Oklahoma Today

This unique book combines state-specific facts and 30 fun-to-do hands-on projects. The Current Events Projects Book includes writing a current event news story that takes place 100 years from now, creating a timeline of recent state events, editing state stories in a current newspaper, writing and broadcasting a short news story and more! Kids will have a blast and build essential knowledge skills including research, reading, writing, science and math. Great for students in K-8 grades and for displaying in the classroom, library or home.

Exploring Oklahoma through Project-Based Leaning includes 50 well-thought-out projects designed for grades 3-5. In assigning your students projects that dig into OklahomaÕs geography, history, government, economy, current events, and famous people, you will deepen their appreciation and understanding of Oklahoma while simultaneously improving their analytical skills and ability to recognize patterns and big-picture themes. Project-based learning today is much different than the craft-heavy classroom activities popular in the past. Inquiry, planning, research, collaboration, and analysis are key components of project-based learning activities today. However, that doesnÕt mean creativity, individual expression, and fun are out. They definitely arenÕt! Each project is designed to help students gain important knowledge and skills that are derived from standards and key concepts at the heart of academic subject areas. Students are asked to analyze and solve problems, to gather and interpret data, to develop and evaluate solutions, to support their answers with evidence, to think critically in a sustained way, and to use their newfound knowledge to formulate new questions worthy of exploring. While some projects are more complex and take longer than others, they all are set up in the same structure. Each begins with the central project-driving questions, proceeds through research and supportive questions, has the student choose a presentation option, and ends with a broader-view inquiry. Rubrics for reflection and assessments are included, too. This consistent framework will make it easier for you assign projects and for your students to follow along and consistently meet expectations. Encourage your students to take charge of their projects as much as possible. As a teacher, you can act as a facilitator and guide. The projects are structured such that students can often work through the process on their own or through cooperation with their classmates. The 12 Photos/Pictures for West Virginia includes: ¥ JOHN BROWN, Abolitionist Who Led Raid on Harpers Ferry Armory ¥ WAITMAN T. WILLEY, U.S. Senator ¥ MARTIN R. DELANY, Abolitionist, Doctor, and Writer ¥ FRANCIS H. PIERPONT, Known as the ÒFather of West VirginiaÓ ¥ ARTHUR I. BOREMAN, First Governor of West Virginia ¥ THOMAS ÒSTONEWALLÓ JACKSON, Confederate General During the Civil War ¥ BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, Influential Educator and Civil Rights Leader ¥ LENNA LOWE YOST, WomenÕs Suffrage Activist ¥ CHUCK YEAGER, Air Force Test Pilot Who Broke the Sound Barrier ¥ HOMER HICKAM, Author of Book Made Into the Movie October Sky¥ SHELLY MOORE CAPITO, First Female U.S. Senator from West Virginia ¥ MARY LOU RETTON, Gymnast Who Won Five Olympic Medals

Insiders' Guide to Oklahoma City is the essential source for in-depth travel and relocation information to Oklahoma's captial city. Written by a local (and true insider), it offers a personal and practical perspective of Oklahoma City and its surrounding environs.

Oklahoma is a plains state exemplifying the Middle American virtues of family, lodge, and church; a southern state in the path of the power shift from the indus-trial East to the energy-rich sunbelt; a western state of modern cowboys and rodeos. Small wonder its political culture is so varied. The authors of Oklahoma Politics and Policies contend that Oklahoma is a paradox?a state struggling for a clear sense of identity where the old and new vie for the allegiance of its citizens. ø David R. Morgan, Robert E. England, and George O. Humphreys examine the history of Oklahoma and the place of Native Americans in this former Indian Territory; the state's links to the federal government; its executive, legislative, and judicial systems; political parties and interest groups; local government; and the current policy issues that confront its citizens. They assess the attempts of Oklahomans to revive their economy. The 1990s will be bright, the authors sug-gest, if Oklahomans can put aside internal conflicts and the politics of negativism in approaching economic and social problems more pragmatically.

The Oklahoma Cowboy Band was the first western string band in the nation to broadcast over the radio and appear on vaudeville, drawing large audiences throughout the Midwest and Northeast. The band began in Ripley as Billy McGintyas Cowboy Band and first played over radio station KFRU in Bristow in May 1925. Billy McGinty was a Rough Rider with Theodore Roosevelt and performed in Buffalo Billas Wild West Show. The public responded to the broadcast of his band with a steady stream of telegrams, telephone calls, and letters asking for more of that old-time cowboy music. Soon Otto Gray and his wife, Mommie, of Stillwater joined the band, with both performing rope tricks, Mommie singing sad songs, and their son, Owen, performing comedy routines as athe Uke Buster.a Renamed Otto Gray and His Oklahoma Cowboys, the band traveled for a decade to such cities as St. Louis, Chicago, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, and Syracuse. Its custom-built Cadillacs drew crowds wherever the band went. By the early 1930s, other acts were copying the bandas cowboy themes and songs, and Otto Grayas lawyers threatened legal action. The lawyers met with only limited success, though, and today the cowboy image is firmly established in country music, thanks in large part to the early success of Billy McGinty, Otto Gray, and the Oklahoma Cowboy Band.

More Than Petticoats: Remarkable Oklahoma Women celebrates the women who shaped the Sooner State. Short, illuminating biographies and archival photographs and paintings tell the stories of women from across the state who served as teachers, writers, entrepreneurs, and artists.