Celebrate Native American Heritage Month

Monday, 11/2/2009

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November is Native American Heritage Month, and presents a great opportunity to study various Native American tribes and traditions with your class. Whether you choose to focus on one tribe or type of tradition, or offer them a digest of information, we’ve assembled a variety of standards-based lesson plans for every age group. We’ve also included reading lists and photo resources that you may find helpful to create a complete interdisciplinary unit.

Also, be sure to check out the Walden/Dial Books for Young Readers book: JIM THORPE: ORIGINAL ALL-AMERICAN. The inspiring true story of Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School’s Football team is a great novel for in the classroom, and has a companion activity page for students.

Native American Heritage Month Resources:

General Resources:

• Reading List: The NEA has compiled a fantastically comprehensive reading list broken down by grade level.
• Native American Image Library: With over 450 photos for educational use, use these photos to decorate your classroom or spice up your activity pages.

K-2:

• Corn Husk Dolls, FamilyFun.com: Students create Corn Husk Dolls, an Iroquois tradition. (gr. K-2)
• Native American Paper Baskets, Family Fun.com: Students weave together their own baskets. (gr. K-2)

Grades 3-6:

• Ways of Living, Ways of Giving, National Museum of American Indians: People of the North Pacific, National Museum of American Indians: This 3-lesson unit invites students to explore the culture of the Kwakwaka’wakw people of British Columbia, Canada and their tradition of the Potlatch. (gr. 6-8)
• Lone Dog’s Winter Count, National Museum of American Indians: This lesson explores the history of oral tradition, specifically that of the Nakota People and asks students to create their own histories.
• A Life in Beads, National Museum of American Indians: The Stories a Plains Dress Can Tell: This unit teaches students about the Assiniboine/Sioux traditional dress-making, and its cultural importance and implications. (gr. 4-6)
• Native People and the Land, National Museum of American Indians: This lesson discusses the Zuni People’s relationship to nature around them. Student resource and activity pages encourage students to think critically about the Native American relationship to the environment. (gr. 4-6)
• Uncover Prehistoric Pueblos, Scholastic: This interactive online lesson encourages students to learn about ancient ruins archeologists believe to be of the first Native Americans. (gr. 3-5)
• What’s in a Name: Native American Origins in Language, Education World: In this lesson, students learn about the origins of the names of the U.S. states, and how many were derived from Native American Words.
• Navajo Code-Talkers, Education World: Students learn about the Navajo’s contributions to the World War II war effort, and learn to speak in code. (gr. 3-5, 6-8)
• Why People Move, Scholastic: A lesson study about the Pueblo Indians that urges students to compare the Pueblo Indians’ Migration with their own lives. (gr. 4-6)

Grades 6-8

• Tribal Truths, New York Times Learning Network: Students research Lewis and Clark’s relationship with the Native Americans they encountered on their famous expedition, and are invited to create presentation displays to re-characterize this relationship (gr. 6-8)
• Keep History Alive, New York Times Learning Network: This lesson invites students to think critically about how and why spiritual and cultural rituals are created, and what role these traditions play in our culture today. (gr. 6-8).

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