Introduction

You have been offered the opportunity to spend the summer on a working dude ranch. This is the adventure of a life time for a "city slicker".

The Task

Since you want to fit in as a "cowpoke" and not stick out as a "greenhorn", you want to learn as much about cowboy life as possible. You, the student, will:

*research and investigate

*participate in creative work

* process and transform the information gathered

The Process

• Create your own campfire-style canned food label. Use a real label as a pattern. Use your last name either in the brand name or product name.
• Levi Strauss made his fortune by supplying jeans to California settlers in the 1800's. Cut from a brown paper bag a rectangle the size of a jeans label. Design a label that would appeal to the rugged cowboy.
• Write an acrostic poem using cowboy/western words.
• Cattle are branded to identify who owns them. Choose a name for a ranch. Use the Draw program to design an appropriate branding iron symbol.
• Design a picture postcard depicting a ranch scene on the front. On the back include the name and address of the ranch, a stamp of your own design, and your message.
• Create a nine square grid using cross section paper. Number the top row 1, 2, 3, the second row 8, 9, 4, and the third row 7, 6, 5. Answer each of the questions below. Then, take the first letter of each answer word and write it in its numbered box in the grid. When the puzzle is completed, the letters in order, starting with number 1, will spell something that is important to a person who spends a lot of time outdoors.

Box 4- worn on a cowboy's foot

Box 7- a contest of cowboy games

Box 1- what a cowboy sits on while riding a horse

Box 5- where the cowboy lives and works

Box 2- a cowboy gone bad

Box 8- a night bird on the range

Box 3- country of the first cowboy hat

Box 6- a pair of body parts that a hat brim shades from the sun

Box 9- draw a picture of what you spelled

• Cowboys were often able to tell directions by the location of the sun and the stars in the sky. However, a compass was a handy tool for the cowboy who could afford one. With a few household items, you can create your own compass.

Materials:

sewing needle

cardboard

magnet

shallow dish

crayon of any color

pen or pencil

tape

water

Procedure:

1. Trace a 1 1/2 inch circle on a piece of cardboard and cut it out.

2. On one side of the disk, color heavily to coat the entire surface: this will form a water barrier on the paper.

3. On the reverse side of the the cardboard circle, draw a compass rose of your own design, marking the four directions (N,S,E,W).

4. Rub the point of a needle across a magnet 25 times or more.

5. Tape the magnetized needle to the decorated side of the cardboard circle, making sure that the point of the needle is pointing directly north!

6. Float the disk (crayon side down) in the shallow dish of water.

7. Gently poke and push your compass around the dish and observe that the needle's point will always come back to the north. Why is this so?

• Using a grocery store flier or prices from the store itself determine the cost of serving a chuck wagon supper. You will have to determine how many servings each item contains. Count how many "cowpokes" are in your class, and don't forget the trail boss. Your dinner menu includes hot dogs and buns, pork and beans, mustard, ketchup, pickles, and juice.
• Because a cowboy's life was mostly spent outdoors, the weather was an important factor. Record the weather over the course of a week. Chart and/or graph the information.
• Read Pecos Bill. Write an autobiographical tall tale. Dress in costume as your character and share your tall tale with the class.
• Sourdough starter was one of the most important possessions a western cook could have. From it one could make flapjacks, biscuits, and bread. Make a sourdough starter in class using the following recipe-

Sourdough Starter

• 1 package active dry yeast
• 2 1/4 cups lukewarm water
• 2 cups all-purpose flour

Mix the yeast and 1/4 cup of the water. Add the rest of the water and flour, stirring with a fork just until blended. Cover the container loosely with a clean cloth, so that the mixture can interact with the yeast that floats in the air. Set the container in a warm spot (70 to 80 degrees) for 24 hours. The mixture will bubble and have a sour, yeasty smell to it. If it turns orange at any time, discard it. Produce enough for your classmates to take some home to their families.

• Pretend that you could go back in time to the Old West. Write a story about your adventure. While in the past, imagine giving a modern invention (for example, a car, television, or microwave oven) to an Old West character. Tell how it would have changed his life. What tools would the invention replace? How would it have changed history or the lives of the people who lived over a hundred years ago?
• Create a ranch-style breakfast with sourdough pancakes or biscuits and jam. Churn butter in tightly closed jars, using heavy cream and shaking until the butter separates from the watery whey. Other foods might include canned or dried fruit.
• Gather the students around a classroom campfire made from cardboard tubes, yellow and orange cellophane, and flashlights. Share stories of long ago cattle drives, cowboy poems, and sing favorite campfire songs ("Home on the Range", "Red River Valley", "Skip to My Lou", "I've Got Spurs That Jingle, Jangle, Jingle".

Evaluation

Rubric

• projects are detailed with accurate facts and information
• written clearly and creatively
• neat and visually appealing

A In order to earn an "A" you will need to complete 11 or more activities from the process list.

B In order to earn a "B" you will need to complete 10 activities from the process list.

C In order to earn a "C' you will need to complete 9 activities from the process list.

Conclusion

Well, buckaroo, you've been hummin' Home on the Range, flippin' flapjacks, and polishin' up your cowboy boots. Keep on readin', writin', and ropin'. Happy trails to you!

Credits & References

Axelrod, Alan and Dan Fox. Songs of the West. Simon and Schuster, 1991

Courtault, Martine. Going West: Cowboys and Pioneers. Young Discovery Library, 1989.

Fenner, Phyllis. Cowboys, Cowboys, Cowboys: Stories of Roundups and Rodeos, Branding and Broncobusting. Franklin Watts, Inc., 1950.

Fisher, Evert. The Oregon Trail. Holiday House, 1990.

Freedman, Russell. Cowboys of the Wild West. Houghton Mifflin, 1985.

Greene, Carla. Cowboys, what Do they Do? Dodd, Mead, and Company, 1963.

Hyde, Wayne. What Does a Cowboy Do? Dodd, Mead, and Company, 1963.

Keating, Bern. Famous American Cowboys. Rand McNally and Company, 1977.

Lightfoot, D.J. Trail Fever: The Life of a Texas Cowboy. Lothrop, 1992.

Lomax, John A. Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads. MacMillan Company, 1955.

McDowell, Bart. The American Cowboy in Life and Legend. National Geographic Society, 1972.

Miller, Robert H. Cowboys. Silver Burdett, 1991.

Roach, Joyce Gibson. The Cowgirls. University of North Texas Press, 1990.

Rounds, Glen. Cowboys. Holiday House, 1991.

Slatta, Richard W. Cowboys of the Americas. Yale University Press. 1990.

Steber, Rick. Cowboys. Bonanza Publishing, 1988.

http://www.geocites.com/cowboy7405/

http://geocites.com~cowpokinfun/oldwest.htm

www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/sh/cowboy