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This was a fun
unit to teach, and the students loved it! I started off the unit
by visiting the local school and party supply store to purchase some things
to display in the room that would create some excitement in the students.
I found GIANT sized wall displays of boots, cactus, cowboy hats, a horse
head and even a 3 foot tall bendable cowboy! I really, really
wanted to have a hay bale and a saddle in my Reading Center, but I never
was able to accomplish that. You can create speech bubbles to use also,
by gluing twine (looks like small rope) in a sort of circle with a tail
(looks like a lasso). You can write things like "Howdy Partner",
"Howdy Y'all", "Rootin' Tootin' Cowboy", "Wild, Wild West", or "Giddy Up!"
inside. If you're real adventurous, you could try and create a horse
from a sawhorse or two, a stick horse head, and add a saddle for a mock
horse!
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How I Spent My Summer
Vacation by Mark Teague: This book is one of the selections in the 2nd Grade
Harcourt Trophies series. It's an imaginary tale of a boy who said he was
kidnapped from a train to be a cowboy. Below are printables for the story:
adapted workbook pages from the
Trophies series
pg 10
pg 12
*warning- the toy chest on pg 15
may not copy unless you darken the page*
pg 15
pg 16
oi/oy matching cards
pg 1
pg 2
pg 3
Sara Tomon created these vocabulary
cards to share.
Vocabulary Cards
Vocabulary Planning Sheet
http://www.nevadareading.org/resourcecenter/vocabulary.attachment/313852/Scott_Foresman_
Grade_3_How_I_Spent_My_Summer_Vacation.pdf
*Be sure to check links section below* |
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Another thing
that I found at the school and party supply store were brown paper vests
(and I believe they even had chaps). I purchased one vest to use
as a pattern, then I cut out one for each of my students from brown bulletin
board paper. The students added the details and fringed the bottom.
You could even have them glue on yarn to the shoulders and the bottom to
create fringe. They turned out really cute and were the perfect size
because the pattern was child sized.
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Lasting Lessons
publishes a teacher's resource book that's perfect for this unit.
It's titled "Giddy Up, Round Up" and it has some great activities.
Not only does it give you ideas to use with 5 or 6 books, but it includes
the patterns to go along with the activities.
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The Mailbox (Kindergarten
Aug/Sept 2000 edition) also has ideas for this unit. It's titled
"Welcome to the Kindergarten Corral!"
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If you have access
to an Ellison cow die-cut, you can create a Math counting activity.
Cut out white cows, then add black spots to them. Program half of
the cows with numbers. Laminate. The students count the
spots on the cow and match it to the cow with the correct number.
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For a color words
matching activity, cut out enough boots of one color to cover all the color
words that you teach. Program each boot with a color word.
Then, cut out a matching boot from all the different color construction
paper needed to match the color words. For example, a brown boot
with the word blue on it. The student would find the blue boot and
match it to the color word. If you're a pre-k teacher,
you might want to just cut out two boots of each color and have the students
find the matching pairs
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Ellison also
has cactus die-cuts that can be used as well in making matching games.
You could also program them with numbers or letters and have the students
sequence them in the correct order.
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One of the books
that you have to incorporate into this unit is Armadillo Rodeo by Jan Brett.
You can visit Jan's website and print out ideas and activities to go along
with the book. Visit her at http://www.janbrett.com/index.html
Armadillo Rodeo is also one of
the featured
books in the Lasting Lessons book Giddy Up! Round Up!
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Texas
Style Nursery Rhymes
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Class Book ...
"A Cowboy Can ____________________". Each child fills in the blank and
then illustrates. Bind into a book.
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Going on a Trail
Ride: Provide each student with a stick horse by adding a paper horse head
onto a yard stick. Cut two horse heads (one for each side) and add
a yarn mane, wiggly eyes, and a bridle and reins using twine. Make
a corral in your classroom as a holding pen. On the day of the ride,
have the students wears their cowboy clothes and
give each one
a bandanna. They can carry along Trail Mix for a snack that they prepared
the day before. Head out looking for signs of TX .
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Trail Mix: The
students can add whatever ingredients to their mix that they’d like.
Possible ingredients could be M&Ms, pretzels, nuts, Cheerios, cheese
crackers, Quaker Oat Squares, peanuts, pecans, peanut butter chips, Skittles,
raisins, mini marshmallows. It can be put into a ziploc bag for carrying
on “the trail” or served in a mini pie plate.
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Games to play:
horseshoes, race your stick horse around "barrels"; cowboy dressing relay,
etc. |
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Take-Home Activity:
Photocopy a boot shape onto construction paper. Send home for the
students to decorate and return. Display in the classroom or hallway.
You can add a caption like “Havin a Boot Scootin’ Good Time!”
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This is an idea
that came from the ‘net that sounds really cute. Read Cactus Hotel
by Brenda Guiberson. It tells about a saguarao cactus that has many different
animals living in it. Then have your students make their own cactus from
clay. The clay is made from 1 cup flour , 1 cup salt, 1 tsp. alum. Add
water containing green paint to the dry mixture, stirring as you add. You
can tell when it's ready to knead.
Each child fills
a 4x4 black plastic pot (that plants come in from the nursery) with packed
sand. Then they stick a tongue depressor in the middle of their pot. They
mold their clay around the tongue depressor and shape it into a cactus.
Then they used uncooked spaghetti for the spines. They stick tiny pieces
of art tissue that they twisted, on like fruit flower. They can then discuss
what kind of animal would live in theirs. The clay dries in a day or so
depending on how thick it is.
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You could teach
your students to line dance if you know how.
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Discuss with
your students that a cowboy’s dress is determined by need and not by looks.
Hat -shields
eyes from the sun; used to drink water from a creek or river; used as a
pillow
Bandana - keeps
dust out of his eyes; used to blindfold a horse so it does not get "spooked"
Boots - the high
heels keep feet in the stirrups; the high sides keep dirt off of feet and
helps protect legs against snakebites
Spurs - used
to urge a horse forward
Chaps - protect
legs
Rope - used to
lasso stray cows
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Snack: eat baked
beans on an aluminum pie plate
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Pretend Campfire:
use scrap wood or paper towel rolls and stack them in a campfire shape.
Put white Christmas lights underneath the stack and stick red tissue paper
inbetween.
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Make and decorate
a construction paper cowboy hat.
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Take pictures
of each cowboy and cowgirl with a real cowboy hat on a rocking horse or
other suitable substitute.
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Cut out a construction
paper cow and have the students put on their own "brand" with markers.
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Make a book about
Texas:
Page 1 ~ the
students color an outline of the state
Page 2 ~ they
do fingerprint bluebonnets. Us the thumb with blue paint pressed
on white paper; then put white on little finger and press on top of the
blue. Make stem and leaves with index finger and green paint.
Page 3 ~ they
paint the state flag . Provide them with mini white stars cut from
the Ellison machine to be pasted in the middle of the blue area.
Page 4 ~ their
handprint and a friends handprint and they copy the words "Motto:
Friendship"
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Make Wanted Posters
for each of your children or send them home to be completed. They
could read like:
Wanted _________________
(Nickname) "Pile Up Pat
Wanted for
__________________ (crime) "Piling up dirty clothes in bedroom"
Last seen. ......
Reward …
Attach a picture
of each student and display the criminals in the hallway.
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Branding activity:
cut out various "brands' from sponges and hot glue to long dowel rods.
Kids dip the sponge in paint and "brand" large cut outs of cattle or horses.
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Reading Rainbow
has a video called Meanwhile Back at the Ranch
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I'm a Little
Cowpoke
(tune: I'm a
Little Teapot)
I'm a little cowpoke
(point to self)
Here is my hat
(point to hat)
Here are my spurs
(point to heels)
And here are
my chaps (pat legs)
As soon as I get
up (stretch, pretend to wake up)
I work all day
(pretend to lasso a cow)
I get on my horse
(pretend to get on a horse)
And ride away
(pretend to gallop on a horse)
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Songs to sing
around the campfire :
"Pawpaw Patch"
"Buffalo Gals"
"Turkey In The
Straw"
"Shoo Fly"
"Home On The
Range"
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Game: About
five kids are the cowboys. You can distinguish them by letting them
wear a bandana or a cowboy hat; all of the other children are cows.
The "cowboys" must “lasso” the cows by touching them. When the cows are
lassoed, they sit down until all the cows are caught. Then different children
become the cowboys.
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Counting Tumbleweeds
10 little tumbleweeds
by the corral gate,
The wind whooshed
two away, and then there were eight.
Eight little
tumbleweeds said,"Oh! fiddlesticks!"
"We may as well
dance with the wind." Then there were six.
Six little tumbleweeds
went out to explore;
Along came a
whirlwind, and then there were four.
Four little tumbleweeds
admiring the view; Then came a gentle breeze; so there were two.
Two little tumbleweeds;
round and round they spun
Until they were
out of sight; then there were none!
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The pre-k Mailbox
Magazine issue of Feb/Mar. 1990 has a cute unit on cowboys. More ideas
were in the April/May 1993 issue.
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Alligators All
Dressed (as cowboys)
5 little alligators
get up to dress.
The 1st one buttons
up his vest.
The 2nd one wears
tall boots with taps.
The 3rd one laces
up his chaps.
The 4th one ties
a big bow tie.
The 5th one tips
his hat. Good-bye!
(could probably
substitute cowboys for alligators)
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10 Little Cowboys
10 little cowboys
(10 fingers)
Standing in a
row-
When they see
the foreman
They bow just
so-( curve fingers)
They ride to
the left, and
They ride to
the right (move hands left and right)
And then they
shut their eyes
And sleep all
night. (cheek on hands)
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Ten Little Cowboys
to Ten Little Indians tune.
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Sing a variation
of "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain"
Oh, a cowpoke
sings a riding song. Yah-hoo!
Oh, a cowpoke
sings a riding song. Yah-hoo!
When a cowpoke
goes a ridin',
When a cowpoke
goes a ridin',
Oh, a cowpoke
sings a riding song. Yah-hoo!
Additional verses:
Oh, a coyote
sings a howling song. Ah-ooo!
Oh a pony sings
a bucking song. Neigh-ay!
Oh a doggie sings
a roaming song. Moo-ooo!
Oh, a rattler
sings a sliding song. Hiss-sss!
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Five Little Cowboys
5 little cowboys
sitting on a gate.
The 1st one said,"
Gee, rodeos are great!"
The 2nd one said,"
There are buzzards in the air."
The 3rd one said,
"But we don't care."
The 4th one said,
"Let's watch the horses run."
The 5th one said,
"I'm ready for some fun!"
Ooooooo went
the wind and off went their hats,
And the 5 little
cowboys fell from where they sat."
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Teacher's Helper,
Apr/May/June 1998, has a mini-unit on Armadillo Rodeo.
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Cattle Roundup
The dust begins
to fly
As the cattle
run by.
It starts with
one mooo-
First one cow
and then two.
The dust begins
to fly
As the cattle
run by.
A cowboy brings
two more,
And now there
are four.
The dust begins
to fly
As the cattle
run by.
Spurred on by
cowboy tricks,
Our bunch is
up to six.
The dust begins
to fly
As the cattle
run by.
These cattle
just can't wait!
The group now
totals eight.
The dust begins
to fly
As the cattle
run by.
Two more run
past the men.
Wow! The herd
is up to ten!
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Schooldays, Jan/Feb
1998 also has reproducibles for Whoa! Rodeo Round Up!
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Math Addition
or Subtraction Activity: Cut out boot shapes and program half the
boots with addition or subtraction facts (or both) and the other half of
the boots with the answers. The students will match the facts to
the correct answers.
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Bulletin board
caption for student work .. The Best in the West
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Another mini
unit, Cowpokes, can be found in the Kindergarten Mailbox, Apr/May 1993.
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A mini Southwest
unit is in the Apr/May 1998 Primary Mailbox
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Make branded
cowhides from large brown paper bags. Tear off the edges and have
students crumple them up. Smooth out the paper and brand them with
the sponge "branding iron" described earlier.
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Use horseshoes
magnets in your Discovery or Exploration Center
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Get a cowboy
hat and a deck of playing cards. Have the students sit at a prescribed
distance and try to toss the cards into the hat. Add the numbers
up on the cards that do go into the hat for the student's score OR count
the number of cards that actually went into the hat for their score.
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All Day I Ride
on the Prairie
(tune: My Bonnie
Lies Over the Ocean)
All day I ride
on the prairie.
All night I sleep
on the ground.
Oh, I am a roaming
cowboy,
Who travels around
and around.
Move on, move
on, move on,
Little doggies,
move on, move on.
Move on, move
on, move on,
Little doggies
move on.
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Make a cowboy
by using a 7" paper plate for the face. Top with a cut out cowboy
hat and a triangle at the neck for a bandana.
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Student Name
Plates: Print each student's name in large letters on cardstock,
posterboard, or something similar that's stiff. Have the students
trace their names with glue and place twine over the glue to form their
name. Let dry. You can also enclose their names by making a
circle around their names with the twine to give it the "lassoed" look.
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Decorate stars
covered with aluminum foil and hang from the ceiling. Have the students
bring in their sleeping bags and sleep “under the stars”.
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Cut out cowboy
hats and decorate the hat bands in matching pairs. Laminate.
The students will match the hats according to their hat bands. You
can also use these to play Concentration or Memory.
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Cut out horses
from construction paper, minus the legs. Have the students paint
two spring-type wooden clothespins to match their horse. The clothespins
become the legs for the horse.
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Bluebonnet Art:
Pop popcorn and shake in a bag with blue powdered tempra paint. Glue
the “bluebonnets” onto light blue construction paper and add the stems
and leaves with a marker or crayon. Add white popcorn to the top of the
flower.
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Cactus Art:
Cut cactus out of green construction paper. Glue uncooked broken
spaghetti on to it for the spines. Add pink tissue paper flowers
by twisting small pieces of tissue paper on to the unsharpened end of a
pencil and dipping in glue.
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Make spurs by
cutting a piece of gray construction paper vertically into one inch wide
strips. Fit around the student’s ankle and staple. Staple a
star at the point where the strip is stapled together. (The star should
be sticking out, not flat.)
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Make chaps out
of brown bulletin board paper. For a pattern, you can have a child
lie flat on the paper and trace around his legs and add about an inch to
the sides. Add a strip of paper from both sides at the waist and
staple in the back. Do the same around the leg, about the knee.
Add yarn fringe down the sides or have the students fringe the sides with
their scissors.
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Rhonda wrote
this song for her Pre-K Class's Graduation and posted it on the 'net.
She said the parents loved it!
Happy Trails Graduation
Song
Happy Trails to
you
It's the end
of our school year
Happy Trails
to you
Now Summertime
is here
Next year we'll
be in Kindergarten
But pre-k is
where we left our heart in
Happy Trails to
you
Time to say "So
long!"
For Kindergarten
you could change the middle part to:
We've had a great
time in Kindergarten
And you know
it's where we'll leave our heart in
Or
We've had a great
time in Kindergarten
And first grade
is what we'll be a startin'
~by Rhonda
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Cowboy Girl and Boy: I
found a pattern somewhere for the cowboy clothes. Then we just added the
face and hair. I had the aide trace the patterns off onto wallpaper
samples, then the kids cut them out. Then I modeled how to put them
together and put the model on the board for them to use as a guide. Then
they were to put their own boys and girls together. It was very
interesting to see how undeveloped some of the students' visual perception was.
Some of them had the skirts/pants, right up underneath the face, etc.
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Cowboy Art shared by Joan: My favorite
cowboy art I think I got off of
Kinder
Korner at one point. You give the kids a cut out of a hat and cutout of a
pair of boots. They glue the hat at the top of an 18x 24 inch paper and the
boots at the bottom and then draw the person to fill in between. They are a
hoot!
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Books:
Why Cowboys Sleep
With Their Boots On ~ Laurie Larrazo Knowlton
Matthew the Cowboy
~ Ruth Hooker
How I Spent My
Summer Vacation ~ Mark Teague
12 Days in Texas
~ Donna D. Conner
The Quilt Story
~ Tomy Johnston & Tomie dePaula
The Cowboy and
the Black-eyed Pea ~ Tony Johnston (spinoff of The Princess and the Pea)
Armadillo Rodeo
~ Jan Brett
Cactus Hotel
~ Brenda Guiberson
What Do Cowboys
Do ~ Carla Greene
Yippee Yay ~
Gail Gibbons
Do Cowboys Ride
Bikes? ~ Kathy Tucker
Gold Fever ~
Verla Kay
Just Like My
Dad ~ Tricia Gardella
Cowboy Dreams
~ Dayal Kaur Khalsa
Whitefish Bill
Rides Again ~ Arthur Yorinks
Rosie and the
Rustlers ~ Roy Gerard
Bubba the Cowboy
Prince ~ Helen Ketteman (spinoff of Cinderella)
Sing Sophie!
~ Dayle Ann Dodds
The Grumpy Bunny
Goes West ~ Justine Korman
Cowboy Bunnies
~ Christine Loomis
Cowboys ~ Glen
Rounds
Little Red Cowboy
Hat ~ Susan Lowell
The Tortoise
and the Jackrabbit ~ Susan Lowell
The Bootmaker
and the Elves ~ Susan Lowell
The Three Little
Javelinas ~ Susan Lowell
Little Red Cowboy
Hat ~ Susan Lowell (spinoff of Little Red Riding Hood)
White Dynamite
and Curly Kid ~ Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault
Why Cowboys Need
a Brand ~ Laurie Lazzaro Knowlton
There Was an
Old Texan Who Swallowed a Fly
The Zebra-Riding
Cowboy ~ Angela Shelf Medearis
Pecos Bill ~
Steven Kellog
Pecos Bill ~
Brian Gleason
Someday Rider
~ Ann Herbert Scott
Gila Monsters
Meet You at the Airport ~ Marjorie Weinmen Sharmat
Cowboy Small
~ Lois Lenski
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Websites to Visit:
Rootin' Tootin' Cowboy
emergent reader
http://www.teachersbookbag.com/cowboys.html
Cowboy printables - 2nd gr
http://www.littlebooklane.com/SF2/Cowboys.pdf
Cowboy vocabulary cards - 2nd gr
http://www.littlebooklane.com/SF2/CowboysCrds.pdf
Cowboy stationary
http://www.littlebooklane.com/SF2/Cowboy3pr.pdf
http://www.littlebooklane.com/SF2/Cowboy1pr.pdf
Cowboys Word List
http://www.littlebooklane.com/SF2/Cowboyposter.pdf
Janet's Let's Rodeo! page
http://www.cowgirls.com/dream/jan/rodeo.php
Cowboy and Western Themed
Bulletin Boards
http://www.musicbulletinboards.net/THEMES_cowboy.htm Wild,
Wild West
http://www.kindergartentreehouse.com/wildwest.html
Books
http://www.geocities.com/res_kdgn/cowboy.htm
Armadillo
Rodeo
http://www.janbrett.com/piggybacks/armadillo_rodeo_book.htm
History of the Cowboy
http://www.janbrett.com/piggybacks/history.htm
Texas
Parks & Wildlife Coloring Book
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/adv/kidspage/colorpic.htm
American
Cowboys
http://members.aol.com/cmurphy93/Cowboys2/
The
American West: Cowboys
http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/revision/history/usa_1850_1880/american_west_cowboys_rev.shtml The
American West: Cowboys Test
http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/revision/history/usa_1850_1880/american_west_cowboys_test.shtml Classroom
Ideas ~ Cowboy Dreams
http://www.kathiappelt.com/classroom/cowboydreams.html
Cowboy Cooking - Western Wagon Wheels
http://www.childrensrecipes.com/wagon_wheels_casserole.htm
K-Crew's
Texas Unit
http://www.thekcrew.net/rodeo.html
Horse Coloring Pages
http://www.first-school.ws/theme/animals/cp_farm/cp_horse.htm
Wild West Activities
http://www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/miscellaneous/wildwest.htm
Preschool Education Theme Topics
- Western
http://www.preschooleducation.com/western.shtml
Rodeo and Western
http://www.perpetualpreschool.com/preschool_themes/rodeo/rodeo.htm
Horses
http://www.perpetualpreschool.com/preschool_themes/horses/horses.htm
Western and Rodeo Theme
http://www.everythingpreschool.com/themes/western/index.htm
Texas
http://www.pre-kpages.com/texas.html
Cowboys
http://www.geocities.com/preschoolfunzone/cowboy.html
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