Let’s talk about the Colonization of Texas. This time period includes empresarios, the Father of Texas, and the beginning of many modern cities. Students are sure to get excited!
For our colonization unit we start out by discussing why people wanted to come to Texas. There are usually a few misconceptions with this one. For example, did you know that people wanted to come to Texas to visit Fiesta Texas. No? Me either!
This PowerPoint is a great way to begin the unit and allows students to gain insights into who came to Texas and why.
Throughout the unit it is also important to emphasize that there were already indigenous people in Texas who were forced off their land in addition to enslaved persons who were brought by the colonists.
We then focus on The Old 300 in a bit more detail. Throughout the unit we use these interactive notebook activities and included journal prompts to create an artifact of student learning and tie it all together.
For extra information, I like to have a few books around that my students can read, or we can read together if we have a spare few minutes. One of my favorites is The Colonization of Texas. It is a content-heavy book that my students get totally into!Another great book that I recently learned about is A Paradise Called Texas. After learning about important empresarios, students will choose one to create a trading card over. The front of the card should be an illustration and the back should have facts. I love seeing what my students come up with as their illustrations and what facts they find important enough the include.
