You have almost made it to the end of the school year, but what do you do the last week of Texas History? In this post, I will provide ideas for making the most of the last few days of Texas History by filling it with engaging review of the learning from throughout the school year.
Now, let’s be honest. Odds are you have had to skimp a little bit (or a lot) on Texas History throughout the year in favor of giving more time to a tested subject. It’s okay. It happens to all of us. Now though, is the time to let Texas History really shine!
I always wanted to end the school year strong with Texas History hoping my students would remember these activities and hopefully some facts on our state’s history. Let’s dive right in!
Create a Texas History Alphabet
This activity is exactly what it sounds like! Each student should start with their own alphabet scategories style and try to brainstorm a Texas History fact, event, or person for each letter of the alphabet.
Students then come together in teams to complete their alphabet, and then as a class students create a visual alphabet with additional facts all about Texas History.
These alphabets make excellent displays for the end of the school year and I would encourage you to pull out all the stops. One year our class used watercolors and pastels to illustrate each letter and my students were in love. Their illustrations turned out beautifully and were admired by the whole school.
Create Texas History Murals
Break out the butcher paper! Split the class into groups. I would recommend an average of three students per group. Assign each group a time period of Texas History.
Groups are then responsible for researching and creating a mural on the butcher paper
that represents that time period accurately. Groups may choose to focus on a specific event from the time period or take a broader approach.
- A few tips to make the murals the best they can be:
- Create sketches first on smaller paper before moving to the butcher paper
- Sketch out the whole mural before you begin adding color
- Color with crayons or colored pencils, markers get messy quick with multiple students working
- Don’t leave white space, cover the entire mural in color
Write Your Own Historical Fiction
You all know I am a huge proponent for writing across content areas and the end of the year lends itself particularly well to it. Personal narratives, which we practiced all year long, are a great way to move into historical fiction.
I start this project off by reading several historical fiction titles to the students. We talk about how historical fiction takes facts and weaves them into personal narrative stories.
Then students brainstorm a time period of Texas History along with a few facts that would allow readers to learn about that time period. Students then begin to build their stories. We would then write our drafts and take them through the writing process of conferencing, editing, and revising before publishing them into our full stories.
Play Texas History Trivia
One of my favorite ways to quiz my students’ knowledge from through the year is with this Texas History Trivia.
This review game is set up in the style of a pub quiz and takes students through multiple rounds of questions including bonus questions for each round. Students play in groups and try to earn the most points possible by the end of the game.
My students LOVED this way of reviewing their learning from throughout the year!
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