Dear Parents and Students,
Our 7th grade social studies students are studying the geography of Texas and are learning to identify the different regions in Texas. Here is what we will be covering in class this week. The TEKS state that students at this grade level should understand the location and characteristics of places and regions of Texas. The student is expected to be able to locate the Mountains and Basins, Great Plains, North Central Plains, and Coastal Plains regions. Students are also expected to be able to identify major cities, rivers, natural and historic landmarks, political and cultural regions, and local points of interest in Texas.
I have included a few activities and some informational pages that you as a parent can explore with your child as we move through the lesson this week. These activities and web sources will help your child master the places and characteristics of Texas and they will have fun while doing it.
TEXAS REGIONS TIC-TAC-TOE
This would be a great project for your child to do while they learn about Texas. This project allows for your child to be very creative while being able to incorporate technology as they wish. When you click on the link above you will find yourself directly at the Tic-Tac-Toe board. Each box contains an activity over the different regions in Texas that the student will create and produce. Each box has a different activity allowing for the student to gain a variety of information amongst completion of the project. This activity will support the TEKS that require our 7th grade students to learn the 4 regions of Texas.
TEXAS CAPITOL TOUR
Texas Capitol Tour is a great interactive website that allows your children to explore the capitol building. In order to get to the capitol tour you must click on the link above. This interactive site allows your children to explore different rooms in the capitol building while displaying factual educational information pertaining to Texas's history. Check this site out, it is a fun way for your child to see the capitol building; especially, if your child has never been to Austin and actually seen it for themselves. This activity is matched up to our lesson this week in that as we learn about our state capitol, Austin, we will explore a very important historical building, the Capitol Building.
TEXAS STATE MEMORY MATCH
This is a fun game that you and your child can play in order to learn about the state symbols such as: the state bird being a Mockingbird. To play the game click on the link above and click on start game. This is a fun way for your child to learn about some of the points of interests in Texas.
FORT WORTH ATTRACTIONS VIDEO
This is a great video. Have your students watch it. This video informs students of some of the attractions in Fort Worth, Texas. Considering the state standards this week state that a student must learn about historical sites of Texas and points of interest in Texas, this video is a great source to view because the child can actually see the places instead of reading about them. To watch the video click on the link above, push the play button in the center of the video, click the button with four arrows on it to make the video appear in full screen mode.
TEXAS WORD SEARCH
The Texas Word Search is a fun and educational activity that your child can do in order to learn people, places, and things in Texas. Each time your child does the word search new words will appear. They are timed, so they can always try beating their last score. To get to the word find click on the link above, scroll down, and click to play to begin to word search.
TEXAS MAP/SYMBOLS QUIZ PRINTOUT
This is a quiz over Texas where the student has to answer questions pertaining to a Texas map. Having your child do this activity will be beneficial because they will be required to know where and what the capitol of Texas is among other questions pertaining to the state of Texas. This site will help address some of the information they will need to know about cities and state parks that is required of them by the state of Texas and this quiz matches up to our curriculum in class this week.
Thank you and have a historic time learning,