Classroom Activities:

Dress Like a Cowboy or a Cowgirl

1. Ask the students to look at the outfits the cowboys in the picture are wearing. What do they all have in common? Make a list of the basic clothing every cowboy would need.
2. Discuss each piece of clothing, and the purpose it served to help the cowboy do his job.
3. Ask the students to picture themselves as a cowboy or a cowgirl and to make a drawing of themselves wearing Western clothing.
4. Have the students write a description of the item of clothing they chose to draw and the reasons for wearing it. Younger students may share their descriptions orally rather than in writing.

Standards: NL-ENG.K-12.4 Communication Skills; NL-ENG.K-12.5 Communication Strategies; NL-ENG.K-12.12 Applying Language Skills; NA-VA.K-4.4 Understanding the Visual Arts in Relation to History and Cultures; NSS-USH.K-4.3 The History of the United States: Democratic Principles and Values and the People from Many Cultures Who Contributed to Its Cultural, Economic, and Political Heritage