Activities and Lesson Plans
Building the West: Buffalo Soldiers
Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine, February 2010
You may print Building the West: Buffalo Soldiers children's pages from the Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine. We hope you'll consider a subscription to our magazine. Be sure to check out the Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine special offer for teachers. And please let us know your suggestions for future issues at: education@tpwd.state.tx.us
Suggested Topics: regions of Texas, geography, settlement, history, plants and animals, diversity, adaptation, conservation
Related 4th Grade TEKS:
- Language Arts
- 4.13 B, C, F: Reading, Inquiry, Research : Inquires and Conducts Research Using a Variety of Sources
- 4.15 B: Writing/purposes. Writes for a Variety of Audiences and Purposes
- Social studies:
- 4.4 History: Social changes in Texas during the last half of the 19th century
- 4.7 B, C: Geography: Regions: human activity, landforms, climate, vegetation from physical characteristics
- 4.9 C: Geography: Humans Adapt to and Modify their Environment
- 4.20 C: Culture: summarize the contributions of people of various racial, ethnic, and religious groups in the development of Texas.
- 4.22 C: Social Studies Skills: organize and interpret information in outlines, reports, databases, and visuals including graphs, charts, timelines, and maps
- 4.22 D: Social Studies Skills: Identify different points of view about an issue or topic
- 4.22 E: Social Studies Skills: Identify the elements of frame of reference
that influenced the participants in an event
- 4.23 D: Social Studies Skills: Communicates in written oral and visual forms
- 4.24 A: Social Studies Skills: Problem Solving and Decision Making
- Math:
- 4.4 D: Number, operation, and quantitative reasoning. Multiplication and Division
- 4.11 A: Measurement. Length, capacity/volume and weight/mass.
Discussion Questions
- Did you ever hear about Buffalo Soldiers?
- How did Buffalo Soldiers get heir name?
- What is unusual about the story of Cathay Williams?
- What part of the daily life of a Buffalo Soldier would you enjoy?
- What part of the daily life of a Buffalo Soldier would you not enjoy?
- Describe how Buffalo Soldiers help built the west.
Activities
Note: The images of the Buffalo Soldiers in the magazine are that of re-enactors and living history experts.
Several activities are suggested on the Student Research Page.
Consider these topics: Mapping; Settlement of Texas; Civil War and Race Relations; Survival Skills
See a Buffalo Soldier presentation or Historical Site event.
Webcasts
Courage and Commitment webcast
Learning about the Buffalo Soldiers and a trip to Fort McKavett
Listen and Learn:
Who were the Buffalo Soldiers? Why was it started?
What contribution did the Buffalo Soldiers make to Texas?
Were there any famous Buffalo Soldiers?
How did their lives change in the Buffalo Soldiers?
To Discuss:
How did learning about the Buffalo Soldiers change people's lives?
Were the Buffalo Soldiers in your area of Texas?
What was the impact of the Buffalo Soldiers in Texas?
What was the relationship of the Buffalo Soldiers with other groups such as
Vacqueros?
Why did the Buffalo Soldiers end?
How would you compare the Buffalo Soldiers to the National Guard? The Civilian
Conservation Corps? AmeriCorps?
Are there other untold stories in history books?
History of the Buffalo Soldiers
A teen interviews Dr. (General) King, Houston-Tillotson College, Buffalo
Soldier descendant, about the history of the Buffalo Soldiers
Project WILD activity suggestion
- Make a Coat! - Students make replicas of coats using different materials and representing varying historical periods. Upon completion students identify that some historical and present-day sources of clothing are plants and animals; collect and analyze data to infer the sources of most materials used in clothing today; and distinguish between some examples of renewable and nonrenewable natural resources. Requires butcher paper or large shopping bags; scissors; paint; crayons; yarn; wool scraps; heavy thread and needle.