This lesson on Native Americans is just a general beginning to the history and lives of the Native Americans.  I made this lesson to give my boys a general understanding of the Native American’s way of life and the things they have endured.  It is by no means a complete study.  As we study more of American history the boys will learn about other events that involved the Native Americans but for now I wanted them to have a lesson that concentrated solely on these great people and their heritage.

Vocabulary: treaty, natives, wigwam, moccasins, papoose, buffalo, Hogan, teepee, compromise, wampum, ceremony, clan, tribe, prairie, myth, legend, surrender, reservation, warrior, squaw, guide, interpreter, symbol, confinement, uprising,

Movies (I recommend viewing yourself before letting your child watch to make sure the movies meet your standards some are rated R for violence)

The History Channel Navajo Code Talkers (1998)

Geronimo: An American Legend

The Last of the Mohicans

Windtalkers

Dances with Wolves

Books

Read aloud:

Book of Indians by Holling C. Holling (specific events)

Blackfeet Indian Stories by George Bird Grinnell (literature)

The Buffalo and the Indians: a shared destiny by Dorothy Hinshaw (culture)

Sitting Bull by Connie Roop (biography)

Wigwam and the Longhouse by David Yue (culture)

Geronimo by Joseph Bruchac

Peewee’s

If You Lived With the Hopi by Anne Kamma (culture)

Double Life of Pocahontas by Jean Fritz (biography)

Om-Kas-toe of the Blackfeet by Kenneth Thomasma (historical fiction)

Native Americans Village Life, Daily Activities, Arts & Crafts (culture)

Hidden Roots by Joseph Bruchac

Pumpkin’s and C’s

Squanto by Feenie Ziner (biography)

Indians by Edwin Tunis (culture)

Crazy Horse by Judith St. George (biography)

Indian Captive (historical fiction)

Mean Spirit by Linda Hogan

People

1. Osceola
2. Tecumseh
3. American Horse
4. Crazy Horse
5. Red Jacket
6. Pontiac
7. Hiawatha
8. Washakie
9. The Bat
10. Red Cloud
11. Red Eagle
12. Cochise
13. Powhatan
14. Major Ridge
15. John Ross

Record what tribe they were from, death and birth if you can find it. Their role in history and any interesting facts you find about them.

Biographies

1. Sequoyah
2. Sacagawea
3. Geronimo
4. Chief Joseph
5. Pocahontas
6. Squanto
7. Sitting Bull

Fill in the biography paper for each person.  Make sure to record any thoughts or impressions you have about their role in history or their character.  What can we learn from them? (Biography sheets from hold that thought) *grammar/writing

Events

1. Treaty of Hopewell
2. The Revolt of the Young Chiefs
3. Creek War
4. Indian Removal Act of 1830
5. Wounded Knee Massacre
6. Red River War
7. Ute Wars
8. The Rogue River Treaty
9. Old Northwest Warfare
10. Starved Rock
11. The Great Giveaway of 1889

Record the date, location, outcome of these events.  Also note the causes of these events.  There is a lot more events in Native American History, see how many more you can find out about.  Make sure to record your thoughts about these events. (History is not worth studying if we don’t learn lessons from it)

Here is a list of other links that may be useful in filling out your notebook.

Native American vocabulary

http://www.teach-nology.com/worksheets/soc_studies/nativea/vocab/

Vocabulary quiz

http://www.teach-nology.com/worksheets/soc_studies/nativea/quiz/

Brief history of the Indian nations

http://www.tolatsga.org/Compacts.html

American Indian history

http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/nov99.htm

Native American languages

http://www.ewebtribe.com/NACulture/lang.htm

Old Indian legends

ftp://ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext95/indle10.txt

Native American lore

http://www.ilhawaii.net/~stony/loreindx.html

Navajo code talkers

http://www.lapahie.com/Navajo_Code_Talker_Original_Code.cfm

Learn about Sequoyah here

http://members.tripod.com/~RFester/tsalagi.html

Major Ridge

http://www.ngeorgia.com/people/ridge.html

Indian Wars timetable

http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1008.html

Period Photographs of Indians

http://www.indianwars.org/American%20Indians/photos.htm

Treaties by tribe name

http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/Toc.htm

Important events in Native American history timeline

http://www.bluecloud.org/43.html

Several links to use about Native American History

http://www.kidinfo.com/American_History/Native_Americans.html

Clickable map of Native American tribes

http://www.ahsd25.k12.il.us/Curriculum%20Info/NativeAmericans/index.html

Tribes and their flags

http://hometown.aol.com/Donh523/navapage/index.htm

Ongoing activities:  timeline, notebook pages, and vocabulary

Here is some writing paper that I thought would be good for the notebooks. Writing paper

http://www.teach-nology.com/worksheets/soc_studies/nativea/writing/

writing paper

http://www.teach-nology.com/worksheets/soc_studies/nativea/writing2/

Week 1 –

Read aloud – Book of Indians

Boys read – Indians, Native Americans

Movie – The Last of the Mohicans

Activities:

Make a map of the Native American Tribes. *geography

Blank USA map http://www.clickandlearn.com/GIFFiles/WhiteUSA.gif

Print and then enlarge on copier.

Map of Indian tribe nations

http://www.indianwars.org/American%20Indians/map.htm

Pick a Native American tribe and find out the type of home they had.  Make a model of the home.  Be creative with your choice of materials. Also keep it small because we will use it in a diorama in a later activity. *art

Word search * critical thinking

http://www.education-world.com/a_lesson/TM/WS_lp2220_wordsearch.shtml

Comparing tribes Venn diagram

http://www.teach-nology.com/worksheets/soc_studies/nativea/comptribes/

Week 2 –

Read aloud: Sitting Bull

Boys read: Om-Kas-toe of the Blackfeet, Indian Captive

Movie: Dances with Wolves

Activities:

Make a cornhusk doll

http://www.teachersfirst.com/summer/cornhusk.htm

Maze *critical thinking

http://www.teach-nology.com/worksheets/soc_studies/nativea/maze/

Native Americans use plants for many things among these are medicine.  Your task is to find samples of as many of these plants as you can during a nature walk.  You will then put the samples in your plant journal and record information about each plant in your journal.  Make sure to record its scientific name, common name, location it was found, a description of the plant, and the use of the plant.  You may not be able to locate many plants in your area so an alternative would be to locate photos of these plants and record where it grows. *science connection (this project should be done over the span of the study)

For this project you will need to make a plant journal, a list of plants used by Native Americans for healing, plastic bags, glue, pens

On this site you can find a list of plants they used and for what illness.  http://www.powersource.com/cherokee/herbal.html

Week 3

Read aloud: Blackfeet Indian Stories

Boys read: Double Life of Pocahontas, Squanto

Movie: Geronimo: An American Legend

Activities:

Ball and triangle game I found on a website that I thought would be a simple craft to imitate.  http://www.nativetech.org/games/ball&tri.html

Or you could try one of these games

http://www.nativetech.org/games/index.php

Word search *critical thinking

http://www.teach-nology.com/worksheets/soc_studies/nativea/search/

Here you can find the census record for Native Americans in 1980 and 1990.  What tribe has the largest population?  Which has the least?  What is the difference between these 2 populations?  Look at the top 10 populations.  Was there an increase or decrease in population in the 10 years? *math http://www.census.gov/population/socdemo/race/indian/ailang1.txt

Week 4 –

Read Aloud: The Buffalo and the Indians: a shared destiny

Boys read: If You Lived With the Hopi, Crazy Horse

Movie: The History Channel Navajo Code Talkers

Activities:

Use the links below to come up with a secret message to give a friend.  Make sure to give your friend the secret code so they can read the message.  Then have your friend write you back using the code.

Navajo code talkers’ fact sheet

http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq61-2.htm

Code Talkers

http://www.lapahie.com/NavajoCodeTalker.cfm

Native Americans use to tell stories by painting pictures on buffalo hides.  Use the link below to find out about buffalo hide paintings.  Then make one of your own.  You could use a brown paper bag for the buffalo hide.  Crumple it up and flatten it several times to give it more of a leather look. *art

What story does it tell? A buffalo hide painting

http://www.americanhistory.si.edu/kids/buffalo/hideactivity/index.html

Week 5 & 6 - Finishing up

Read aloud: Wigwam and the Longhouse

Boys read: Mean spirit, Hidden Roots

Movie: Windtalkers

Activities:

Words in English with Native American roots

http://www.takeourword.com/Issue038.html

Can you think of other ways the Native American culture has influenced our culture?  List them in your notebook.

Make a dream catcher

http://www.teachersfirst.com/summer/dreamcatcher.htm

I bought a weaving loom set so they could practice some weaving.

Use self hardening clay to make some arrow heads.

Make a diorama of the way an Indian village would have looked.  Use the Indian home you made earlier to use in it.

To finish up this unit make some Indian recipes to serve to your family and give a presentation of what you have learn.

Native American recipes

http://www.recipesource.com/ethnic/americas/native/

More Native American recipes

http://nativetech.org/recipes/index.php

Native American recipes

http://www.kstrom.net/isk/food/recipes.html