Native Americans Internet Lesson Plan Grade level: 3-5 Teacher Activities

Goal: To utilize Internet resources to learn about the history of Native Americans and the culture of these indigenous people. Objective: At the end of the unit, the participant will be able to: • Retell a Native American story outlining traditions relating to their culture. • Describe the location and building material of different types of Native American homes. • Draw pictures of different types of Native American homes. • List three ways Native American people utilized tobacco and its meaning in their culture. • Compare and contrast the use of tobacco today to its use by early Native Americans. • Outline a specific time frame in Native American history describing the people, dress, transportation, and any significant historical events in that period of time. • Create a historical poster highlighting a specific period in Native American history. • Describe the meaning or myth associated with five words defined by Native American culture. • Investigate and outline a Native American tribe's or nation's flag. • Create a replica of a Native American flag for display. Duration: Two weeks, one hour of online time each day. IBM Corporation

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Instructional Strategy: Divide the class into pairs or small groups of approximately 3-4 participants each. Provide each group with a two-pocket folder. Distribute the activities in the left pocket of each folder to encourage problem-solving strategies within the group. Have students utilize the right hand pocket of the folder to record their strategies, take notes, and track project completion. Students should place information they have gathered or printed from the Internet in this pocket as well. Provide additional resources for students relating to Native Americans and their culture. Encourage both on-line and off-line research using reference materials, both fictional and non-fictional, about this subject. Prerequisite: A short introduction to the Internet with information on access and addresses is required before participants go on-line. Ensure that students are familiar with the World Wide Web and the browser they will be using. Assessment/Evaluation: The activities in this unit will be evaluated on the basis of student participation and performance. Team folders include information gathered in the process of completing the activities. Encourage cooperative learning, group process, problem-solving, competition, and the use of the Internet as these activities are completed. Serve as facilitator and guide throughout the activities. Other Related Activities: 1. Visit the "NativeNet" which is a Web site designed to promote dialogue and understanding regarding indigenous people of the world at http://www.fdl.cc.mn.us/natnet/. This could be completed as a bonus activity or as a whole group project concentrating on Native American current events. 2. If you are a Native American teacher or you have any Native American students in your class, you may want to visit the "Communication Post Native Keypals & Native Teacher Contacts" at http://indy4.fdl.cc.mn.us/~isk/schools/schlbook.html. This site contains a forum ONLY for Native Americans to correspond. Note it is unacceptable to say "you are studying Indians and want to hear from one," as this comment is considered offensive and racist by the webmaster(s) of this site.

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3. Expand your study of Native Americans by learning about racism and how it affects all cultures. Create a bulletin board labeled "Culturally Correct Behavior" and ask groups of students to contribute pictures and/or stories which display sensitive and correct ways to approach our multicultural world. 4. Use the study of Native Americans as a tie-in to Thanksgiving. Ask students to utilize a search engine such as "Yahooligans" at http://www.yahooligans.com/ to discover the true origin of the holiday. Your students may be surprised by some of the inaccurate information which is considered tradition to Americans. To get started, visit "The Real First Thanksgiving Lesson Plan" at ftp://ftp.halcyon.com/pub/FWDP/Americas/tchthnks.txt. 5. Utilize The Star Express Series "The Storyteller" which is a CD-ROM based curriculum covering science and social studies in a multi-thematic, multi-disciplinary, multimedia format. Students can learn about Native American traditions from a real storyteller who is presented in video clips. Online and off-line activities accompany this software. Materials Needed by Teacher: • • • • • •

Two-pocket folders 2 poster boards for each group Markers Colored pencils Crayons Paint & paint brushes

Teacher Notes: As you begin a unit on Native Americans, it is important to point out to students that when you study a "culture" such as this, you must break down this complex culture into the individual tribes which make up this large group of people. It is hard to learn about and appreciate this group culturally without looking at individual tribes who each have a unique culture of their own. For example, each tribe comes from a different area or region of the world and may have their own unique language, ceremonies, arts and crafts, foods, and traditions. As we have become a more global society, we have become more sensitive to offensive and racist stereotypes of the past. For example, Native Americans were referred to as Indians, which is no longer socially acceptable. Another change has been with sports teams who use Indian icons or names. For example, "The Atlanta Braves" and the "tomahawk chop" became a big issue when the Braves went to the World Series in 1991 and the world saw spectators in the stands making chopping motions with their arms. Native Americans

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around the country were offended. Hold a discussion with the class in an effort to increase their awareness and sensitivity to such issues. Another approach to take as you begin this lesson is to create a K-W-L chart What you KNOW, What you WANT to know, and What you LEARNED about Native Americans. A great gathering site for information is the "Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site" at http://www.crocker.com/~rebotis/subjects/nativeamericans.html where helpful hints, strategies and resources can be found. Depending on the depth in which you want to cover Activity #2, additional materials for creating Native American homes may be needed. Students will also need library access to do off-line research on this topic. For Activity #4 create a bulletin board labeling the periods in history which you are exploring. Add student posters to the board as they are completed. An alternative is to create a large timeline on one wall of the classroom and place each group's poster under the designated period in time.

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Native Americans Student Activities ACTIVITY #1: NATIVE AMERICAN STORIES Native American tribes have many different languages but no written tradition. To communicate and convey information, they had to tell their stories orally and utilize a few simple pictographs. A great way to learn about a culture and their traditions is through their folktales. Explore the Web site "Index of Native American Stories Online" at http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/nativeweb/natlit/indstory.html. As a group, select a story and read it together. To help you learn the story, print it, read it to each other, and prepare to retell the story to the class. Choose one of the following forms for retelling the story: • Create a felt board story • Create a flip chart of the story • Create a skit to act out the story with members of your group As you retell the story, point out traditions, legends, or myths with which you become acquainted in this story. ACTIVITY #2: NATIVE AMERICAN HOMES Part of what makes each culture different and unique is the type of homes or living quarters typically used by the people. One common stereotype of Native Americans is that they all live(d) in teepees. This is actually inaccurate. And what about an igloo? Is this Native American housing? 1. To discover more about Native American homes, visit the Web site "Native Americans" at http://www.iserv.net/~educate/NativeAmerican.html. 2. Complete Activity Sheet #2 as you explore this site. 3. Select one of the homes of which to create a model. You may need to use additional library resources to learn more about the types of materials used in constructing the home. Be creative as you replicate the Native American home while making it as authentic as possible. IBM Corporation

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Activity Sheet 2: Native American Homes Describe each home. Include in your description what materials with which it was built, the location and/or the tribe which utilized this housing. Also, draw a simple picture of each of the types of homes.

1. _________________________________________

2. _________________________________________

3. _________________________________________

4. _________________________________________

5. _________________________________________

6. _________________________________________

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7. _________________________________________

8. _________________________________________

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ACTIVITY #3: HISTORICAL TOBACCO Have you ever considered the history of tobacco? Did you know Native Americans were the first people to utilize tobacco? But believe it or not, they used it for very different reasons than people use it today. To learn about tobacco and its tie to Native Americans, visit the Web site "The Sacred Use of Tobacco" at http://www.ucsc.edu/costano/tobacco1.html. 1. List six ways Native American people used tobacco. 2. Give 2 detailed examples of the use of tobacco by Native Americans. 3. How has the use of tobacco changed since these early cultures? 4. Compare and contrast its use by early Native Americans to our present day use. ACTIVITY #4: A PICTURE IS WORTH 1,000 WORDS As a group, select a time period to explore. Your job is to learn all about this time in history and then share what you have found with the other members of your class. (Your teacher may choose to assign a time period for each group.) Times to choose from: ü ü ü ü ü ü ü ü ü ü ü

PreContact to 1600 1600 to 1750 1750 to 1800 1800 to 1830 1830 to 1850 1850 to 1875 1864 to 1874 1875 to 1890 1890 to 1900 1900 to 1950 1950 to 2000

Explore the Web page "Historical Images - North America Experience" to view a timeline of historical photographs at http://www.csulb.edu/gc/libarts/am-indian/nae. As you explore a period in time, view the images and the descriptions to learn about the people, dress, weapons, transportation, historical or significant events, and influential people mentioned. 1. Create an outline for this period in Native American history. 2. Create a poster which summarizes what you learned about this period in time. 3. Present the information to the class. IBM Corporation

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4. Add your poster to the decor of the classroom. Place it on a wall or bulletin board for display. ACTIVITY #5: MYTHOLOGY A part of every culture is the myths and folklore associated with the people and their beliefs, and the passing of those myths from generation to generation as part of their heritage. Native Americans are strong believers in mythology. Take a fascinating journey into the world of Native American mythology by visiting the Web site "Native American Mythology" at http://www.pantheon.org/mythica/topics/native_american/ where you will find an alphabetical listing of words and phrases and their associated meanings. Complete Activity Sheet #5 as you explore this site.

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Activity Sheet 5: Mythology Select five different letters of the alphabet to explore. As you do, locate three words or phrases in that letter category and learn about their meaning or myth. Letter

Word/Phrase

Meaning/Myth

1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3

ACTIVITY #6: NATIVE AMERICAN FLAGS You may be familiar with state flags, even country flags, but did you know that many Native American tribes have a flag as well. To learn more about the tribes, their flags, and the design of the flags, visit the Web site "Flags of the Native Americans People" at http://users.aol.com/Donh523/navapage/index.html. From the "Flags and their Stories" section of the Web page, decide about which tribe or nation you want to learn more. IBM Corporation

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1. Which tribe or nation did you select to investigate? 2. In what part of the country or world did this tribe originate? 3. Who designed the flag? 4. Briefly outline the symbolism behind the flags design. 5. Create a poster sized replica of the flag to be displayed in your classroom.

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