Subscribe

4th grade · Social Studies · Unit 7 of 14

Cattle, Rails & the Frontier

Trail drives, railroads and forts

What your child practices

Vaqueros and longhorns, the cattle drives and Charles Goodnight, Richard King and Lizzie Johnson, how railroads changed Texas towns and industries, and how the Red River War, frontier forts, railroads and the loss of the buffalo changed life for Plains nations.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: 4.4(B); 4.4(C); 4.4(D); 4.10(C) · the cattle industry, the effects of railroads, and the effects of the Red River War, forts and the loss of the buffalo on American Indian life

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Longhorn cattle came from cattle brought by the Spanish. Vaqueros were skilled cattle workers.
  2. Cattle drives took herds north to railroads. Railroads grew towns and industries.
  3. The loss of the buffalo hurt Plains nations, who depended on it.

Example: Why did cowboys drive cattle north to Kansas? Cattle sold for more in the north and east. Railroads there could carry them to markets. Answer: to reach railroads that took them to market

Cattle, Rails & the Frontier in Texas

In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 7 of 14 in 4th grade Social Studies, after Civil War & Reconstruction and before Oil, Wars & Inventors.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Texas Education Agency (TEA)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Railroads helped farmers and ranchers…

    • build canoes
    • find gold
    • stop selling crops
    • ship crops and cattle to faraway markets

  2. Question 2

    The most famous cattle trail went from Texas to Kansas. It was the…

    • Chisholm Trail
    • Santa Fe Trail
    • Silk Road
    • Oregon Trail

  3. Question 3

    After the Red River War, many Comanche and Kiowa people were forced to move to…

    • Mexico City
    • Europe
    • Galveston Island
    • reservations in present-day Oklahoma

  4. Question 4

    A cattle brand shows…

    • where it was born
    • what it eats
    • who owns the animal
    • how old it is

  5. Question 5

    Charles Goodnight is known for…

    • discovering oil at Spindletop
    • writing the Texas Constitution
    • leading the Alamo
    • starting a big Panhandle ranch and inventing the chuck wagon

  6. Question 6

    Before railroads, how did most goods travel across Texas?

    • by pipeline
    • by truck
    • by wagon, horse or river boat
    • by airplane

More 4th grade