Native American Unit Study



Last year, when I started planning for this year's history focus, I knew I wanted to do an overview of American History and familiarize my children with the United States map.  I was too cheap to purchase a curriculum when I knew I could put something together for myself.  Unfortunately, I had no idea how long doing something like that could take!  I spent some time putting together a 4-week unit on Native Americans and soon after was gifted the Adventures in My Father's World curriculum!!!!  We did go ahead with my unit on Native Americans and had a LOT of fun, so I thought I would share some of our favorites from the unit.  It is a perfect fit for leading into Adventures, which we are starting this Monday!  (I am so excited!)

Read Alouds we used for naptime and evening reads:

Night Bird

Kaya: An American Girl
Children of the Longhouse by Joseph Bruchac

Handwriting and Art:  we used Draw Write Now book 3.  I let Logan choose a page to do each week.  He spent about 10 minutes each day either drawing, copying sentences, or coloring.

Mapwork:  The books we read lent themselves to quite a bit of mapwork.  Occasionally I photocopied maps of the US to color in as we read.  We also kept a laminated map of the US out in our study area so we could use dry-erase markers to trace the movement of different tribes or the buffalo or to draw in rivers, etc.

We also did several activities out of the Native Americans book from the Evan-Moor History Pocket series.  I also used this book to give the kids an overview of several of the tribes we studied.  They give a nice summary as well as pictures to color for their portfolio.

Literature Focus:  we focused on the terms "myth" and "legend".  There are many Native American stories that offer opportunities to demonstrate these terms.  We read Genesis one at the beginning of our unit and drew pictures of what God created each day.  Then we read the following myths and legends from Native American folklore and compared them to the truth of God's word:

1. The Creation by Joseph Bruchac
2. Grandmother Spider Steals the Sun
3. The Legend of the Grand Canyon
4. The Indian Cinderella

 Week One:  Introduction to Native American as the original inhabitants of North America.

Books:

1. The Discovery of the Americas by Giulio Maestro - pages 3-7.  We did some map work with this.
2. Many Nations:  An Alphabet of Native Americans by Joseph Bruchac




Great Chief Want-More-Wampum


3. Geography From A to Z by Jack Knowlton - we looked up the definitions for the words glacier, strait, and peninsula and then used the sand table, water, and ice to demonstrate the possible ways people may have arrived on the North American continent.

Week Two:  The Seminole and Iroquios Tribes

Books:

1. Good Hunting, Blue Sky by Peggy Parish - This is an easy reader that I had Logan read aloud to me.
2. The American Story by Jennifer Armstrong.  Pages 4-5 give a nice introduction to the Iroquois tribe.
3. Little Runner of the Longhouse by Betty Baker -another easy reader Logan read to me.

Activities:

1. One day we made wampum beads (History Pockets page 82).  I wanted to make a little store for the kids to purchase items from with their beads, but never did pull it off.  The kids enjoyed making the beads though and creating a shopping list for them (History Pockets page 83).
2. We made longhouses
3. and a  canoe.




Making hominy


4. Our Native American legend for this week was Grandmother Spider Steals the Sun.  After reading it, we then painted little pebbles to look like the sun and attached magnets to the back.  We placed these on the refrigerator as a reminder that God is the only true creator and the light of the world.

Week Three:   Sioux Indians

Books:

1. The Sioux:  Nomadic Buffalo Hunters by Rachel Koestler-Grack.  I picked a few pages here and there from the book to read each day.
2. Where the Buffaloes Begin
3. Grandfather Buffalo by Jim Arnosky
4. A Mare for Young Wolf by Janice Shefelman - another easy reader.

Activities:

1. We made a tipi.
2. Had a snack of beef jerky and dried berries.



Making a Sugar Cube Igloo

3. Went on a "buffalo hunt".  This was simply an obstacle course I created in the yard and labeled as grasslands, mountains, and creeks.  The kids had to climb over the little tykes climber and slide down the slide, jump over the kitchen stools, run through the woods in our yard, do it all backwards, and run back to start.  This translated into a game the kids spent the whole afternoon playing!

Week Four-The Inuit

Books: 

1. The Inuit:  Ivory Carvers of the far North by Rachel A. Koestler-Grack.  I picked a few pages to read each day.
2. Knut:  How One Little Polar Bear Captured the World

Activities:

1. We made "ivory carvings" using soap bars and dull paring knives and



"Carving Ivory"

2. a sugar cube igloo.

The little unit was a month of fun.  One of the things I loved the most about it was how well it lent itself to further independent exploration.  The kids spent many afternoons creating Native American costumes out of paper bags and chasing buffalo and enemy tribes through the back yard.  They built longhouses out of lincoln logs and created elaborate stories with the little plastic Indians we bought at the dollar store.  They made tipis out of sheets and filled them with books they checked out of the library. 


Just a side note:  As chance would have it, we stumbled upon a recreated Native American village while hiking through Whitefish Dunes State Park on our vacation to Door County, Wisconsin.  Our vacation was smack-dab in the middle of our Native American unit and the basic little village provided Logan and Sierra with great fun!