Lesson Plans
Listed below are lesson plans currently available as Adobe PDF files (you may need to download a free copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader). Check this site frequently for new additions.
In addition, there are two five-day Unit Plans available. Lessons focus on family history, using primary sources, map-making and map analysis, graphing population, analyzing artifacts, and doing archeology.
signifies lesson plan correlated to exhibit on Texas Beyond History.
Language Arts | Social Studies | Math/Science | Art
Language Arts
A
Day in the Life
Students explore the roles of a variety of people who lived or worked at
a nineteenth-century Texas frontier fort or in a nearby frontier town. By
writing about a character in his/her own voice, students reach a greater
understanding of life on the Texas frontier. Suggested for grade levels
4-7.
View TEKS and download page.
Archeology
2500: Texano Weapons
Students work in small groups to write a creative, descriptive report about
a "mystery" artifact. Hypothesis building and creative writing
suitable for upper elementary and above. Suggested for grade level 7. View
TEKS and download page.
Creative
Writing about Ancient Life Ways
Students choose one of three writing prompts (included) to complete a short
essay about geography, environmental changes and human migration and settlement.
Upper elementary and above.
View TEKS and download page.
Inventions
Over Time
Students compare ancient inventions such as the atlatl, spear point and
bow and arrow with modern ones, such as the telephone. Students make inferences
about how inventions change people's lives based on a cause and effect chart.
Upper elementary and middle school.View
TEKS and download page.
Kincaid
Creatures
This two-part lesson illustrates how archeologists use stratigraphy (layering
of the earth) to help determine which animals lived (or were hunted) at
the Kincaid Shelter over the last 13,000 years and how some of these animals
may have become extinct. Students work with a partner to answer stratigraphy
diagram questions, then search the Kincaid Shelter website to identify animals
whose remains were found in different layers of Kincaid. The animals’
names are then used to solve a “Magic Squares” puzzle. Suggested
for grade level 7. View
TEKS and download page.
Making
a Caddo Circle Book
Students write, draw, and use mathematics to create a short booklet about
the Caddo Indians. This interdisciplinary lesson is suitable for grades
4 and 7. View
TEKS and download page.
Timeline
of the Western Texas Frontier
Students work in pairs or small groups, using the Internet to research time
periods for Texas archeology and make an illustrated timeline. Then they
write a creative story describing the changes indicated by the timeline.
Suggested for grade level 4.View
TEKS and download page.
Whose
Buffalo?
This two-part lesson deals with events on the Great Plains of Texas leading
up to the Red River War of 1874. Students will examine how the Plains Indians
vied with white commercial buffalo hunters for the millions of Great Plains
buffalo, and will create an illustrated broadside supporting the interests
of either the Indians or the commercial hunters. Suggested for grade level
7. View
TEKS and download page.
Social Studies
A
Day in the Life
Students explore the roles of a variety of people who lived or worked at
a nineteenth-century Texas frontier fort or in a nearby frontier town. By
writing about a character in his/her own voice, students reach a greater
understanding of life on the Texas frontier. Suggested for grade level 4.
View TEKS and download page.
Aldridge Sawmill - The Story in Numbers
This lesson plan provides 7th-grade students an opportunity to practice
math skills while becoming familiar with Texas’ “Boom &
Bust” economy and the natural history and geography of the east
Texas Piney Woods. The student handout is illustrated with historic photos
of logging in East Texas. Suggested for grade level 7. View
TEKS and download page.
Archeology
of the Future
This lesson has two parts that teach 11 vocabulary words suitable for middle
school and above. In Part 1 students describe four artifacts from an imaginary
archeology site and make inferences based on this evidence. Part 2 is a
charming crossword puzzle to reinforce vocabulary. Either part works great
alone too! Suggested for grade level 7.
View TEKS and download page.
Archeology
2500: Texano Weapons
Students work in small groups to write a creative, descriptive report about
a "mystery" artifact. Hypothesis building and creative writing
suitable for upper elementary and above. Suggested for grade level 7.
View TEKS and download page.
Artifact
Bingo
Students practice using a grid while playing an archeology bingo game with
picture cards to learn vocabulary. Picture cards and grid outline included.
Elementary and middle school levels.View
TEKS and download page.
Bottles,
Pins, and Horseshoes: Analyzing Artifacts From the Ransom Williams Farmstead
Using Bloom’s Taxonomy
Students will analyze several of the intriguing farmstead artifacts using
Bloom's Taxonomy, a classifying device used to illustrate the hierarchy
of thinking levels, from simple and concrete to complex and abstract. This
allows students on all levels to exercise the complete range of critical
thinking skills while appreciating the cultural significance of historical
objects. View
TEKS and download page.
Cabeza
de Vaca Meets the Coahuiltecans
Using historic documents, students will learn to distinguish the difference
between primary sources, such as Cabeza de Vaca's journal, La Relaci3€4n,
(The Account) and secondary sources, such as their history books or the
posters they will create in this lesson. Suggested for grade level 4 (but
easily adapted for 5th, 6th, or 7th).View
TEKS and download page.
Comparing
Two Cultures: Hinds Cave and Yours
In this lesson students compare their own culture with that of prehistoric
people who camped at Hinds Cave in the Lower Pecos region of Texas thousands
of years ago. Students become familiar with lesson-related vocabulary terms
(in English and Spanish), locate Hinds Cave on a map, make cultural comparisons
using a graphic organizer, and write a comparison/contrast essay on the
two cultures. (7th-grade and older) View
TEKS and download page.
Creative
Writing about Ancient Life Ways
Students choose one of three writing prompts (included) to complete a short
essay about geography, environmental changes and human migration and settlement.
Suggested for grade level 7.
View TEKS and download page.
Death
on Board La Belle: Finding Clues from Old Bones!
Students will analyze the skeleton found onboard the La Belle shipwreck
by completing an illustrated online interactive and printed report form.
Based on the actual analysis of the skeleton and the French shipwreck, the
lesson enables students to learn about the sailor's life during the voyage
of La Salle to the New World. Suggested for grades 4th-7th. View
TEKS and download page.
Digging Deeper: Mission San Sabá is a lesson is aimed
at students who already have an understanding of the Spanish mission-presidio
system in Texas. The purpose of this lesson is to have students understand
Spanish motives for establishing Mission San Sabá and the reasons
for the mission’s failure. Suggested for grade level 7. View
TEKS and download page.
Drawing Our Lives: Plains Indian Ledger Art Revisited
Students view examples of Plains Indian ledger art from different eras and read a speech made by Kiowa chief Satanta when his tribe was forced onto a U.S. government reservation in the late 1800s. They will then create an example of ledger art that documents some aspect of their own culture and write a paragraph explaining their choice of subject. Suggested for 7th grade, but easily adapted for 4th. View
TEKS and download page.
Ecoregions
of Texas
Students map the ecoregions of Texas and illustrate native vegetation. Then
students make inferences about why certain areas were attractive to early
people in Texas. Suggested for grade level 7.
View TEKS and download page.
El
Paso and the Oldest Mission in Texas
The purpose of this lesson is to have students understand the reasons for
Spanish settlement of the El Paso valley in Texas, events that transpired
there, and what life was like for Indians and Spanish settlers. Suggested
for grade level 7. View
TEKS and download page.
Exercising
the Rights of Citizenship in 19th-Century Texas
Students will explore a variety of primary source documents to learn how
Ransom Williams, an African American living in post-Civil War Texas, began
the transition to freedom by excercising the right to vote and own property.
Suggested for grade 7 and above. View
TEKS and download page.
Fort
St. Louis: A Do-It-Yourself History
For this social studies lesson, students will work in cooperative groups
to gather primary and secondary source materials from the Texas Beyond History
website. They will then incorporate these materials into an illustrated
history book about Fort St. Louis, the first French settlement in Texas.
Suggested for 7th-grade. View
TEKS and download page.
The
French in Texas
This lesson for 4th grade students is correlated to the above exhibit
and other websites. Through researching, journal writing, and answering
a variety of questions, students will gain a broad understanding of early
French exploration and settlement in Texas.
View TEKS and download page.
The
Geography and Archeology of River People
Students work in small groups to apply geography concepts such as location,
physical characteristics, and human-environmental interaction to hypothetical
situations. Students identify ways people adapt to and modify their environment.
Students make inferences based on evidence. Middle school and above.
View TEKS and download page.
The Graham-Applegate Rancheria
In this lesson, students can learn about the Indian groups who lived
1,000 years ago on the Llano River. The students will use paintings
and photographs of tools and other artifacts to make inferences and conclusions
about how the Indians lived. Suggested for grade level 7.
View TEKS and download page.
Inventions
Over Time
Students compare ancient inventions such as the atlatl, spear point and
bow and arrow with modern ones, such as the telephone. Students make inferences
about how inventions change people's lives based on a cause and effect chart.
Upper elementary and middle school. View
TEKS and download page.
Kincaid
Creatures
This two-part lesson illustrates how archeologists use stratigraphy (layering
of the earth) to help determine which animals lived (or were hunted) at
the Kincaid Shelter over the last 13,000 years and how some of these animals
may have become extinct. Students work with a partner to answer stratigraphy
diagram questions, then search the Kincaid Shelter website to identify animals
whose remains were found in different layers of Kincaid. The animals’
names are then used to solve a “Magic Squares” puzzle. Suggested
for grade levels 4-7. View
TEKS and download page.
Lake
Naconiche Timeline
For this social studies lesson, students will work in pairs to create a
timeline to understand how long people have lived in the area near Nacogdoches,
Texas. Suggested for 4th-7th grades. View
TEKS and download page.
Life
on an African-American Farmstead
Students compare their lives today to those of 19th-century rural Texans
by exploring a colorful interactive scene of the farmstead. They also will
also consider the evidence for this creative interpretation: the actual
artifacts that represent the chores and farm activities depicted in the
painting. Suggested for grade 4 and above. View
TEKS and download page.
Life
in Texas Freedom Colonies
Students focus on the hundreds of self-sufficient black communties which
sprang up after Emancipation and the many challenges African Americans faced
during this time. Using the Internet, students research the Constitutional
amendments designed to help them, as well as the laws and conditions that
limited their freedom Suggested for grade 7 and above.
View TEKS and download page.
Living
on a Cotton Farm: Mexican American Life in Texas
This five-day unit plan contains bilingual lessons about twentieth century
Mexican-American cotton farming experiences in Texas, based on the Osborn
Tenant Farm. Topics cover immigration, the twentieth century economy, sharecropping,
farm houses, and children's activities. Among the several skills covered
are map making and graphing. Teachers have the permission of TBH also to
print out any of the images from the main Osborn
exhibit for classroom use (note: if printing the entire page, set paper
orientation to landscape). This unit plan was sponsored by the Texas Department
of Transportation. Suggested for grade level 7. View
TEKS and download page.
Location,
Location, Location: Using a Grid to Determine Context
Students make inferences about artifacts based on context, or where the
artifact is located in relation to other artifacts or surroundings. Suggested
for grade level 7.View
TEKS and download page.
Making
a Caddo Circle Book
Students write, draw, and use mathematics to create a short booklet about
the Caddo Indians. This interdisciplinary lesson is suitable for grades
4 and 7. View
TEKS and download page.
Mapping
and Excavating a Jello Mold
Students learn about geologic stratigraphy by excavating grapes from a three-color
jello mold. Suitable for elementary.View
TEKS and download page.
Mapping
with a Compass
Using a compass and a grid, students map the location of artifacts found
at a simulated dig site. Suitable for elementery. View
TEKS and download page.
Meet
You at the Midden
Students identify reasons people modify their environment to meet basic
needs, intepret map symbols, and play an archeology board game. Game board,
game cards and instructions included. Suitable for elementary and middle
school.View
TEKS and download page.
Moving
West with the Forts: Using an Interactive Map
Students will read a map of Texas forts and analyze westward movement from
Statehood to the Civil War. Suggested for grade level 7.View
TEKS and download page.
Porch Talk: A Conversation About Archaeology in the Texas Panhandle
A book aimed at school chilren was written by TBH Plains Village exhibit contributers John Erickson (author of the Hank the Cowdog book series) and archeologist Doug Boyd and it has eight accompanying 7th Grade social studies lesson plans in a free Educator's Guide. Find the book and Educator's Guide at Texas Tech University Press. The guide plus accompanying instructional videos can be found at Plains Archeological Research. When John Erickson saved up and purchased a tract of Panhandle property near Perryton, it set off a chain of discovery. Who lived in Texas over a thousand years ago? In Porch Talk, John Erickson and his friend Doug Boyd investigate this question while explaining the art and science of archaeology for middle readers.
Prehistoric
Life in the Oak Woodlands
This unit plan for 4th- and 7th-grade students contains lessons and activities
about the prehistoric people who lived in East-Central Texas about 600 to
800 years ago. Lessons focus on their economy, including pottery, weaponry,
and how they adapted to and modified their environment. Other lessons incorporate
archeological and geographical techniques, including making a topographic
map and understanding environmental regions and landforms. The unit includes
five lessons with colorful transparencies, maps, and student handouts and
is provided courtesy of Prewitt and Associates, Inc., and Northwestern Resources
Co. View
TEKS and download page.
Natural
Regions of Texas Archeology
Students research archeological sites in Texas using the Internet and create
a class mural of poster board collages illustrating natural regions and
the archeological sites found in them. Suggested for grade level 7.View
TEKS and download page.
Personal
Chronology
Students sequence chronological information. Suggested for grade levels
4-7.View
TEKS and download page.
Pieces
of the Past
Students simulate working in an archeological lab by reconstructing broken
pottery. Math and writing skills are also used. Upper elementary and above.
View
TEKS and download page.
Piecing
Together History: A Turn of the Century African-American Farmstead
This unit plan contains seven lessons, four transparencies, a culminating
project, and grading rubrics. Students use primary sources to learn about
historical archeology and African American life at the turn of the twentieth
century in Texas. The unit is suitable for 7th-grade Texas history. Teachers
also may print out the main TBH exhibit of the Rubin
Hancock farmstead to use in the classroom. This unit plan was sponsored
by the Texas Department of Transportation.View
TEKS and download page.
Stones,
Bones, & Telephones: Analyzing Artifacts Using Bloom's Taxonomy
In a series of questions and discussions about different objects, students
on all levels (from remedial to gifted and talented) will be able to exercise
the complete range of critical thinking skills, from simple and concrete
to complex and abstract. Suggested for grade level 7 (but easily adapted
for 8th, 10th, or 11th). View
TEKS and download page.
Stratigraphy - Layers of Time in the Earth
This science lesson introduces students to the concept of stratigraphy as
a historical and geologic process and helps explain soil formation and the
impact of floods on a watershed. The lesson is based on the deeply stratified
Richard Beene site on the Medina River near San Antonio. Suggested for grades
11 and 12 but suitable also for lower grades. View
TEKS and download page.
Timeline
for the Western Texas Frontier
By constructing a timeline of events on the western Texas frontier, students
will understand the rapid changes in population, settlement, migration,
transportation, and political control of Texas as it expanded westward.
Suggested for grade levels 4 and 7.View
TEKS and download page.
Two
Ways of Life
Students will compare the ways of life of Indians on the western Texas frontier
and U.S. military men at the Texas forts. These two ways of life came into
conflict in Texas, ending with the removal and virtual destruction of most
Native Americans from the state. This conflict is a classic example of a
culture with more advanced technology overcoming a less-technologically
advanced group, a pattern of human affairs oft repeated throughout history.
Suggested for grade levels 4 and 7.View
TEKS and download page.
Vocabulary
Charts
Elementary students learn 12 archeology vocabulary words by writing definitions,
creating sentences, drawing pictures and making inferences. Suggested for
grade level 7. View
TEKS and download page.
What
Can We Learn from the Past?
Students make observations and inferences about artifacts. Suggested for
grade level 4. View
TEKS and download page.
What's Cookin' at Honey Creek? introduces students to the fascinating
process in which prehistoric "chefs" on the Edwards Plateau cooked quantities
of plant bulbs in earth ovens by using hot rocks. This cooking technique
was used for more more than 8,000 years in Texas, so they clearly had a
recipe for success! Suggested for grade levels 4-7. View
TEKS and download page.
Who's
Buried Where - and Why? Finding Cultural Universals with Ancient Egyptians
and Texas Caddo Indians
This lesson illustrates that certain human values and practices do not change
over time or with location. Cultural universals are the basic behaviors
practiced by all cultures, regardless of location or era. Studying cultural
universals helps us understand the customs of other societies both historically
and in today's multicultural world. Humans burying and honoring their dead
is one of these cultural universals. In this lesson, students will discover
that burial practices of the Caddo Indians in east Texas around 1000 years
ago and those of the ancient Egyptians over 4000 years ago, had a number
of interesting differences and similarities. View
TEKS and download page.
Whose
Buffalo?
This two-part lesson deals with events on the Great Plains of Texas leading
up to the Red River War of 1874. Students will examine how the Plains Indians
vied with white commercial buffalo hunters for the millions of Great Plains
buffalo, and will create an illustrated broadside supporting the interests
of either the Indians or the commercial hunters. Suggested for grade level
7. View
TEKS and download page.
Whose
Business?
Students compare the businesses in the town of Fort Griffin (The Flat) to
those in the students' community. Students investigate the factors that
influence the development of specific types of businesses in a community.
Suggested grade level 4.View
TEKS and download page.
Writing
Contemporary Protest Music
Students will examine a19th-century folk song and an anti-slavery protest
song that share the same melody but have different lyrics. Students will
write their own protest song lyrics to the tune of these two songs, based
on a current event they have researched, then perform and record their songs.View
TEKS and download page
Math / Science
Aldridge Sawmill - The Story in Numbers
This lesson plan provides 7th-grade students an opportunity to practice
math skills while becoming familiar with Texas’ “Boom &
Bust” economy and the natural history and geography of the east
Texas Piney Woods. The student handout is illustrated with historic photos
of logging in East Texas. View
TEKS and download page.
Artifact
Bingo
Students practice using a grid while playing an archeology bingo game with
picture cards to learn vocabulary. Picture cards and grid outline included.
Elementary and middle school levels.View
TEKS and download page.
Coordinate
Grid: Mapping an Archeological Site
Students develop a sense of distance by pacing off an area, estimating distance,
working with a grid and reasonable numbers. A related lesson is Mapping
a Site Using a Coordinate Plane. Suggested for grade level 4. View
TEKS and download page.
Death
on Board La Belle: Finding Clues from Old Bones!
Students will analyze the skeleton found onboard the La Belle shipwreck
by completing an illustrated online interactive and printed report form.
Based on the actual analysis of the skeleton and the French shipwreck, the
lesson enables students to learn about the sailor's life during the voyage
of La Salle to the New World. Suggested for grades 4th-7th. View
TEKS and download page.
Discovering
Pi
Students discover the relationship between the circumference and diameter
of circles by measuring a variety of objects. Elementary and middle school.
A related lesson is Investigation of Pot Sherds.View
TEKS and download page.
Ecoregions
of Texas
Students map the ecoregions of Texas and illustrate native vegetation. Then
students make inferences about why certain areas were attractive to early
people in Texas. Suggested for grade level 7. View
TEKS and download page.
Famous
Rock Groups
Students learn definitions and identify igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic
rocks by close observation. Includes evidence chart, ID worksheet and rock
cycle graphic.Suggested for grade levels 5-6.View
TEKS and download page.
Kincaid
Creatures
This two-part lesson illustrates how archeologists use stratigraphy (layering
of the earth) to help determine which animals lived (or were hunted) at
the Kincaid Shelter over the last 13,000 years and how some of these animals
may have become extinct. Students work with a partner to answer stratigraphy
diagram questions, then search the Kincaid Shelter website to identify animals
whose remains were found in different layers of Kincaid. The animals’
names are then used to solve a “Magic Squares” puzzle. Suggested
for grade levels 4-7. View
TEKS and download page.
Location,
Location, Location: Using a Grid to Determine Context
Students make inferences about artifacts based on context, or where the
artifact is located in relation to other artifacts or surroundings. Suggested
for grade level 7. View
TEKS and download page.
Making
a Caddo Circle Book
Students write, draw, and use mathematics to create a short booklet about
the Caddo Indians. This interdisciplinary lesson is suitable for grades
4 and 7. View
TEKS and download page.
Mapping
and Excavating a Jello Mold
Students learn about geologic stratigraphy by excavating grapes from a three-color
jello mold. Suitable for elementary.View
TEKS and download page.
Mapping
with a Compass
Using a compass and a grid, students map the location of artifacts found
at a simulated dig site. Suitable for elementary.View
TEKS and download page.
Pieces
of the Past
Students simulate working in an archeological lab by reconstructing broken
pottery. Math and writing skills are also used. Upper elementary and above.View
TEKS and download page.
Plants
in Central Texas: Then and Now
Students compare and contrast the ways early people used plants in Central
Texas with the ways modern people use plants today by using the Internet,
including www.texasbeyondhistory.net.
Suggested for grade level 7. View
TEKS and download page.
Slow
Rot.or Not!
In this science lesson, students will discover how different environments
affect materials that easily decompose, such as ancient sandals made of
plant fibers. They will formulate and investigate their own preservation
theories by observing how grapes decompose in five different environmental
settings. They will hypothesize how particular environments will affect
their "artifact," record observations of the grapes' changing properties
over a 10-day period and, finally, form conclusions based on their research.
Suggested for grade level 5. View
TEKS and download page.
Stratigraphy - Layers of Time in the Earth
This science lesson introduces students to the concept of stratigraphy as
a historical and geologic process and helps explain soil formation and the
impact of floods on a watershed. The lesson is based on the deeply stratified
Richard Beene site on the Medina River near San Antonio. Suggested for grades
11 and 12 but suitable also for lower grades. View
TEKS and download page.
Tag
It and Bag It
Students analyze and categorize snack mix in cooperative groups, simulating
archeologists' work in the archeological lab. Students organize and interpret
information in a chart, create a graph, and write a paragraph about what
they find. This lesson integrates social studies, math, science and writing
skills. Upper elementary and above.View
TEKS and download page.
Art
Cabeza
de Vaca Meets the Coahuiltecans
Using historic documents, students will learn to distinguish the difference
between primary sources, such as Cabeza de Vaca’s journal, La Relación,
(The Account) and secondary sources, such as their history books or the
posters they will create in this lesson. Suggested for grade level 7 (but
easily adapted for 4th, 5th, 6th, or 8th).View
TEKS and download page.
Drawing Our Lives: Plains Indian Ledger Art Revisited
Students view examples of Plains Indian ledger art from different eras and read a speech made by Kiowa chief Satanta when his tribe was forced onto a U.S. government reservation in the late 1800s. They will then create an example of ledger art that documents some aspect of their own culture and write a paragraph explaining their choice of subject. Suggested for 7th grade, but easily adapted for 4th. View
TEKS and download page.
Making
a Caddo Circle Book
Students write, draw, and use mathematics to create a short booklet about
the Caddo Indians. This interdisciplinary lesson is suitable for grades
4 and 7. View
TEKS and download page.
Personal
Chronology
Students sequence chronological information. Suitable for elementary or
middle school.View
TEKS and download page.
Personal
Painted Pebble
Students create painted pebbles and discuss possible uses of such artifacts.
Suggested for grade level 4.View
TEKS and download page.
Rock
Art Around the World!
Students will learn that cultures in different parts of the world developed
in different ways at different times and that we can learn a great deal
about a culture by analyzing its rock art. Suggested for grade levels 9-12.
View
TEKS and download page.
Rock
Art Caves
Students use the Internet to learn about rock art and the raw materials
used to create them. Students work together in small groups to create caves
for other students to explore in the classroom. Suggested for grade level
4 (but easily adapted for 5th). View
TEKS and download page.