Activities;
The following activities are geared for fourth grade
Texas classrooms, but may be applied to other grades.
Activity 1 -- in
depth Texas history research
Divide the class room into 16 smaller
groups.
Each group will be assigned one of the sixteen "voices" narrated
in the book.
Each group will do in depth research about their narrator and do
a class presentation, using artifacts, drawings, etc. to discuss that segment of
Texas history.
Example: for the Indian Maiden -- students might bring to class:
Indian corn, bows, arrows, headdress, pieces of flint, map showing where various
Indian groups lived in 1500s in Texas
Activity 2 -- Texas History Alive
Program:
This program is often given in an assembly to the school or to parents
at a specific function.
Select 16 students. [This could be a reward for good reading
habits, etc.)
Have each student select [or you assign] one of the 16 personages
in the book, for example David Crockett.
Have each student memorize the passage
of his character (or type the passage on paper so the student can read it).
Have
each student dress in an appropriate costume to represent his character.
If you
have access to a Power Point projector, it is nice to project the appropriate page
on a large screen on the stage while the student is reading, so the audience can
see the illustration that ties in with the speaker.
Activity 3 - writing
letters from the Alamo
This idea comes from Boals Elementary in Frisco, TX
After
reading the book, have students pretend to be someone inside the Alamo who is writing
a letter to someone on the outside.
The student can be someone famous, or a ficitious
person.
The student should write a rough draft first until they have the final
words they want.
Give them a piece of yellowed paper (the older it looks, the
better)
After the letter is finished, to make it look really old and authentic,
stain the ends with copier toner/ink (burning the ends is another option, but a more
dangerous one!!). Crumple the page into a ball, then straighten it out.
This makes
a great bulletin board, as you can see below:
.....................................................From Boal's Elementary School
-- Frisco, TX..............................................
Activity 4 -- paper model of the Alamo
Make a paper model of the Alamo.
See the above example on the bulletin board
Tear brown paper sacks into small
pices to use for the brown walls.
Use small pieces of black construction paper
for the windows & doors.
Glue pieces on construction paper.
(To be historically
accurate, the flag should not be the modern Texas flag)
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