GIPS TIE Program: goldensower08: Sakes Alive! A Cattle Drive


Grand Island, Nebraska

Sakes Alive! A Cattle Drive
Written by Karma Wilson
Illustrated by Karla Firehammer

Sakes Alive! Farmer's cows, Molly and Mabel steal his keys and go on a "cattle drive"! But cows can't drive as the two careen into the town narrowly escaping several catastropes.

Sakes Alive! A Cattle Drive? Puns Verbal/Linguistic (Gardner's MI)

The author's use of humor is evident in her title and throughout the plot as two cows embark on a cattle drive which is a literary device called a pun. Puns or a pun is a play on words or a humorous use of words that involves a word or phrase that has more than one possible meaning. Have students try to think of several puns and create a list and write them on the cowboy hat resource.

Puns Verbal/Linguistic (Gardner's MI) Visual/Spatial

A visual pun gives new meaning to a word or phrase using images. Have students demonstrate their understanding of a visual pun by using Mediablendar or AW6 Paint to create a visual pun of a fish or bird name.
Resources: Fish and Bird Name List
THE ICE-CREAM CONE COOT, and Other Rare Birds. By Arnold Lobel Examples of many variations of well drawn birds with very wild names: pencilkeet parrot, cupadee, shuttercluck, soupladle lark...

Historical Connection to Build Background Knowledge--History of Real Cattle Drives

Contrary to popular conception, long-distance cattle driving was traditional not only in Texas but elsewhere in North America long before anyone dreamed of the Chisholm Trail. The Spaniards, who established the ranching industry in the New World, drove herds northward from Mexico as far back as 1540. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Spanish settlements in Texas derived most of their meager revenue from contraband trade of horses and cattle driven into Louisiana. In the United States, herds of cattle, horses, and pigs were sometimes driven long distances as well. In 1790 the boy Davy Crockett helped drive "a large stock of cattle" four hundred miles, from Tennessee into Virginia. In 1815 Timothy Flint "encountered a drove of more than 1,000 cattle and swine" being driven from the interior of Ohio to Philadelphia.

Earlier examples notwithstanding, Texans established trail driving as a regular occupation. Before 1836, Texans had a "beef trail" to New Orleans. In the 1840s they extended their markets northward into Missouri. During the 1850s emigration and freighting from the Missouri River westward demanded great numbers of oxen, and thousands of Texas longhorn steers were broken for use as work oxen. Herds of longhorns were driven to Chicago and at least one herd to New York.

Under Spanish-Mexican government, California also developed ranching, and during the 1830s and 1840s a limited number of cattle were trailed from California to Oregon. However, the discovery of gold in California temporarily arrested development of the cattle industry and created a high demand for outside beef. During the 1850s, although cattle were occasionally driven to California from Missouri, Arkansas, and perhaps other states, the big drives were from Texas.

During the Civil War, Texans drove cattle throughout the South for the Confederate forces. At the close of the war Texas had some 5 million cattle˘and no market for them. In 1866 there were many drives northward without a definite destination and without much financial success. Texas cattle were also driven to the old, but limited, New Orleans market.

In 1867 Joseph G. McCoy opened a regular market at Abilene, Kansas. The great cattle trails, moving successively westward, were established, and trail driving boomed. Also in 1867, the Goodnight-Loving Trail opened New Mexico and Colorado to Texas cattle. They were soon driven into Arizona by the tens of thousands. In Texas, cattle raising expanded like wildfire. Dodge City, Kansas; Ogallala, Nebraska; Cheyenne, Wyoming, and other towns became famous because of trail-driver patronage.

During the 1870s the Buffalo were virtually exterminated, and the American Indians of the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains were subjugated. Vast areas were left vacant. They were first occupied by Texas longhorns, driven by Texas cowboys. The Long Trail extended as far as Canada.

In the 1890s, herds were still driven from the Panhandle of Texas to Montana, but by 1895 trail driving had virtually ended because of Barbed Wire, Railroads, and settlement. During three swift decades it had moved more than 10 million head of cattle and 1 million range horses, stamped the entire West with its character, given economic prestige and personality to Texas, made the longhorn the most historic brute in bovine history, and glorified the cowboy throughout the globe.

Information from ask.com

Role-Playing

Go on a real cattle drive! Before there were farms like the one Molly and Mabel lived on, cattle roamed freely on sparsely populated land in Texas. Then during a round up, cowboys and ranchers gathered up wild cattle to take on trail drives to places like Dodge City, Kansas. Before reading the book, invite students to wear clothing that a cowboy wears. Bring examples of clothing such as a real bandanna, cowboy hat, cowboy boots, leather vest, or chaps, etc. For example, bandannas are often seen as part of a cowboy's attire. Cowboys on the cattle drives wore bandannas for several reasons--they provided protection from the sun, cold, and wind. They could be used as a washcloth, a sling, a cleaning rag, or even be tied around a frighened horses's eyes. Ask students what other types of clothing cowboys may wear and why these types may be important on the trail.

Vocabulary Work-- Become Deputy Readers   Verbal/Linguistic (Gardner's MI)

Download the deputy badges and "deputize" students to be Deputy Readers. Challenge readers to be on the lookout for "wanted words". These could be words that are examples of fresh and interesting word choices the author uses within her story. Create a wanted poster of the verbs within the story and discuss why these words make the story more engaging for a reader. Challenge students to come up wth other words that could be used in place of the words on the wanted poster. Have students wear the badge the remainder of their day so they can be on the lookout for other great examples of word choice.

Rope'em Words       Verbal/Linguistic Bodily/Kinestheic Gardner's MI)

Some cattle, such as longhorns, raised on farms or ranches today orginated from Spanish cattle. A cowboy who rounded them up and cared for them are known as "vaquero" or Spanish or Mexican cowboy. Another American word for "cowboy" is "buckeroo". There are several other Spanish words used today that came from the Spanish ranching tradition. Create corrals out of yarn or jute. Use the cow cards and write the list of Spanish words and definitions on individual cards with paper clips on the end to create a matching game. Divide the class into groups giving students a horseshoe shaped magnet on the end of a piece of yarn or jute to create a lasso. Have students rope a word and then try to find the definition to match it.

Spanish words and definitions sheet

Around the Campfire    Musical/Rhythmic Gardner's MI)

Create a campfire from logs and yellow, red, and orange cellophane. Gather students around it and have them discuss what cowboys would do at night around their campfire. Their forms of entertainment were singing and playing an instrument like a banjo or harmonica. Listen to the following songs as they are examples of early cowboy songs. Have students use GarageBand to create their own cowboy song.

Get Along Little Doggies

El Rancho

Red River Valley, Trinidad, and The Wayward Wind by Tom and Sherry Green

Songs

I'm A Little Cowboy

(Adapted by Shelly Lane. Sing to the tune of I'm a Little Teapot.)

I'm a little cowboy, sitting on a horse
Here is my hat and here are my boots

I like to lasso and ride wild bulls.
I'm a little cowboy, yes I am.

10 Little Cowboys

(Adapted by Shelly Lane. Sing to the tune of Ten Little Indians.)

One little, two little, three little cowboys,
Four little, five little, six little cowboys,
Seven little, eight little, nine little cowboys,
Ten little cowboys riding in the rodeo.

Related Web Sites

 Visit author Karma Wilson's web site
     Visit a Texas ranch and test your cowboy skills
    K-1 students practice basic computer skills Elmo's Mixed Up Farm

Literature Connection

Books by Karma Wilson

Bear Snores On
Bear Wants More
Bear Feels Sick
Bear Stays Up For Christmas
Bear's New Friend
Mortimor's Christmas Manger
Never Shout in a Zoo
Frog in a Bog
Hilda Must be Dancing
I Will Rejoice
How to Bake an American Pie
Moose Tracks
Animal Strike at the Zoo It's True!
Sleepyhead
Mama Always Comes Home

Books with Cowboy or Farm Themes

The Toughest Cowboy or How the Wild West Was Won by John Frank ages 4-8 GS 2007 Honor Book
Bubba the Cowboy Prince by Helen Ketteman © 1997 ages 4-8   GS 2001 Winner
Cowboy and Cowgirls: YippeeYay! by Gail Gibbons   ©2003 Nonfiction ages 4-8
Cowboys by Lucille Recht Penner © 1996 Nonfiction ages 4-8
I Want to be a Cowboy by Dan Liebman © 1999 Nonfiction ages 4-8
Little Red Riding Hat by Susan Lowell © 2000 ages 4-8
Cowboy Up! by Larry Dane Brimner © 1999 ages 4-8
Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa by Erica Silverman © 2006 ages 6-10
Punk Farm by Jarrett Krosoczka © 2005 ages 4-8   Punk Farm's version of Old McDonald's Song
Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type © Doreen Cronin ages 4-8
Mrs. Wishy-Washy Farm by Joy Cowley ©2006 ages 4-8
Color Farm by Lois Ehlert © 1997 ages 4-8