TEKS TUTORIAL

The State Board of Education adopted a curriculum framework called Texas

Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). This is a list of things students should
know by the time they complete each grade level, in each subject.
You will need to list the TEKS addressed on your lesson plans. If your lesson
does not support any TEKS, you should not be teaching it.
Heres how to get started:
Go to www.tea.state.tx.us/teks/
Click TEKS by Chapter
Click Chapter 117: Fine Arts
Click Subchapter A: Elementary
All the fine arts TEKS will be listed, starting with kindergarten. (If you scroll
down, you will see Art: KinderMusic: Kinder.Theatre: KinderArt: Grade
One.Music: Grade Oneetc.)
Decide which grade level would be the most appropriate for your song. Scroll
down to find the music TEKS for that grade level.
(a) is just an introduction. Skip it and look at (b). These are the actual
TEKSthe skills the children have to learn.
There
1.
2.
3.
4.

are four basic strands or categories-perception

creative expression/performance
historical and cultural heritage
evaluation

Read the TEKS, and decide which are covered by your lesson plan. For example,
lets say you want your first graders to read and sing the childrens book, Mary
Wore Her Red Dress, and substitute your students names for the characters in
the book. Scroll down to Music: Grade One. You will see two TEKS that are
definitely addressed: 2A and 5B. You must label, number, and summarize each
TEK on your lesson plan. So, on your lesson plan, you would write
MUSIC:
K:2B sing in groups
K:5B music and E/LA

Now, it is time to find the TEKS for English/Language Arts, Math, Social Studies,
and/or Science that are addressed through your lesson plan. In this case, we
could include English/Language Arts TEKS, such as
E/LA:
1:1C participate in songs
1:1E listen to stories
1:4A learn vocabulary (colors)
1:12A use prior knowledge
1:12C retell events in stories
1:12E discuss visual images
1:13B participate actively in patterned selections
1:13E describe illustrations
1:14G analyze characters/relationships
You could even cover Social Studies TEKS, such as
SS:
1:13D explain how customs reflect individualism
1:15B describe importance of family traditions
1:18A express ideas orally
Now, look in your objectives box. Write an objective for each TEKSsuch as,
The student will use prior knowledge and context clues to learn new vocabulary
from a childrens book. You will probably have some additional objectives, ones
that are not tied to a TEKS, such as The student will learn the names of his/her
classmates, or The student will learn the process for creating a circle/lining
up/distributing books, etc.
Lastly, decide how you will ASSESS each of the objectives. Write this under
ASSESSMENT. You may decide to conduct an informal test, use observation,
distribute a written quiz, play a game, have students write in a journal, complete
a rubric, or use some other evaluation tool.
Have fun planning!