For decades, fourth-grade students in California have had one project that has taken over dining room tables, required piles of popsicle sticks and kept parents and kids up at night completing it: building a model of one of the 18th- and 19th-century Spanish missions in the state.

But under a new educational framework the state Department of Education is rolling out, the annual project may become history.

Why? Two reasons: it doesn’t effectively teach students about the mission period and, worse, it might be offensive, according to the state.

Becky Ramirez’s son Sean, 9, made a model of the Mission San Francisco de Asís in fourth grade last year. “He really got a lot out of it,” Becky Ramirez said of her son’s project. “I learned so much through him. I learned what the El Camino Real was. … He was just super, super excited.”

Student Joseph Silva paints the cardboard church for a model of a California mission being built by fourth-graders as a class project at Our Lady of Grace School in Encino on January 20, 2009. (Los Angeles Daily News file photo)

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Parent Lutzie Francisco adds a bell to the church in a model of a California mission being built by fourth-graders as a class project at Our Lady of Grace School in Encino on January 20, 2009. (Los Angeles Daily News file photo)

“I try to paint the whole picture,” said Scott Schugel, fourth-grade teacher at Woodland Hills Elementary Charter for Enriched Studies. His students learn about the negative consequences mission life had for Native Americans, but also about how the missions were founded, built and operated. They also annually “refurbish” a mission outside the classroom that a previous class built from adobe bricks.

Kimberly Morgan built a model of the Soledad Mission when she was in school. Years later, her daughter Kaylynn (right, with dad and husband Andrew, back) also built a mission model for a school assignment at Lincrest Elementary School in Yuba City, where the family lives now. “Looking at hers versus the one my parents did, there are reasons why they did mine! I tried and failed big time! Hahaha. Hey, I made sure my kid got in on the process though! That’s what counts!” Kimberly Morgan said.



Kimberly Morgan of Yuba City remembered making a model of the Soledad Mission when she was in fourth grade. Recently, her daughter Kaylynn made her own mission project for school. “(Kaylynn) had the option to do a mission report or do something that represents California! For nostalgia purposes I had her do the mission! I wanted her to experience the process! Granted we had to write a huge report and visit at least 2 missions, but I think she enjoyed the project!”

“I made a mission model in 1988/89. It taught me a lot about California and it was just a fun project. Please don’t take all the fun out of school,” said Long Beach resident Eang Taing, who attended Grant Elementary School. “If I recall correctly, mine was suppose to be San Luis Obispo and it was made out of glue and sugar cubes. And my kids did not make a mission project, which was kind of disappointing.”

“I try to paint the whole picture,” said Scott Schugel, fourth-grade teacher at Woodland Hills Elementary Charter for Enriched Studies. His students learn about the negative consequences mission life had for Native Americans, but also about how the missions were founded, built and operated. They also annually “refurbish” a mission outside the classroom that a previous class built from adobe bricks.

Students Victoria Silva, left, and Samantha Ochoa paint the walls on a model of a California mission being built by fourth-graders as a class project at Our Lady of Grace School in Encino on January 20, 2009. (Los Angeles Daily News file photo)

Mission San Luis Rey de Francia, in Oceanside, Calif., was founded in 1798 by Father Lasuen and is currently in need of massive repairs. The structure, which is noted for its architecture, a composite of Spanish, Moorish and Mexican styles, shows its facade’s paint peeling away Monday, Aug. 4, 2003. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)



A statue of Fray Junipero Serra, Founder of the California Missions in front of the San Gabriel Mission. (Photo by Walt Mancini, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

Founded in 1816 by Father Antonio Peyrei, OFM, the Mission San Antonio de Pala simple structure is an excellent example of mission architecture, as seen here on March 12, 2006. (SGVN/Staff Photo by Raul Roa/Celebrations)

A California historial marker is shown in front of Mission San Jose in Fremont, Calif., Sunday, Feb. 6, 2005. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

View of the San Diego Mission de Acala, which is the oldest mission in California, on December 2, 2004 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images)

La Purisima Mission State Historic Park in Lompoc, Calif., is shown July 20, 2005. (AP Photo/Santa Barbara News-Press, Nora K. Wallace)



Santa Barbara Mission (Photo by Antonie Boessenkool, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Mission San Buenaventura. (Photo by Antonie Boessenkool, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Mission San Carlo Borromeo de Carmelo, painted by Riverside Artist Helen Bell. (THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE/David Bauman)

Mission San Fernando in Mission Hills, CA. ( Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Andrew Galvan, the first American Indian curator of Mission Dolores, or Mission San Francisco de Asís looks over a statue of Father Junipero Serra, in the cemetary of the historic church in San Francisco, Feb. 17, 2004. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)



Mission in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., Thursday, April 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Mission in San Luis Obispo.

Mission San Miguel in Paso Robles, Calif., .(AP Photo/The San Luis Obispo Tribune, David Middlecam, File)

Santa Ines Mission

Kimberly Morgan of Yuba City remembered making a mission model as a student at Stork Elementary in Alta Loma. “I built a mission when I was in 4th grade! I did Soledad! It was made out of cardboard and plaster! I just remember not being involved in ANY of it! It was more of my mom, grandmas and uncles project! They had me sign my name and be in the photos of the missions we visited! Haha this project really was the adults baby! Hahaha.”



“Attention should focus on the daily experience of missions rather than the building structures themselves. Building missions from sugar cubes or popsicle sticks does not help students understand the period and is offensive to many,” the new History-Social Science Framework adopted last year says. “Missions were sites of conflict, conquest, and forced labor. Students should consider cultural differences, such as gender roles and religious beliefs, in order to better understand the dynamics of Native and Spanish interaction.”

The framework, adopted by the state’s Department of Education, has tapped the attention of districts, parents and students across Southern California, from Los Angeles to the Inland Empire.

The Los Angeles Unified School District – the second largest district in the nation – will be adopting the new guidelines. Part of the change is a move away from one big project and toward “skills that students need for the future,” said Nathan MacAinsh, history/social sciences coordinator for the district.

“Projects in the past, like the mission project, were showy, kind of like the old days of the science fair, where everyone did the volcano project,” he said. That didn’t mean students were learning how to analyze or interpret events and information, instead of only learning names and dates.

California fourth-graders learn about the history of the state, from before Europeans arrived to the modern era. Over time, the assignment of having students build a model of one of the 21 Spanish missions in California has become somewhat of a tradition. Adults remember making their models of the San Fernando, Santa Barbara or other missions out of cardboard, sugar cubes, popsicle sticks or other materials around the house – or helping their children work on the big project.

Though some teachers assigned the model building in class, state guidelines haven’t specifically required it. And it seems teachers have been easing it out anyhow, or allowing students to choose a different format to show their understanding of the period.

Scott Schugel, fourth-grade teacher at Woodland Hills Elementary Charter for Enriched Studies, said he tries to give his students a “whole picture” of the California missions, including the negative consequences for Native Americans who lived at them.

“I try to present all the sides,” he said. Abuse and disease were part of the picture, but so were the Spanish and Mediterranean architecture, food and culture that are part of California today.

Together, his students each year “refurbish” a dog house-sized model a previous class built out of adobe bricks they made. (The highlight for the kids is the chance to play with mud, he said.) But they also do their own projects on the missions, something they choose, like making a cookbook or writing a song or poetry. As for building a model, he said, “I encourage my kids not to do them because I don’t want my classroom littered with missions!”

Some can’t wait to see the mission project go. But others aren’t so ready.

Judging by social media responses to a Southern California News Group survey question on the topic, several readers feel pretty strongly about the project. Replies ranged from “an extremely useless exercise (reader Yama Rahyar)” to fond memories, like from reader Melissa Nicole Taylor: “My father ‘helped.’ … “I can still smell the cork, hot glue, and acrylic paint.”

Remember the "mission project?" It may be disappearing from classrooms. Share your thoughts & memories of it here: https://t.co/it4tel6xFP pic.twitter.com/CWXnrMvKz8 — L.A. Daily News (@ladailynews) September 21, 2017

Becky Ramirez in Alta Loma admitted to being a bit biased about the project, as a former Catholic school student. When her son Sean, 9, made a model of the Mission San Francisco de Asis – the San Francisco Bay structure founded in 1776 – he was excited to learn about the missions, she said.

“He really got a lot out of it,” she said. She helped him, though he led the work. “It was something we actually enjoyed working on together. … And I feel like my son will never forget that.”

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But for others, the missions represent a darker history, and present.

Rudy Ortega, tribal president of the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians – which has a history at the Mission San Fernando – said the project sows confusion.

“At home, they’re taught here’s our heritage and culture,” said Ortega, the father of three children who built mission models. “We teach our children in the community that the tribes’ community is still in existence” and not a thing of the past. Moreover, the mission system was responsible for much of the loss of native music, song and culture, he said.

“The school (teaches) that here’s this Catholic mission system, and that’s the start of California,” he said. Ortega said his children had their skepticism. When they visited the missions, they wanted to see for themselves how evident the Native American culture of the time was. There were few artifacts on display, Ortega said. His kids asked him, “’Why don’t they identify that we’re still here?’”

It appears area school districts are tuning in to that concern. Bibi Alvarado, the director of elementary education in the Montebello Unified School District, said although the mission project was never an official requirement, it did become a common assignment at district schools.

Regardless, the district has been moving away from the projects out of its commitment to “make our students aware of all people in regards to their ethnic, racial, gender, and cultural diversity,” she said. The district is in its second year of its mandatory Ethnic Studies curriculum in ninth grade, and is developing similar curriculum for the third- and sixth-grade levels, she said.

Students in Riverside Unified and Murrieta Valley Unified school districts can do a variety of projects on the missions unit, spokespeople there said. In southwest Riverside County, the spokeswoman for the Temecula Valley Unified School District said teachers could still assign a mission model project, but with additional curriculum components. “The intent behind the curriculum is to teach the culture of the missions, not just build one,” Laura Boss said. “It’s embedded in the the new framework.”

Derrick Chau, in charge of early childhood to high school curriculum for the Los Angeles Unified School District, remembers making his own mission model as a kid, out of popsicle sticks. But times, and educational methods, change.

“We want to make this really rooted in good instructional practices districtwide,” he said of the implementation of the new framework. “Traditions can be hard to break sometimes.”

What is the California mission project?

In fourth grade in California, students learn about the history of our state, from before Europeans arrived to the modern era. Over time, the assignment of having students build a model of one of the 21 Spanish missions in California has become somewhat of a tradition, though it hasn’t been required by the state. Adults remember making their models of the San Fernando, Santa Barbara or other missions out of cardboard, sugar cubes, popsicle sticks or other materials around the house – or helping their kids work on the big project.

Staff writers Hayley Munguia and Aaron Claverie contributed to this story.