenna Jarvis, 10, who was entrusted with the terms “eruption” and “El Camino Real.”

“I thought it was going to be hard to memorize them, but it was easy,” she said.

For nearly three hours in the school library, presenter Amy Dilling led students through a millennium or so of California history, calling students up to the front of the room when she came to their vocabulary terms.

At times, the presentation was high-tech: When Dilling needed to make a leap ahead in chronology, she turned on a noise-making device called the “time machine” and had students put their heads down and count.

The students dressed mostly as generic historical types: pioneers, gauchos, cowboys and cowgirls. Occasionally, Dilling asked a student to don an additional costume and portray a famous figure. Fourth-grader Blake Schneekluth got to play Count Rezanov, a Russian immigrant who died during his quest to marry his Mexican sweetheart.

“It was fun when you got to play dead,” said Blake, 10, who spent a few moments limp on the floor after his character fell off a horse.

Rezanov’s story revealed the diversity of California’s origins, which saw American pioneers, Spaniards, Aztecs and others competing for the same space ? not always through friendly means.

“Everyone wanted a piece of California,” said Barry Hovis, the project’s general manager.dpt.25-itc-1-CPhotoInfoKO1Q9AIB20060425iy8r76ncLINDA NGUYEN / DAILY PILOT(LA)Cassidy Betts and Jenna Jarvis passionately sing the Star Spangled Banner during the Walk Through California, a program aimed at educating children about the state’s history. dpt.25-itc-2-CPhotoInfoKO1Q9AII20060425iy8r8zncLINDA NGUYEN / DAILY PILOT(LA)Natalie Sullivan (front) and Paige Bodovitz (back) give an enthusiastic cheer for a job well done by players in the Walk Through California history education program.