Texas Cattle Kingdom

The student will demonstrate their knowledge of Texas cattle drives and major ranches in Texas by developing a visual display online, depicting cowboy journal entries, and research information over a major early Texas ranch.

Grade: 7th grade

Subject: Texas History

Time Frame: 1 day for research and 1 day to create online posters.

Credit: Rebecca Smith 7th grade Texas History History Department Chairperson & 7th/8th Teacher

Materials needed: Internet, research guidelines (sheet included with this lesson plan) Websites: The Handbook of Texas Online http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/online/ and http://poster.hprtec.org

Procedure: The students will create 2 posters at the above online poster site. One poster will include 2 journal entries from a cowboy on the cattle trail. One poster will include information on an early Texas ranch. (detailed directions can be found on the student directions page)

Assessment: Journal Entries- 20 pts for each entry Research page over Texas Ranch- 10 pts. Texas Ranch poster- 50 pts.

Standards: TEKS: 7.6A, B; 7.21A; 7.22A, B, C, D

Suggested Readings: Handbook of Texas (Ranching in Spanish Texas, Cattle Trailing{Chisholm Trail, Western Trail, Goodnight Loving Trail}, Cattle Branding, Ranching {Charles Goodnight, Oliver Loving, John T. Lytle, Ike Pryor, King Ranch, Samuel Burkburnett, Waggoner Ranch, Matador Ranch, JA Ranch, XIT Ranch}, Cattle Rustling, Barbed Wire, Vaqueros, Black Cowboys, Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, Texas Cattle Fever, Longhorns)