The Old Southwest

Content Objectives

Students will:

• Learn about the Old Southwest.
• Access prior knowledge and build background about the settlement of the United States and early U.S. history.
• Explore and apply the concept of why settlers came to the Old Southwest and what they did there.

Language Objectives

Students will:

• Demonstrate an understanding of life in the Old Southwest.
• Orally use words that name the various items people used in the Old Southwest.
• Extend oral vocabulary by speaking about the reasons the Old Southwest was settled.
• Use key concept words [explore, settle, cowboy, western, cattle ranch, Native American, carriage, general store, saloon].

Other

Explain

• Use the slideshow to review the key concept words.
• Explain that students are going to learn about the Old Southwest:
• Where and when does the term "Old Southwest" refer to?
• What jobs were common in the old Southwest?
• What are some differences between life in the Old Southwest and life in the modern world?
• What tools did people use in the Old Southwest that aren't as common today?

Model

• After the host introduces the slideshow, point to the photo on screen. Ask students: What is the Old Southwest? (a region in the southwestern United States that many settlers moved to in the 1800's),
• Ask students: What were some common jobs in the Old Southwest? (farmer, cowboy, saloon bartender, etc.)
• Say: Many different people settled in the Old Southwest. Some were Native Americans, cowboys, and cattle ranchers. What are some reasons people moved to the Old Southwest? (more open land, opportunity to get rich off of gold, Wanted to be farmers, etc.)

Guided Practice

• Guide students through the next three slides showing them pictures of people, places and things. Always have the students discuss whether or not what they see would typically be found in the Old Southwest.

Apply

• Play the games that follow. Have them discuss with their partner the different topics that appear during the Talk About It feature.
• After the first game, ask students if they have ever visited the Southwest or if they have any family history in that region. After the second game, encourage them to share stories about the Old Southwest that they have read in books or seen in movies or television programs.

Close

• Ask students: Was the old Southwest really the way it is portrayed in fictional movies and television shows? Explain.
• Summarize for students that the Old Southwest is a region in the southwestern United States where Native Americans, cattle ranchers, and cowboys lived. Encourage them to construct a chart that compares and contrasts the similarities and differences between the real Old Southwest and the Old Southwest depicted in movies and television.