Vaquero y Cowboy
Teacher Resource Web Sites
 
Discovery Channel for Schools: Cowboys
http://school.discovery.com/lessonplans/programs/rediscoveringamerica-therealamericancowboy/
Visit this site for a comprehensive grade level 6-8 lesson plan, using cowboy poetry as a vehicle for understanding the lifestyle and history of cowboys; includes web links to modern cowboy poetry and printable resources.

Cowboy Songs and Singers: Of Lifeways and Legends
http://parentseyes.arizona.edu/cowboysongs/index.html
This site features an essay on the history of “real” cowboys and their Hollywood counterparts. Video and audio links of local Arizona cowboy musicians are included.

National Geographic.com’s Vision Gallery: African American Cowboys
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/tarver/index.html
Visit this site to see a photo gallery and commentary relating to the African American presence in settling the West and “black cowboys” of today.

Library of Congress, American Folklife Center Presents
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ncrhtml/crhome.html
Buckaroos in Paradise: Ranching Culture in Northern Nevada, 1945-1982
This site is an extensive documentary of ranching life in Northern Nevada with focus on the 96 Ranch and its buckaroos. The site features over 40 video clips and over 25 audio clips, in addition to numerous still photos. 

Pulse of the Planet from the Blanco County Rodeo
http://pulseplanet.nationalgeographic.com/ax/archives/01_culturetemplate.cfm?programnumber=2207
Visit this site for a two-minute clip of the Blanco County Rodeo; hear how a real cowboy describes the experience of riding a bull. Features Real Audio clip and full text versions.

Library of Congress: American Memory 
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/papr:@field(NUMBER+@band(edmp+4029))
Bucking Bronco 
Part of the Library of Congress’s American Memory Website, this is a presentation of film clips from the real Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, part of their Early Motion Picture Collection. This clip could be used to talk about the intersection of real cowboy life and staged entertainment presentations of cowboy life. 

Erwin E. Smith, Cowboy Poet: Teaching Guide
http://www.cartermuseum.org/collections/smith/teaching.php
This is a teacher’s guide from the Amon Carter Museum designed to help 4th through 7th grade teachers explain the work of cowboy photographer Erwin E. Smith, cowboy culture and Texas history. Over 700 pictures are available through this online guide.

Vaqueros: The First Cowboys
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/park/jose/vaquero.htm
This page is from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and offers further information about vaquero and cowboy history. Features an in depth article about vaqueros and their place in Texas history as well as a searchable database of Texas history topics from the Texas Handbook Online, a joint project of the General Libraries at the University of Texas at Austin and the Texas State Historical Association.

Ranching in the Lower Rio Grande Valley
http://www.riceinfo.rice.edu/armadillo/Past/Teach/les15.html
This is an excellent site, complete with activities incorporating TEKS and vocabulary words. The site is published by the Armadillo World Wide Web Server to provide teachers, students and the historically-interested general public a source of information about the Lower Rio Grande Heritage Corridor along the border between Texas and Mexico. This area provides a fertile place to study the interaction between cultures and the emergence of a distinctive way of life that has been shaped by a variety of forces. 
Printable Classroom Worksheets from the Witte
Word Scramble
Word Search

[Also see related activity sites in the Kid Zone section of this Witte TeleVentures section.] 

©2003, Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas