Ms. Lozano: This week we're learning about Texas government, so let's start with the building where much of that work happens: the Texas State Capitol in Austin.

Ms. Lozano: The capitol you can visit today was finished in 1888. The state did not have enough money to pay for such a large building, so it paid the builders with land instead: about three million acres in the Texas Panhandle. That land later became one of the largest cattle ranches in the world.

Ms. Lozano: The builders first planned to use limestone. But the limestone they tested had small spots that turned a rusty brown after it sat out in the weather. So they switched to red granite from a hill called Granite Mountain, near the town of Marble Falls. On a sunny afternoon, the walls look almost pink.

Ms. Lozano: Here's a fact Texans like to share: the Texas Capitol is a little taller than the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., by about fifteen feet.

Ms. Lozano: Tonight, read pages forty to forty-five about the three branches of government, the groups that share the work inside that building.