Author, published songwriter, recording artist, and retired history teacher Mark Pennington, a.k.a. "Bronco Charlie," would love to perform the The Gold Rush Musical! with your 4th or 5th grade students. 

The Gold Rush Musical! is a one-hour presentation, featuring a student-led readers' theater to tell the story of the California Gold Rush. I join in, performing authentic Gold Rush sing-along songs, accompanied by your students playing rhythm instruments. Dress in period costumes if you wish! Make sure to invite parents, siblings, caregivers, and grandparents. They will love it. And here's the good news: School sponsorships for 2025 and 2026 are available! 

Teachers are provided all the standards-based instructional resources needed to make The Gold Rush Musical! a memorable event: 

Readers' Theater Script... History, storytelling, diary excerpts, humor, and a special focus on the contributions of culturally diverse groups. Completely aligned with the California History-Social Science Content Standards. 

11 Gold Rush Song Videos... Authentic California Gold Rush songs and sing-along lyrics.

Fluency Practice... Each of the 11 Gold Rush songs includes fluency worksheets for repeated reading practice—formatted with word counts. 

Reading Comprehension and Vocabulary... Each song features comprehension/vocabulary worksheets with 5 embedded questions per song.

Comic Book... Watch the “Bronco Charlie Rides the Pony Express” song video with accompanying the comic book to introduce my character. 

Songwriting Workshop... Students write their own song lyrics to one of the Gold Rush songs, and their original song is recorded as a song video. Your students are published songwriters!

"Our students loved The Gold Rush Musical! The Gold Rush song videos helped prepare students for the readers' theater and sing-alongs, and the song fluencies with word counts were useful. Mark was flexible and accommodating, and the preparation for The Gold Rush Musical! was not excessive. Our students were engaged throughout the performance, and they loved playing the rhythm instruments."

Sarah Powers, Louisiana Schnell Elementary

"They LOVED their own song video. Thank you so much for the personalization to our school. Thank you for coming and putting on such a great show and being so flexible!" 

Kayla Frame, Buckeye Elementary

The Gold Rush Musical is awesome! The parents loved it, and so did our students. You are so talented to take the kids’ words and make it part of their own song video."

Julie Smith, Blanche Sprentz Elementary  

To book The Gold Rush Musical! email mark@penningtonpublishing.com with suggested dates and times for your performance. Or phone Mark at 888.565.1635. 

The Gold Rush Musical! is pleased to partner with the Arts and Culture El Dorado Incubator Program. Inquire about our school sponsorships to bring "Bronco Charlie" to your school. Book now for preferred days in 2025 and 2026.

Interested in having Mark write and record your own completely original school songs (spirit songs, alma maters, announcement lead-ins) to build your school brand and increase school spirit? https://penningtonpublishing.com/collections/mark-pennington/products/school-songs