Texas TEKS 4.2.B
The Standard
identify the accomplishments and explain the impact of significant explorers, including Cabeza de Vaca; Francisco Coronado; and René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle, on the settlement of Texas
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Social Studies
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students identify what Cabeza de Vaca, Coronado, and La Salle did in Texas. They explain how reports, routes, and claims influenced later Spanish and French settlement.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students can match each explorer to a route, goal, and accomplishment. They can explain a clear cause-and-effect link between each expedition and later settlement decisions.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think all three explorers were Spanish or founded successful permanent settlements. They may confuse an explorer’s goal with the expedition’s actual result and later impact.
How to Assess It
- Give students a three-row exit ticket with one explorer per row. Ask for one accomplishment and one effect on later Texas settlement for each.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Students trace each explorer’s route with colored yarn on a Texas map, then attach labels showing one accomplishment and one settlement effect.
Ask students to write: Which explorer had the greatest effect on Texas settlement, and what evidence supports your choice?
Play a card sort matching explorer names with nationality, route, goal, accomplishment, and settlement impact cards.
Students examine Texas place names or historical markers linked to the explorers and explain how communities remember their expeditions.
Free download
Printable 4.2.B Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to 4.2.B, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.
PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.
Download the worksheetKeep exploring
Related Standards
- 7.2.E
identify the contributions of significant individuals, including Moses Austin, Stephen F. Austin, Erasmo Seguín, Martín De León, and Green DeWitt, during the Me...
- 7.2.B
identify important individuals, events, and issues related to European exploration of Texas such as Alonso Álvarez de Pineda, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, the se...
- 4.2.E
identify the accomplishments and explain the economic motivations and impact of significant empresarios, including Stephen F. Austin and Martín de León, on the ...
- 7.2.C
identify important individuals, events, and issues related to European colonization of Texas, including the establishment of Catholic missions, towns, and ranch...
Turn this exact standard into a lesson
Grade, subject, topic, and the complete standard are prefilled. Create one free, no account needed.
Also for this standard:Make a WorksheetMake a QuizMake a Sub Lesson