Texas Symbols was always a crowd pleaser in our class, because we were able to really have fun with it! It usually came during the last couple weeks of school after testing was done (sigh) and we had more time to devote to Texas History.
Each year I would start with the six flags that have flown over Texas. This fold-up is a great place to collect information. I challenge my students to go back in their notebooks and see if they can figure out where each flag is from and when they ruled Texas, and then we fill in the missing information together.
Then we move onto the symbols of Texas. This PowerPoint is a great jumping off place to filling in our fold-up and starting class discussions. We also read L is for Lonestar. After we have learned all about the different symbols, we play a game of Who am I? with the symbols. I just tape a notecard with a different symbol (there might be some repeats depending on how many students you have) on each student’s back and then they have to ask other students questions to figure out which symbol they are.
Another great way to review the symbols is this I Have, Who Has? game.
After a few rounds of Who Am I? I am ready to test my students’ knowledge on symbols and use these task cards in a scavenger hunt to get the job done.
Of course, it is also part of our standards for all students to learn our state song Texas, Our Texas. I don’t know about you, but I do NOT have the pipes on me to belt this one out and teach it to my class, but luckily there are LOTS of YouTube videos available to sing along with.