Our multi-discipline
classroom materials for
grades 2, 4 and 7 follow the
TEKS social studies
guidelines for those grades.
The materials have been
developed by experienced
educators whose vision and
approach to student
interaction make this
program especially effective
in classrooms, home
schooling environments, and
in independent study
situations with gifted and
talented students.
This unique program –
Learning from our
past to influence our future
-- teaches about water
through Texas history!
There is a
Teacher’s Resource Guide
for each grade level, and
grades 4 and 7 include an
entertaining and educational
DVD about Texas Rivers. At
the 7th grade level, there
are “Dime Novels” for
students to read and learn
about how critical water was
to “frontier” Texas
families. And, for the
second graders, there is a
video that follows two young
students of today back into
time as they visit a family
and learn about the
challenges of frontier life.
The TEXAS WATER program
takes a unique approach to
educating youngsters about
today’s critical water
issues...utilizing the
marriage of education and
entertainment —
“Edu-tainment” — to help
students understand how
Texas has always depended on
adequate water resources for
expansion, growth and
development...and that such
an understanding will
promote a greater
appreciation for this finite
natural resource.
Texas
Rivers – DVD
– Take a trip along
13 Texas
rivers…learn about
where they come from
and where they
go…and discover how
what happened along
their banks has not
only been critical
in Texas history but
will play an
increasingly
important role in
the State’s future.
(Approximately 30
minutes long; the
introduction and
each of the rivers
can play
continuously, or be
broken into
individual river
segments.)
Dime Novels
Frontier Series
(Student books)
About 155 years ago,
a type of
publication debuted
that was not only
the precursor to
today’s mass market
paperbacks, themed
magazines and comic
books, but also
predicated the
“moving pictures”
and early television
“serials.” Stories
were told about
exciting frontier
adventures... a
little at a
time...setting up an
ever growing market
for the next
installment. It made
sense to use an
historical
publication model to
teach history, so we
created our own Dime
Novels, written by
Hugh F. Wynn.
“Windmills and
Barbed Wire” is
intended to
familiarize students
of today with how
the Texas frontier
was settled — and
specifically the
critical role that
water, windmills and
barbed wire played
in winning the west.
The Frontier Series
of three Dime Novels
are about the
Sullivan family who
packed up their
possessions and left
Malvern Junction,
Arkansas aboard a
Texas & Pacific
westbound train, and
headed for a new
life in Texas. It is
through their
experiences that we
learn about how
critical water
quickly became to
their survival and
how they adapted to
their new home...and
how the invention of
barbed wire and
windmills made it
possible to settle
arid regions of
Texas.
“Winning the West
– Frontier
Challenges”
continues the saga
of the Sullivan’s as
they learn about the
integral roles
played by the
buffalo, the Plains
Indians, and the
ranchers and cattle
drives in the
expansion of the
frontier. The family
learns more about
surviving
life-threatening
disease with access
to only primitive
frontier medicine,
and about the
ravages of drought
on farming
enterprises.
“Winning the West
– Frontier Folkways”
follows the young
Abbie Sullivan as
she has the
opportunity to
attend the
University of Texas.
After Abbie’s family
relocates, she
discovers her true
gifts – writing and
teaching – and
pursues a journalism
career in Austin.
Later she accepts an
invitation to join
the Journalism
Department at UT.
The third Dime Novel
follows some of her
lectures – based on
her own experiences
on the frontier as a
young girl – and
includes information
on daily life as
well as some
important historic
events.
