T eXQS Unit

a unit celebrating the Lone star state

Compiled by April Larremore Clipcr-t by DJ Inkers and Color Me Kids

This idea came from 5>rooke perry.

Patterns for the horse are included on the next page.

The mane is made from a piece of fake fur from the fabric store.

Wanted posters

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Wanted poster example

Texas state Small Mammal- The Armadillo

After reading Armadillo Rodeo, we made these armadillos.

One of my favorite armadillo books is Armadillo Tattletale.

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Armadillo Measurements

5>ody- 9 X 5 ~ (Clip all 4 corners and round) Head- 3 ~ X 2 (Clip all 4 corners and round)

Ears-1 X 1 ~ (each child needs 2, clip all 4 corners and round)

Legs- 1 ~ X 1 ~ (each chi Id needs 4, make "v" cuts out of the bottom) T ci 1- 4 X 1 (clip the top corners and round)

Use a black crayon to add eyes, a mouth, and lines to the tai I.

Glue elbow macaroni on the body to make the scales.

students glued tissue paper onto the flag and added a die cut star.

Flag Facts

Texas is known as the "Lone star state" because the flag consists of a single, five pointed star on a vertical field of blue. It also has a large white stripe on top and a large red stripe on the bottom. The blue stands for loyalty. The white stands for liberty and the red stands for courage. The flag was adopted as the flag of the Republic of Texas in Houston on January 25,1839. It was adopted by the 3rd Congress of the Republic.

Another flag idea from my friend Amanda Fowler.

Texas state Flower- The l?luebonnet

5>luebonnets made by Mrs. Lasater's Class.

Light blue flowers with dark blue fingerprints.

5>luebonnets by Mrs. Fowler's Class Dark blue flowers and white fingerprints.

5>luebonnets made by my class.

To paint the popcorn-

Pop up a large bowl of popcorn using an air popper. Then fill a large zip-Ioc bag with popcorn and blue powdered tempera paint. Seal and shake. The paint with coat the popcorn and turn it blue. Glue onto the flower shape using Elmer's white glue. Microwave popcorn will not work because of the grease. It has to be air popped.

Kids color green leaves.

Then they fingerprint the flower at the top with blue paint.

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Te,XQs StateF,1 ower

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We read The Legend of the B>luebonnet. Then we did some shared writing about the girl in the story. Afterward, the students drew pictures of the events in the story.

The state Insect- The Monarch

The we made butterflies.

This butterfly is from TLC Lessons.

On our mural, we made these same butterflies, but used white paint to fingerprint dots along the edges. See the picture 0 the next page for an example.

The state T ree- The pecan Tree

We drew tress and then fingerprinted pecans on them.

We also tasted eccns just for fun!

For our mural, we squished up small squares of green tissue paper and glued them onto large green leaf shapes. We squished up brown tissue paper squares to make the pecans.

Mockingbird Directions

I made the measurements for this bird up. I am not that

pleased with it, but it is what I used. r?ody- 4 X 7 (clip all 4 corners and round)

Wing- 3 X 1 ~ (clip all 4 corners and round, glue on, outline with a black crayon)

Head- 2 ~ X 3 (clip all 4 corners and round)

r?eak- 1 X 2 (cut diagonal from one corner to the other) Legs- 2 X ~ (glue on, needs 2)

Feet-1 X 1 (cut diagonal from one corner to the other)

The Legend of the Mockingbird

I found this story in my files, but I am not sure where it came from. ®

In the days gone by, there lives a beautiful Indian made who loved to sing. She had one of the most beautiful voices that anyone had ever heard. One day she was walking through the woods dressed in gray and white clothes. f?y chance, she came upon a meeting of the gods of the forest who were practicing new songs for the birds to sing.

The Indian maid boasted that she could sing better than anyone there and challenged them to a song contest. The gods consented for they hoped to teach the vain girl a lesson. Each of the gods sang a song. When they had finished, the proud Indian maid repeated the songs note for note and then sang a few new notes of her own which improved the songs greatly.

The gods had to admit the Indian maid had won, but they wanted to punish her anyway because she dared to try her skill against the gods. So they changed her into a bird. As she flew through the woodland, still dressed in gray and white, she sang the songs the gods were planning to teach the other birds. Thus she became known as the Mockingbird.

The Twelve Days of Rodeo Written by Charlotte stum f

I divided the students into groups.

They worked together to illustrate their line in the song.

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These I?oots Are Made For Walking Idea by 5>rooke perry

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Patterned after the song "These 5>oots Are Made for Walking" The students used pixie to make themselves as cowboys and cowgirls.

Then they brainstormed different things their boots could be made for.

Type thei r sentence on the computer.

Then give them the words cut apart.

Have them put the words in order and glue them on their paper.

I?aby Rattlesnake by T e Ata

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Paper Plate Rattlesnakes Have each student paint a paper plate yellow.

After the paint dries, cut the plate into a circular spiral snake.

Have each student glue colored construction paper rhombus shapes onto their snake. (Suggestion: Have them glue them in a color pattern) Students can add glitter to the scales or macaroni to the end to make a rattler.

Retell the Story Create a large snake shape on bulletin board paper.

After reading the story, have students discuss the beginning, the middle, and the end of the story.

Record what they say about the beginning by the head of the snake. Record what they say about the midd Ie in the midd Ie of the snake's body.

Then record what they say about the end by the rattle.

Creative Writing Ideas

Learn about snakes and then write to inform about them.

Pretend you are baby rattlesnake and write a thank you note for your rattle.

Write what you would do if you saw a snake.

These can be done independently or as a whole group.

Rattlesnake Measurement

Have students make rattlesnakes out of play dough.

Then have them measure their snakes using plastic links or another type of non-standard measure.

Record their measurements. Compare lengths.

Who had the longest snake?

Who had the shortest snake?

Texas state Motto- Friendship

Read books about friends or friendship.

Have students draw a picture of themselves with a friend.

Have them write about how friends should treat each other or how friends act with other friends.

Armadi Ily Chi li

(The T exes version of The Little Red Hen)

Read Armadilly Chili and The Little Red Hen.

Compare the two stories using a venn diagram.

Act out The Little Red Hen using masks.

Make Chili in a crockpot.

Serve with crackers. Graph "Do you like Chi Ii?"

The red hen is from makinglearningfun.com

The Jalapeno Man

Hot Pepper Writing

Make a "Hot" Pcok - A ( ) is as hot as a ( ).

Make a Jalapeno Fact 5>ook Make a list of foods that are HOT

Use jalapenos to make math story problems.

For example: John grew 5 jalapenos. He gave 2 to Jack.

How many jalapenos did John have left.

Make a list of different ty es of

Use a venn diagram to compare The Jalapeno Man to The Gingerbread Man.

Chicks and Salsa

(This idea came from f?rooke perry

Read the book Chicks and Sa lso

Do a taste test with chips, ranch dip, queso, and salsa.

Cowboys end Cowgirls

Cowboy Lunch March 2009

a fact about Texas ...

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_1 -. h e M6Cirw··bi0.

This is a page we added to our memory books at the end of the year.

I included it here to show you the cowgirl.

Cowboy/Cowgirl Measurements

Shirt- 6 X 2

l;>andana-1 ~ X 3 (cut diagonal from one corner to the other) Neck-1 X 1 ~

Head- 4 ~ X 4 ~ (clip all 4 corners and round)

Ears-1 X ~ (each chi Id needs 2, clip 2 corners and round) Hat top-4 ~ X 4 (make a u shaped cut in the top)

Hat brim- 4 X 1 ~ (each chi Id needs 2, clip all 4 corners and round)

Add crayon details after all of the glue has dried.

These cowboys and cowgirls are from the TLC Lessons book People.

To end our unit on Texas, we dressed like cowboys and cowgirls and ate a hot dog lunch. Each student brought in a different item for our lunch and then we ate "picnic" style.

Graphing Questions

Were you born in Texas?

Send a note home the day before doing this graph. Ask parents to record where their child was born.

The next day, use a large cut out of Texas attached to a different color of bulletin board paper to create the graph.

Use photos of each child to graph their answer.

If they were born in Texas, then their picture goes on the Texas shape.

If they were born outside of Texas, then their picture goes on the paper around the Texas shape.

Analyze the graph when finished.

Have you ever ridden a horse?

Chi li Pepper Patterns This idea came from f?rooke perry

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The Gingerbread Cowboy

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We read the book The Gingerbread Cowboy

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The we retold the story and made gingerbread cowboys.

Follow up this lesson with some yummy gingerbread man cookies!

YUM!

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state Symboll?ook

This idea came from f?rooke perry

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Cowboy, cowboy, what do YOje?

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1 see a cactu:; looking at me,

Cactus, cactus, what do yo~ see?

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1 see pro~ f e"ans looking at

We see ,.A bl~bonnet, a vellow rose, a peCan tree, a fat armadillo, a longhorn, a mocklngb;d, of e"es flog,

AlIStm, the coplta~ a cowboV.anda cactu:; Ioolling at lIS. fhat'5 What we seel

Read a book about Texas,

such as Tumbleweed Tom on the Texas Trail

Tumbleweed Tom

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_ Texas Trail

Have students brainstorm things that are big in Texas.

For example: boots, rope, f?luebonnets, pecan trees, armadillos, etc.

I took pictures of my students wearing a cowboy hat and bandana. I also gave them a stick horse to hold for the picture. I printed the pictures full page size. Then they wrote about feeling like a cowboy or cowgirl.

Suggested Web Sites

http://www.childcClreseminClrs.com/Wild_Wild_West_ Theme_ Unit.pdf http://www.thevirtuCllvine.com/cowboys.html http://forums.CltozteClcherstuff.com/showthreCld. php ?t=19114 http://bcmnc.blount.k12.Cll.us/rodeo __ cowboy_links.htm

Suggested Read-alouds

L is for Lone star T is for Texas

The Armadillo From Amarillo Texas Alphabet

Tumbleweed Tom on the Texas Trail The Legend of the f?luebonnet

Cindy Ellen

Do Cowboys Ride 5>ikes? Cowboy Up!

The Cowboy and the 5>lack-Eyed pea

Why Do Cowboys Sleep With Their 5>oots On? Cowboy Small

Little Red Cowboy Hat 5>ubba the Cowboy prince Armadillo Rodeo Armadillo Tattletale Armadilly Chili

The Gingerbread Cowboy The Jalapeno Man

5>uster Goes to Cowboy Camp Cowboys and Cowgirls: Yippee Yah!

Cowboy Glyph

This idea came from f?rooke perry

The students made cowboy and cowgirl glyphs using pixie.

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~l?lack Hat = Would not want to be a

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:l?lack star = Has never been to a rodeo. :

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i Yellow star = Has been to a rodeo.

big in Texas!

Texas performance

We performed a Texas song and shared some Texas facts with our school. We dressed as cowboys and cowgirls for the occasion.

The song we sang- T -E-X-A-S Sung to the tune of 5>INGO

There is a state that I call home and Texas is its name, oh.

T-E-X-A-S,T-E-X-A-S,T-E-X-A-S,

And Texas is its name, oh.

Several students shared facts about the symbols of Texas.

For example: Our state bird is the Mockingbird. Mockingbirds are known for mimicking songs of other birds. The students who read a fact, had their facts on the other side of their letters.

The students held their letter up high as we sang it and then pulled it back down when we sang the next letter.

Animal Math

Use plastic farm animals to work on math concepts.

Have students sort the animals by their attributes.

Have students create patterns using the animals.

Place a bunch of plastic farm animals into a cowboy hat. Have students predict how many animals they think they will "round up." Chart their answers on paper. provide students with an ice cream scoop or let them use their hand. Have them scoop up some animals and put them into a circle of yarn. Have them count how many animals they "rounded up." Chart how many animals they actually "rounded up." Compo re thei r predictions to their actual amount. Analyze the chart. Who "rounded up" the most animals? Who "rounded up" the fewest? How many more or how many less?

Have students make addition or subtraction problems using plastic animals. They can use playing cards or dice to generate numbers. Students can use farm animal stickers or ink stamps to record their animals on paper.

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