You Wouldn't Want to Live in a Wild West Town (Peter Hicks)

Teacher's Guide Author: Denise Charles, 3rd Grade, Don E. Hayden Elementary School, Clark County School District

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This teacher's guide is for the book You Wouldn't Want to Live in a Wild West Town by Peter Hicks. Additional teacher's Guides are available for Patty Reed's Doll, Sallie Fox, Sarah, Plain and Tall, and other exploration children's books.

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Book Overview: The reader becomes the marshal of a fictional town called Dustville. And discovers that the allure of living in the Wild West is not all it seems. There are all sorts of things that are not written in the stories about the West. Everyone from the good, bad and the wild are attracted to Dustville and as the marshal you must keep everyone and everything under control. Sickness, disease, weather, and even stampedes are detailed in the book.

Book Themes: Cowboys, hunting, law and order, illnesses, weather, death, cemeteries

Suggested Activities

• Language Arts
• Help Wanted
• Students will interview and apply for various jobs in the old West such as Marshal, cowboy, and fur trader. Small groups will advertise for the positions and make a help wanted poster. The prospective employees will need to research the position they would like to apply for.
• Standards Addressed
• (3) 4.4 A. compare text from different
  1. cultures [PS/NS 4.3.4]
  2. time periods [PS/NS 4.3.4]
• (3) 8.3 A. communicate information by
  1. maintaining a clear focus [PS/NS 8.3.3]
  2. following a logical sequence [PS/NS 8.3.3]
  B. use public speaking techniques to deliver presentations with appropriate
  . prosody [NS 8.3.3]
  2. volume [NS 8.3.3]
  3. eye contact [NS 8.3.3]
  4. enunciation [NS 8.3.3]
  5. posture [NS 8.3.3]
  6. expressions [NS 8.3.3]
  7. audience [NS 8.3.3]
  8. purpose [NS 8.3.3]
• Communicate information by illustrating information with media aids with assistance [NS 8.3.3]
  Communicate statements that express an opinion [NS 8.3.3]
  Defend a position using evidence with assistance [[NS 8.3.3]
  Read aloud and/or recite (e.g., literary, expository, and original works)
• [Title of Activity Idea 2]
• [Provide detailed instructions for using this activity with students.]
• Standards Addressed
• [Type in an objective from the CCSD CEFs or a standard from the Nevada Standards or NCSS Standards]
• [Type in an objective from the CCSD CEFs or a standard from the Nevada Standards or NCSS Standards]
• [Add more standards/objectives as needed]
• Mathematics
• [Title of Activity Idea 1]
  [Provide detailed instructions for using this activity with students.]
• Standards Addressed
• [Type in an objective from the CCSD CEFs or a standard from the Nevada Standards or NCSS Standards]
  [Type in an objective from the CCSD CEFs or a standard from the Nevada Standards or NCSS Standards]
• Cowboy Quilt
• Students will design a quilt square detailing the information found in one chapter of the book. The squares will be measured and pieced together to form a class quilt for display.
• Standards Addressed
• (3)3.5 measure and record to a required degree of accuracy to the nearest 1/2 unit. [NS 3.3.2]
  (3)3.6 select and use appropriate units of measure [NS 3.3.2]

• Social Studies
• [Title of Activity Idea 1]
• [Provide detailed instructions for using this activity with students.]
• Standards Addressed
• [Type in an objective from the CCSD CEFs or a standard from the Nevada Standards or NCSS Standards]
  [Type in an objective from the CCSD CEFs or a standard from the Nevada Standards or NCSS Standards]
• [Title of Activity Idea 2]
• [Provide detailed instructions for using this activity with students.]
• Standards Addressed
• [Type in an objective from the CCSD CEFs or a standard from the Nevada Standards or NCSS Standards]
  [Type in an objective from the CCSD CEFs or a standard from the Nevada Standards or NCSS Standards]
• Science
• [Title of Activity Idea 1]
• [Provide detailed instructions for using this activity with students.]
• Standards Addressed
• [Type in an objective from the CCSD CEFs or a standard from the Nevada Standards or NCSS Standards]
  [Type in an objective from the CCSD CEFs or a standard from the Nevada Standards or NCSS Standards]
• [Title of Activity Idea 2]
• [Provide detailed instructions for using this activity with students.]
• Standards Addressed
• [Type in an objective from the CCSD CEFs or a standard from the Nevada Standards or NCSS Standards]
  [Type in an objective from the CCSD CEFs or a standard from the Nevada Standards or NCSS Standards]

Historical Overview of Book Themes

[Choose at least one theme you've identified for the chapter. Do research on this topic and prepare an approximately one-page report on the topic. Write in a format that other teachers would find helpful when seeking background information about the historical content of the theme(s) from this chapter. The passage should provide information that goes beyond what exists in the book to help students gain a better understanding of the historical context of the chapter.]

Additional Resources

• [Linked Resource Name] by [Author]: [Brief prose-style description of the resource.]
• [Linked Resource Name] by [Author]: [Brief prose-style description of the resource.]
• [Linked Resource Name] by [Author]: [Brief prose-style description of the resource.]
• [Linked Resource Name] by [Author]: [Brief prose-style description of the resource.]

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Note: This teacher's guide was developed as part of one of the Clark County School District's Teaching American History grants. In this grant module, teachers focused on using children's historical literature to teach cross-curricular concepts relating to 19th century westward movement. For more information about this blog, related teacher's guides, or the grant module, please contact Dr. Christy Keeler.