Part 3: Student-Directed Learning

The following activities can be done before or after visiting the historical sites in Galveston.

Feel free to pick and choose the activities you wish for your students to complete. There are also free curriculum resources at most of the sites you will be visiting, so please integrate those into the unit as you see fit. Also, please keep in mind that the following activities are written as a self-guided experience for the students. They are not meant to be teacher directed lesson plans.

Download Guide

The Great Storm of 1900

Examine the following picture and try putting yourself in the shoes of a survivor of The Great Storm of 1900. Imagine yourself as an individual person (child or adult). Be sure to think about your imagined age, your name, and possibly where exactly you lived in Galveston. You will then use your prior knowledge and imagination to answer the following questions using complete sentences.

Before the storm hit, the population of Galveston was more than 37,000. The Great Storm of 1900 took an estimated 6,000 lives from Galveston Island. The storm is still recorded as one of the deadliest natural disasters in U.S. history.
Fast Facts About The Storm

Reflection Questions

Again, imagine yourself back in time. Be sure to answer the following questions from the perspective of a survivor of the hurricane that hit Galveston in 1900.

You and your family are very blessed to have your lives, but you now have so much around you that needs to be rebuilt. How will you keep your hopes up?
There are over 3,600 buildings that were destroyed in the storm. Which buildings do you think need to be rebuilt first? Please explain why you think so.
With the highest elevation on Galveston being 8.7 feet, do you think that you and your family should raise the ground under your home as you rebuild it? (Keep in mind that the storm surge for this last storm was 15.7 feet.) Please explain why you think so.
Clara Barton and the Red Cross volunteers from Washington, D.C. came to give help and relief to you, your family, and many others in Galveston. How important do you think it is that there are people in the country that help others when there is a major crisis like this one?
Explain how it makes you feel that others came to help you and the people of Galveston recover from this tragedy.

The Galveston survivors began reconstruction immediately. Even the Galveston Daily News continued its publication without missing an issue. New telephone lines were laid the second week after the storm.
Fast Facts About The Storm