native american assignment

Native American Lesson Plans and Learning Activities | Studying Native American Culture At Home Or Classroom

Native American education should be essential learning for anyone growing up in the United States. One of the best ways to facilitate this learning is through Native American lesson plans.

Whether you are a teacher interested in expanding curriculum options, a parent who wants to share more accurate or in-depth information but their child, or a student seeking additional knowledge about the diverse cultures of this country, Native American lesson plans will help you reach your goals.

The importance of a quality Native American education can't be overstated. Most of us are well aware of the incident in Riverside, California, where a math teacher was filmed chanting and dancing in a fake paper-made Native American headdress. 

Take a look.

While this video is difficult to watch, it's unfortunately not an isolated incident. These sorts of displays degrade indigenous people and contribute to the erasure of indigenous people by perpetuating misinformation, and harmful stereotypes . Too often, indigenous people are portrayed as caricatures and the truth behind their struggles, history, culture and accomplishments are left out of the conversation, especially in schools.

For anyone growing up in the United States, an education on Native American history, culture, religion, struggles and triumphs should be part of any core curriculum. Though many people think using or creating lesson plans is something reserved for teachers in a school setting. The truth is, with Internet access and your local library, anyone can access opportunities to learn about Native American culture.

This article will share some ways to make quality indigenous lesson plans and refer you to some existing ones online that you can use anytime.

Why Choose Native American Lesson Plans

Before finding the ones that work for you, consider the reasons behind seeking out additional educational resources about Native Americans. Think back to when you were in school and try to remember how much you learned about different tribal nations. If you were like most students, you got some knowledge in the early grades about the tribes specifically intertwined with the earliest European settlers.

These are wrapped up with juvenile tales of the first Thanksgiving , Disney's Pocahontas , and even some long-held prejudices that Native Americans as “less than.” Many of these things provide a false or incomplete look at these cultures. Many students go through school not even understanding that Native Americans still exist today.

What Students Should Learn About Native Americans

Before diving into specific lesson plans and activities that can help students of all ages expand their knowledge about the unique cultural diversity in the United States, it makes sense to take a look at what students in different grades or age ranges are currently learning or should learn in school. It is also important to understand the misconceptions about Native Americans that many children have so you can override them for a more accurate understanding. This will help you determine the types of subjects to focus on as you move forward with your lesson plan-building efforts.

Kindergarten through Third Grade

Unless your community or family is already in touch with the Native American experience, most children only learn that they exist around these times. First experiences usually center around Thanksgiving, the story of Christopher Columbus , and depictions of Indians in cartoons and storybooks.

Unfortunately, many of these are inaccurate give a rather sensationalized look of what Native Americans are and how they behave. In these formative years, it is important to counter these impressions with accurate historical information. Some topics of interest may include the diversity of different tribes, everyday life, interaction with the natural world, and arts and crafts.

Some educational organizations and parents will not feel comfortable talking about things like the Trail of Tears or massacres with children this young. You do not have to share graphic information to give an accurate idea of events. It is sufficient to talk about conflicts and prejudices in more abstract terms.

Fourth through Sixth Grade

By the time a student reaches the fourth grade, or hopefully earlier, they will understand a lot more about the difficulties that Native Americans have faced throughout history. They should have strong knowledge of the major groups that lived all across the country, how they lived, what they ate, the type of art and cultural activities that existed, and their interaction with European settlers.

Sheltering students in these grade ranges from the realities of what went on in the past and the prejudices that still exist today makes little sense. Again, details are not necessary to give an accurate picture. It is vitally important to balance the information so students can explore the interesting aspects of Native American culture, art, music, food, and everyday life with the challenges that it made it so difficult for them to continue enjoying these things.

Junior High and High School

In these grade ranges, students are usually focused on either American history or European history in most schools across the United States. Although Native American lesson plans are still used, most are intertwined tightly with things like westward expansion, the American Revolution, and similar European-centric events.

Although Native Americans make up such a small part of the population statistically speaking, they are an integral part of the nation's history and our modern world. No matter what activities are lesson plans you share with your students or children, make sure that both sides are represented accurately and fairly. For example, lessons in westward expansion should neither be only about massacring and displacing tribal people nor only about the wonderful opportunities for Europeans who wanted more land.

Incorporating Native American Studies Across All Subjects

If you want to create a comprehensive educational opportunity for learning about American Indians beyond Native American Heritage Month or specific social studies classes, use stories and facts about them in all subjects. Most focus on history, but you can also teach about these topics in language arts or English classes, art and music lessons, and even science and math. The best free lesson plans include multidisciplinary foci to make the topics sink in more clearly.

It is obvious how Native American lesson plans work with a history curriculum. In English classes, reading indigenous peoples' literature from a language arts perspective makes sense. Students can diagram a sentence, study legends, or learn how to create an effective essay with Native American topics as easily as they can with others. The diverse range of Native American cultures across the United States gives us everything from simple childhood tales and folklore from the oral tradition to modern articles and speeches made by prominent personalities seeking justice or fair treatment from the government.

When it comes to science and math, however, some people may not be able to understand how to incorporate Native American activities as easily. In science, some topics may include geology that has to do with metals and semiprecious gemstones like turquoise that were used in Native American jewelry and other crafts, the environment and how native people use natural resources efficiently, and the farming techniques that were used to ensure enough food for the early people. In math, incorporate Native American statistics into word problems, reading charts and graphs, and more.

In fact, when you set out to create a Native American lesson plan or develop an activity that will engage your students in a more interesting pursuit of truth and understanding, focus on mixing up the subjects within one project. For example, when reading a legend about the Thunderbird from Arapahoe mythology, students can explore science related to flight or weather patterns, use math to measure the supposed dimensions of this majestic bird, and explore symbology, similar tales in other cultures, and even study the structure of the writing itself for more understanding.

Creating Native American Lesson Plans

The process of building a lesson plan for any subject differs whether you are a professional teacher working in a school or a parent who simply wants to add extra information or engagement for your children at home. Despite the differences, adding more Native American activities to the experience is a great way to help children and teenagers understand more about the world they live in.

Any lesson plans should include:

• Age-appropriate information and presentation while maintaining accuracy
• Trustworthy resource materials and sources of information
• Ways to engage the students and increase interest and curiosity
• Auditory, visual, and kinesthetic materials for different types of learners
• An opportunity for working together with others
• Goal-oriented information and presentation

These may all sound like difficult things to achieve, especially if you are a parent with no advanced teaching education. However, as long as you focus on accuracy and engagement, you cannot go far wrong.

Native American Lesson Plans Available Online

You'll find a bevy of free lesson plans online, suitable for both classroom and at-home use. When choosing which to use, always focus on quality sources so you know you are getting accurate information. Most of these are divided up by age or grade range so you can choose something that will be easy for the kids of any age to understand.

Pow Wow Lesson Plan

Help students of any age understand the traditional Native American gatherings called powwows. This unique lesson plan combines in-depth information about the Gathering of Nations three-day event and other powwows that occur all across the country. It helps students understand the meaning behind these special gatherings. They are more than just opportunities to get together and dance and make music.

To help you educate your students or children, it includes a teacher's guide, goal and reference chart, worksheets, and plenty of optional and entertaining information.

Scholastic Native American History, Culture, and Present Times

The Scholastic organization has long been trusted by educational facilities and parents to give accurate information and engaging help to teachers and parents. They offer quite a few lesson plan options for different grades.

Some of these lesson plans include:

• Life as a Native American
• The Code That Couldn't Be Broken (Lesson on Navajo Code Talkers)
• Wampanoag and English Settlers
• Be an Explorer: Research a Native American Tribal Nation

National Education Association (NEA) Lesson Plans

These Native American activities are suggested for November, which is Native American and Alaska Native Heritage Month . They offer a host of options for students in kindergarten through grade 5 with few reaching into the high school years.

Some of these free Native American lesson plans include:

• Every Native Vote Counts
• Create Your Own Native American Board Game
• Pourquoi Stories to Tell Why
• Native Americans Today

‘Teachnology' Native American Lesson Plans

All of the usual information about the history, culture, and diversity of tribal nations are covered in these lesson plans . Unlike some other sites that have activities specifically described or printable worksheets, the site focuses more on the goals, development, and practical instruction about how to create the lesson plan and what should be included in it

Some of these free lesson plans include:

• Native American Housing
• A Nation Divided
• Lifestyles of Native Americans 

National Endowment for the Humanities

This website has grade ranges from kindergarten all the way through high school, which makes it one of the more comprehensive options on the list. The lesson plans, student activities, and teachers guides span many different topics and interests, but there are a lot of Native American resources here, too. They give in-depth instructions for educators and much of the necessary content directly on the site.

• Traditions and Languages of Three Native Cultures
• Native Americans and the American Revolution
• Native American Cultures Across the US
• Language of Place: Hopi Place Names, Poetry, and Song

Native American Heritage Month Resources

  Although teachers and parents should not limit educating children and teens about Native American history and culture during November alone, it does provide a more pointed opportunity to explore. When you are searching for Native American lesson plans, it is sometimes easier to find them by looking for things specifically created for this month. This website offers a wide variety of principles and reading opportunities to teach about a variety of topics.

Some of these Native American lesson plans include:

• Indian Symbols and Meanings
• Biography of Sacajawea
• Describing Drum Beats in Native American Music
• Children of Native America Today

The Library of Congress

While educational honesty and accuracy is important, most schools and parents shy away from exposing the worst historical events to young children. The Native American lesson plans offered here are directed at high school students .

They include:

• Indian Boarding Schools
• American Indian Reservation Controversies

Additional American Indian Activities to Boost Interest

No one engages with children on a regular basis fails to understand that they would rather do things than simply hear about them. Listening to you give a report about a Native American topic of interest or sitting down and reading an article or book is generally not as engaging is actually working on activity alone or with others.

Many of the lesson plans available online that are listed above have suggested activities attached to them. However, you can create your own or find extra ones to try out with your students, kids, or on your own.

Native American Games

Like every culture since the dawn of time, different Native American nations played a variety of games for entertainment and competition. Although you probably will not be able to set up a full-scale lacrosse game in your backyard, for example, you can still try out some options. Some American Indian games and activities were popular for the long winter months when more people stayed inside.

Also, helping students create games together can be a great part of a lesson plan. Get a large piece of poster board and some markers to create a board game that tracks a Plains Indian tribe through their yearly hunting migration. Come up with trivia questions and prizes to win.

Native American Music

Check out an authentic Spotify playlist or head to YouTube to explore songs both traditional and modern by Native American artists . In fact, you can select an entire lesson plan around music if you want. Otherwise, use it as an addition to the overall project. Music can also create ambiance in the background as you study other facts and cultural tidbits.

Native American Crafts

Far too many “Indian style” crafts done in schools across the country are culturally insensitive to some degree. Sitting down with your children and taping feathers to a paper headband is not a way to explore the truth about Native American culture. The best sources for learning about crafts can try at home is authentic tribal crafts people themselves. Of course, you are not going to bring authentic turquoise to the classroom and teach students how to make jewelry. However, you can still work within reasonable bounds to stay as authentic as possible.

Visit our Craft Tutorials!

Native American Food

What makes a Native American lesson plan more interesting than eating a meal or snack that includes foods enjoyed in the past and still today? Every culture around the globe has unique eating habits and foods they enjoy from recipes they created that a become part of their identity. Besides giving accurate historical information, cooking with your kids is just plain fun.

Visit our recipes!

When designing new Native American lesson plans for the students at your school, your children at home, or for your own advanced education, turn to online resources that focus on historical accuracy and cultural sensitivity. If you start from scratch on your own, always seek out original sources and authentic experiences so you can share the truth in an age-appropriate way.

So much about the Native American experience in this country is diluted, ignored, or twisted to present a more positive and forgettable impression. Help students understand the diversity of the first nation's cultures, what they went through in the past, and how they still exist with many of the same prejudices and challenges that they face throughout the history of the United States.

Last Updated on September 17, 2024 by Jared McKiernan

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Native American History and Culture

This page has printable crafts and worksheets for teaching students about the history and culture of Native Americans. There are also reading comprehension passages to highlight the accomplishments of notable Native Americans in history.

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Native American Cultures Across the U.S.

Sioux Indian woman in ceremonial dress, 1925.

Wikimedia Commons

"The term 'Native American' includes over 500 different groups and reflects great diversity of geographic location, language, socioeconomic conditions, school experience, and retention of traditional spiritual and cultural practices." —Debbie Reese, Teaching Young Children About Native Americans

Children's literature, movies, and other media often perpetuate generalized stereotypes, whether positive or negative, in their representations of Native American peoples. Teaching children about the First Americans in an accurate historical context while emphasizing their continuing presence and influence within the United States is important for developing a national and individual respect for the diverse American Indian peoples, and is necessary to understanding the history of this country.

Guiding Questions

How are American Indians represented in today's society?

What objects and practices do we associate with Indian culture?

What are some actual customs and traditions of specific Native American groups?

What are some cultural traditions and customs that have changed over the centuries?

Which ones have continued into the present?

Learning Objectives

Analyze the relationship between geography, time, and Native American culture and history.

Examine multiple sources and perspectives to understand diversity within and across Native Americans. 

Compare how American Indians are represented in today's society with their actual customs, traditions, and way of life.

Lesson Plan Details

By the time children in the U.S. begin school, most have heard and developed impressions of "Indians" from books, movies, or in the context of the Thanksgiving holiday. This lesson helps dispel prevailing stereotypes and generalizing cultural representations of American Indians by providing culturally-specific information about the contemporary as well as historical cultures of distinct tribes and communities within the United States. Teachers can divide the class into groups that each study a tribe from a different region, or the class can select one region to study, such as the geographical region in which the school is located. Please note that this lesson plan alternates among the three terms, "Native American," "American Indian," and "Indian people" so as not to privilege one designation over the others. In her essay, " Teaching Young Children about Native Americans ," Debbie Reese explains that she uses the term "Native American," but also "recognizes and respects the common use of the term 'American Indian' to describe the indigenous people of North America. While it is most accurate to use the tribal name when speaking of a specific tribe, there is no definitive preference for the use of 'Native American' or 'American Indian' among tribes or in the general literature."

NCSS.D2.His.1.6-8. Analyze connections among events and developments in broader historical contexts.

NCSS.D2.His.2.6-8. Classify series of historical events and developments as examples of change and/or continuity.

NCSS.D2.His.3.6-8. Use questions generated about individuals and groups to analyze why they, and the developments they shaped, are seen as historically significant.

NCSS.D2.His.4.6-8. Analyze multiple factors that influenced the perspectives of people during different historical eras.

NCSS.D2.His.5.6-8. Explain how and why perspectives of people have changed over time.

NCSS.D2.His.14.6-8. Explain multiple causes and effects of events and developments in the past.

NCSS.D2.His.15.6-8. Evaluate the relative influence of various causes of events and developments in the past. 

NCSS.D2.His.16.6-8. Organize applicable evidence into a coherent argument about the past.

This lesson requires you to access web pages through EDSITEment-reviewed websites. You may share these pages with your students at individual computer stations, assign small groups to share several computers, display computer-projected images to the whole class, or print out the pages and distribute copies to the students.

You may want to review some of the following background literature on teaching about American Indians, as well as the lists of recommended fiction and non-fiction books for young children:

• The ERIC Digest volume, "Countering Prejudice against American Indians and Alaska Natives through Antibias Curriculum and Instruction," written by Deirdre A. Almeida and available online through a link from the EDSITEment-reviewed resource Native Web , contains information on teaching about Native Americans in non-generalizing and non-stereotyping ways.
• Debbie Reese's online article, "Teaching Young Children About Native Americans," discusses the prevalence of stereotypes and classroom strategies for teaching about cultural diversity among Native Americans.
• The Oyate Web site , a Native organization that evaluates books by and about Indian people.

The following vocabulary appears in this lesson; you may want to go over these words with the students as part of the introduction or as they come up in the lesson. If possible, obtain and provide pictures of the items, or ideally, bring in examples of the actual items to display and allow students to handle them in class.

• Nation, tribe
• Coast, woodlands, plains
• North, South, East, West
• Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, Southwest
• Reservation
• Ceremony, tradition
• Commemorate, ancestor
• Canoe, totem pole, hogan, tipi
• Harvest, lye, sofkey
• Breechcloth, moccasin
• Cradleboard

Activity 1. Representing Native Americans Today

Before offering information about Native American Nations and cultural groups, introduce the terms "Indian," "Native American," and "American Indian," and ask students what they know about these terms and about the people they represent. Create two columns on the board or a piece of paper, and write down student responses in the first column. This first column shows students' preconceptions about Indian peoples; the second column will reflect information students receive through the lesson.

After students have offered their first impressions about Native Americans, explain to the class that the words "Indian" and "Native American" refer to a diverse set of Native American tribes or nations who lived for centuries across the lands that Europeans claimed later to have "discovered," which are now called the Americas -- the Caribbean islands, Canada, the United States, Mexico, the countries of Central and South America.

Read one or more of the books from the following list of Fiction Books about Contemporary Native American People, recommended by Debbie Reese. American Indian's in Children's Literature is Reese's website that provides lists of the best in children's literature about American Indians.

• Children of LaLoche & Friends. (1990). Byron through the Seasons . Fifth House Ltd. (Grades: K-1).
• Harjo, Joy. (2000). The Good Luck Cat. Harcourt Brace (Grades: P-3).
• Hunter, Sara Hoagland. (1996). The Unbreakable Code . Northland (Grades: 2-3).
• Keeshig-Tobias, Lenore. (1991). Bird Talk . Sister Vision (Grades: P-K).
• Sanderson, Esther. (1990). Two Pairs of Shoes . Pemmican Publications (Grades: P-K).
• Smith, Cynthia. (2000). Jingle Dancer . Morrow Junior (Grades: P-3).
• Tapahonso, Luci. (1999). Songs of Shiprock Fair . Kiva (Grades: P-3).
• Waboose, Jan Bourdeau. (1998). Morning on the Lake . Kids Can Press (Grades P-3).
• Waboose, Jan Bourdeau. (2000). Skysisters . Kids Can Press (Grades P-3).
• Wheeler, Bernelda. (1995). Where Did You Get Your Moccasins? Peguis Publications (Grades: P-K).

Each of these books portrays Native American characters in a contemporary context in ways that challenge common stereotyping representations. After reading one or more stories, ask students to describe the characters they have heard about. Write their responses in the second column of the board or paper. Ask the class to compare their original ideas about American Indians with the portrayals offered in the book(s). Do the stories and the people represented alter their views about Indian peoples? You might point out to your students that, through much of the 20th century, Indian peoples came under intense social and economic pressure to assimilate into mainstream American society, and as such had to make difficult choices between identifying with their native communities and finding a livelihood in the larger society. Today, by contrast, increasing numbers of Native Americans are able to participate more fully in traditional community activities, which in many locations are thriving, while at the same time attending college and obtaining jobs in non-traditional settings.

Activity 2. First Nation Tribes Across the U.S.

To introduce the five cultural bands of American Indian tribes and the general regions of the United States in which they live, display or print out and distribute to students copies of the History page of the First Americans website, available through the EDSITEment-reviewed resource Native Web . This page contains a map of the United States divided into five Native American cultural bands, including Plains, Northwest, Southwest, Southeast, and Northeast. The text explains that areas in which people share similar environments and customs due to their proximity to one another are called cultural bands. Print out and distribute to students copies of a map of the United States, available from  National Geographic Education. From the Atlas page, select North America, then United States of America, and you can choose whether or not to have state borders displayed. As students acquire information about the regions of the U.S., Native American tribe names, and cultural aspects and traditions of their assigned tribe, they can fill in the information on the map by writing words and/or drawing pictures. Depending on the reading and writing level of your class, you may choose to have students fill in the blanks on a chart or answer questions and write a paragraph describing one tribe. This activity can be done by the entire class for one tribe, or by small groups each for one of the five tribes. The Tribes page of the First Americans website displays images of clothing, housing, and food items from the five cultural groups of Native Americans. When you place the cursor over an image, the word describing the image appears, and the object's corresponding Native American cultural band is highlighted on a small map of the U.S. From the Five Tribes page, you can click on the name of a tribe to get information about the land, clothes, housing, and other cultural aspects of the following five tribes: Tlingit, Dinè, Lakota, Muscogee, and Iroquois. When you click on an image, it takes you to a page with information about one tribe from the indicated region. Using the information provided through each of these tribes' pages, have your students identify the traditional customs of one tribe. On their maps, students can shade in the area of the U.S. in which their tribe lives and can write the words or draw a picture describing the clothing, house, and food of their tribe. They can then complete the following written exercise:

For Kindergartners, have students fill in the blanks on the following chart available in pdf format . Students can then draw a picture to illustrate the chart information for one tribe.

Information on the Native American Tribe__________

For the following sentences, fill in the blanks:

• This tribe is called __________.
• We live in the __________ region of the United States.
• We wear __________.
• We eat __________.
• The type of house we live in is called a __________. It is made of __________.  

For first and second graders, ask students to read the descriptions of the land, food, housing, and other social and cultural aspects listed for their geographical region. Students can use the information to answer the following questions and write the facts on note cards. They can use the information they record to write a paragraph about their group and draw a picture to illustrate their paragraph.

Questions about the Native American Tribe__________  

• What does the name of the tribe mean?
•   What is another name for this tribe?
• Where did the tribe originally live?Where do members of this tribe live today?
• What did this group traditionally eat? What do they eat today?
• What are other cultural traditions that this tribe followed?
• What are some ways in which the tribe has changed its customs? Are there customs it has kept over time? Which ones?

Background Information About Native American Tribes from the Five Cultural Bands of the United States

(Note: Information is taken from the First Americans website, unless otherwise noted.)

Tlingit Information — Tlingit live in the American Northwest Coast that is now part of Alaska.

• Food is provided by both land and sea.
• Originally traded and did business with Europeans and other Native American tribes.
• Ceremonial dress includes carved masks, weapons and "Chilikat" robes
• Chilikat robes may be fringed, fur-trimmed, and multicolored. The designs on clothing depict animals significant to the family and town.
• The Tinglit used to wear hats made of roots. Men and women wore ear and nose rings. Some had tattoos and disks pierced through their lower lip.
• Tlingit are master fishermen.
• They eat fish; most important is salmon.
• In the summer they eat wild berries.
• Tlingit traditionally hunted and trapped animals such as goats and deer, and used canoes to hunt seals, sea lions, and otters.
• Tlingit live in towns with wood buildings that are sometimes decoratively painted.
• Long ago families lived together.
• The houses had no windows but had a hole in the roof to let smoke out.
• Houses had no rooms but had partitioned sleeping and storage areas.
• Fishing gear, canoe paddles, and other large objects were stored in the rafters.
• The Tlingit made totem poles to tell a family story or legend, honor the dead, commemorate a birth, or make fun of someone.
• Totem poles are carved from cedar trees, painted and placed near the house or in the forest.

Dinè (Navajo) Information  

• Dinè means "Children of God."
• "Navajo" comes from a Spanish word meaning "stealer."
• Their ancestral home is the desert of the American southwest.
• Dinè is the largest Indian Nation.
• Today, most Dinè live on the "big rez" which includes parts of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah.
• The Dinè are known for creating beautiful silver and turquoise jewelry and wool rugs.
• Rugs are made on a loom.
• The Dinè originally farmed beans, squash, and corn and hunted deer, prairie dogs, and other animals.
• Corn was the most important food. Indian corn comes in many colors and could be eaten fresh or dried and ground.
• Today, many Dinè raise sheep for meat and wool.
• They eat mutton and fry bread.
• The traditional house is called a hogan.
• Hogans have six or eight sides and are made of logs, brush, and mud.
• The door of the hogan faces east towards the rising sun.
• Today, many Dinè live in modern houses, while some still live in hogans in order to live together rather than separately.
• Hogans are still used for family ceremonies.
• Some Dinè believe that illness comes from harmful forces and have medicine men get rid of the harm by performing ceremonies that include singing and sacred objects.
• Sometimes the medicine men make sand paintings as a way to get rid of the harm.
• Dinè now have access to doctors; however, some continue to use medicine men because Western doctors are just now learning the importance of curing the spirit.

Information from Photographs of the Dinè (Navajo) by Ilka Hartmann, available through the EDSITEment-reviewed resource Native Web :

• The Dinè, Dineh, or Navajo Nation is the largest Native nation in the United States, both in territory and population.
• Navajo Reservations are in Arizona and New Mexico and are held in trust by the United States Government.
• The population is approximately 165,000.
• Approximately twenty percent of the Dinè live off the reservation, many in urban areas.
• The name Dinè means "The People."
• Dinè women own sheep herds and produce very beautiful Navajo rugs.
• Dinè men create beautiful works of art in turquoise and silver.

Muscogee (Creek) Information

• The Europeans called the Muscogee people "Creeks" because they built their villages near creeks.
• The people call themselves "Muscogee."
• Their ancestral home is the American southeast, in what is now Georgia.
• Because white settlers made them leave their original home, most Muscogee people now live in Oklahoma.
• Women traditionally wore skirts, and men wore deerskin breechcloths.
• In the 1700s, European traders introduced wool and cotton clothes made in England.
• The Muscogee adapted the European clothing and traded deer pelts for it.
• Today, Muscogee wear American clothing.
• Corn was an important food, which women ground into meal and boiled with lye to make "sofkey."
• For food, women gathered nuts, wild onions, and berries, and men hunted deer.
• Muscogee had gardens full of corn, beans, and squash.
• They shared the food among the group.
• Today, Muscogees mostly eat American foods.
• The Muscogee originally lived in houses with thatched roofs.
• A typical village was built around the council house and a large field used for sports.
• After the Muscogees were forced to move west, their towns and homes looked different.
• In the West, most of the houses were made of logs.
• Traditional Muscogee ceremonies take place at the stomp ground.
• An important celebration is the Green Corn Festival, when people give thanks for the harvest.
• During the Green Corn ceremony, women dancers wear turtle shells or cans on their ankles to make music while they dance.

Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Information

• The word Iroquois means "rattlesnakes."
• The Iroquois call themselves Haudenosaunee, which means "people building a long house."
• Iroquois live in what is now the state of New York and parts of Canada.
• The Iroquois Confederacy originally included five nations and was a democracy.
• The five nations include: Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Mohawk, and Oneida.
• The pine tree symbol in the middle of the flag represents a White Pine because this tree's needles are clustered in groups of five.
• Onondaga - Keepers of the Fire, Capital of the Confederacy (currently they live near Syracuse, New York). Seneca - Keepers of the Western Door (currently they live in New York and Canada). Cayuga - Younger Brothers of the Seneca (currently they live near Buffalo, New York). Mohawk - Keepers of the Eastern Door (currently they live in New York and Canada). Oneida - Younger Brothers of the Mohawk (currently they live in Wisconsin and Canada).
• The U.S. government was modeled on the Iroquois nations.
• The Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) used European cloth and adapted it to their own style.
• Some men wore feathers in their hair, rings in their nose, and other jewelry.
• Men also wore capes, sashes around their waist, breechcloths, leggings, and moccasins.
• Today, the Iroquois wear modern clothes.
• Before the Europeans came, the Iroquois were farmers and hunters.
• The main crops were corn, beans, and squash, and these were known as the "sustainers of life" and were called the "Three Sisters."
• These three crops were considered special gifts from the Creator, and each was believed to be protected by one of the Three Sister Spirits.
• Legends were woven around the Three Sisters who would never be apart from one another, just as corn, beans, and squash were planted together, eaten together, and celebrated together.
• The Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) people lived in villages and farmed.
• Iroquois houses were called longhouses because they were longer than they were wide.
• The houses were made from elm bark.
• Longhouses had door openings at both ends and no doors or windows.
• During the winter, the doors were covered with skins.
• The Haudenosaunee Flag represents the original five nations that were united in peace by the Peacemaker.

Lakota (Sioux) Information

• Sioux means "Lesser Snake" in Chippawa.
• The people call themselves Lakota, which means "friend."
• The Lakota lived on the plains with many other tribes, such as the Cheyenne and Oto.
• Traditionally, the Lakota hunted buffalo and followed the herds from place to place.
• Today, the Lakota have reservations in North and South Dakota and Montana.
• The Lakota decorate their clothing with bead work and designs to honor the spirit world.
• Traditionally, clothing was made of buckskin and elk skins.
• Women traditionally wore dresses and leggings, and men wore shirts and breechcloths.
• In cold weather, Lakota wore buffalo robes. Infants were placed in cradleboards for protection.
• The Lakota people used buffalo to provide everything they needed to survive.
• The buffalo was considered a Spirit Being by the Lakota.
• Buffalo meat provided food, the pelt, clothing, and the bones, tools.
• The buffalo is central to the traditional religion of the Lakota and of neighboring tribes.
• The Lakota called their houses "tipis" which means "the place where a person lives."
• Because they roamed the plains following the buffalo herds, Lakota needed housing that was lightweight and could be taken apart quickly.
• Tipis were made from buffalo hides. They were warm in the winter and cool in the summer and large enough for the entire family.

Selected EDSITEment Websites

• Oyate Website
• Have students create a book about their own families and cultural traditions and customs, including their lodging, clothing, food, and other aspects of everyday life, and relate their family activities and traditions to similar Native American customs. Students will see the continuity over time and the influence of the First Americans on contemporary life in the U.S. through food items such as corn and squash, and through activities such as fishing and canoeing.
• Using the profiles on the People section of the EDSITEment-reviewed resource New Perspectives on the West , have the class create biographies of the following nineteenth-century Lakota leaders: Red Cloud ; Sitting Bull ; Crazy Horse ; and Big Foot .
• Students can learn more about the culture of Alaska's indigenous people in " Alaska Sojourn ," a Humanities magazine feature that covers 4,000 miles of the 49th U.S. state.

Materials & Media

Native american cultures across the u.s.: worksheet 1, related on edsitement, american indian history and heritage, not “indians,” many tribes: native american diversity, native americans and the american revolution: choosing sides, language of place: hopi place names, poetry, traditional dance and song.

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Celebrate Native American Heritage in Your Classroom

To help you bring the rich ancestry, culture, and traditions of Native Americans, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians into your classroom for Native American Heritage month, we’ve put together a collection of 18 brand new assignments for grades 3-12. This collection includes information, argument, and narrative writing prompts about or inspired by Native American people, places, and cultures. Each assignment provides a link to educational resources or suggests sources for students to use. Students can practice expanding their cultural knowledge and learning from credible sources as they write.

In this collection you’ll find assignments that help students research Native American inventions, write poetry inspired by Joy Harjo (U.S. poet laureate and Muscogee Nation member), compose arguments about the importance of honoring Indigenous names for landmarks, and learn about historical figures like Sacajawea, Sitting Bull, Maria Tallchief, Crazy Horse, and more.

Assignments for Elementary School Students

• Opinion Letter: Autumn Peltier
• Poem: Joy Harjo
• Report: Native American Inventions
• Report: Native American Tribes Today
• Biography: Sacajawea
• Biography: Sitting Bull

Assignments for Middle School Students

• Argument: Native American Names for Landmarks
• Essay: Chief Tecumseh & Patrick Henry
• Biography: Maria Tallchief
• Biography: Quanah Parker

Assignments for High School Students

• Newspaper Article: Native Americans & The U.S. Government
• Paragraph: Native American Heritage
• Biography: Crazy Horse
• Biography: Navajo Code Talkers

Additional Social Studies Assignments

If you’re looking for additional social studies material, you’ll find many more assignments in our social studies collection that focus on culture, history, and civics, with an emphasis on highlighting diverse historical figures, and important events, beliefs, and practices. Many assignments include readings or videos from trusted media sources, and focus on both historical and current events.

Are you new to Writable or curious to learn more? Create a free teacher account , check out our pricing , schedule a personalized demo , or Join the Writable Educators Facebook Community

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Featured Resource

American Indian History and Heritage

This Teacher's Guide from the National Endowment for the Humanities will introduce you to the cultures and explore the histories of some groups within the over 5 million people who identify as American Indian in the United States, with resources designed for integration across humanities curricula and classrooms throughout the school year.

Image credit: Long Walk Home—Gallup Downtown Murals—by Richard K Yazzir, 2005.

Selected Resources For Teachers

The library of congress 6 hide all.

• Blog posts from Teaching with the Library of Congress on Native American Heritage
• Celebrating Native American Veterans with Oral Histories and Primary Sources
• Native American Boarding Schools – Primary Source Set
• Native American Newspapers: Studying the History through the Eyes of the Community
• Living Nations, Living Words: A Guide for Educators
• PALABRA Indigenous Voices

National Archives 8 Hide All

• Native Communities Program

DocsTeach: The online tool for teaching with documents

•       American Indians - Primary Sources and Ready-to-Use Teaching Activities
•       American Indian Voting Rights through History
•       Analyzing a Photograph of a Young American Indian
•       Analyzing the Petition Against the Treaty of New Echota
•       Assimilation of American Indians
•       Before and After Carlisle School
•       The Impact of Westward Expansion on Native American Communities

National Endowment for the Humanities and Partner Organizations 17 Hide All

• Aacimwahkionkonci: Stories from the Land from Miami University, Oxford
• The Bigger Picture: This Photo Isn’t What It Looks Like
• EDSITEment's Learning Lab: Race, Gender, and the U.S. Military
• Interactive Lesson: A Cheyenne Odyssey (Funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities)
• Language of Place: Hopi Place Names, Poetry, Traditional Dance and Song
• Learning the Lakota Language
• Miami-Illinois Digital Archive (site supported by NEH)
• Mukurtu: an Indigenous archive and publishing tool (site supported by NEH)
• Native Americans and the American Revolution: Choosing Sides
• NEH 50 States of Preservation project
• Not “Indians,” Many Tribes: Native American Diversity
• “Remember” by Joy Harjo
• The Bigger Picture: This Photo Isn’t What It Looks Like (NEH & PBS)
• The Sand Creek Massacre: The Betrayal that Changed Cheyenne and Arapaho People Forever
• Teacher's Guide: American Indian History and Heritage
• Teaching Native American Histories (in partnership with University of Massachusetts)
• You Are the Historian Game from University of Massachusetts, Boston and Plimoth Patuxet

National Gallery of Art 4 Hide All

• Ancient Art of the American Woodland Indians
• Head Chief of the Iowas
• Uncovering America
• White Cloud: A Hero to His People

National Park Service 3 Hide All

• Education Portal
• “Honoring Tribal Legacies” (co-sponsored by the National Park Service)
• Teaching with Historic Places

Smithsonian Institution 12 Hide All

• Americans: A Dialogue Toolkit for Educators (PDF)
• American Indian music on Smithsonian Folkways
• Carriers of Culture: Living Native Basket Traditions
• Folklife Festival Program Book Articles
• Land and Native American Cultures
• Masters of Tradition: A Cultural Journey Across America
• Moccasin Madness! Navajo and Apache Moccasin Game Songs
• Native Knowledge 360°
• Singing in the Harvest: Music from the Zuni
• Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska
• Smithsonian Folkways Lesson Plans
• Trail of Tears: Music of the American Indian Diaspora

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Blog 4 Hide All

• Coming Home, Leaving Home: Kalyn Fay Creates Space in the Ozarks
• Kapa Pounding with Micah Kamohoali‘i: Preserving the Art of Hawaiian Bark Cloth
• A Native Puppet Theater Tells the Story of the Osage Homelands
• “Sitting at the Loom Is a Prayer”: Kevin Aspaas Weaves Diné History and Culture

Smithsonian Folklife Magazine 13 Hide All

• How I Carry on the Cycle of Indigenous Knowledge as a Wisdom Keeper
• In the Pandemic, Sculptor Nora Naranjo Morse Remembers What Is Sacred
• Native Innovation in Video Games: An Interview with Game Designer Elizabeth LaPensée
• North American Indigenous Flute vs. “Native American Flute”: A Lesson in Tradition from Kevin Locke
• A Q&A with the Smithsonian's First Curator from the Lumbee Tribe
• Regrowing Our Connections: Diné Relief, Recovery, and Remembrance
• “Seeds Have Stories”: Connecting Cultural Diversity and Biodiversity
• Shishmaref: A Short Film and Field Notes from a Native Alaskan Village
• The Spirit Lives On in Art: Lily Hope&#apos;s “Chilkat Protector”
• The Struggle for Native Lands in Indianola, Washington
• Take It to the Courts: Amplifying Voices of Oakland’s Mam-Maya Community
• This Land Is Whose Land? Indian Country and the Shortcomings of Settler Protest
• Weaving Through Time, Pandemic, and Wildfire

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Native American Studies Teaching Resources

Bring the rich cultures and histories of Native Americans into your classroom with a host of worksheets,  maps and more printable and digital activities for kids — created by teachers for your classroom.

Native American studies are part of the state curriculum standards across the United States, and this collection of social studies resources is designed to help students build a deeper understanding of the Native Americans whose land we now live on. It includes cultural resources about specific tribes from various regions of the modern-day United States.

Whether you're focusing on a specific tribe local to you or looking for help teaching students about the lives of indigenous people all across the country, your lesson plans will be made easier with this collection of teacher-created and teacher-reviewed resources.

Looking for tips to teach about the Indigenous Tribes of North America in culturally-appropriate ways? Read on for a primer from our teacher team, including dos and don'ts that can help guide your lesson planning.

How Do You Teach Kids About Native American History Respectfully?

American history is littered with wrongs done to Native American peoples by white colonizers from the days of Christopher Columbus onward. Teaching this history in a respectful way is a vital part of ensuring future generations do not continue the practices of our ancestors.

But how do you ensure you're being culturally appropriate in the things you say in your classroom? Here are some dos and don'ts from our teacher team to help guide your classroom conversations.

• Do not refer to Native American people as American Indian. This outdated term is considered offensive by many, and largely abandoned. If you're teaching about the period in American history often referred to as the French and Indian War, you may want to refer to it instead as the Seven Years War.
• Do refer to Native American people as Native American or indigenous people.
• Do use the name of a particular nation when refer to that nation's history. For example, say Navajo people or Hopi people.
• Do teach students that the indigenous people of America all have their own distinct traditions and histories and are not all the same. In fact, there are currently 574 federally recognized Native American Nations — called tribes, nations, bands, pueblos, communities and native villages, depending on that particular nation's identity — in the United States. These nations each have a formal nation-to-nation relationship with the US government.
• Do refer to Alaska Natives by their preferred terminology.
• Do show images representative of a particular tribe's cultures, traditions, clothing, homes and food when teaching about that nation.
• Do  teach your students about the original inhabitants of the land they live on today. If you don't know the names of all of the nations, this free app can help!
• Do include books in your classroom library that include representation of Native characters and are written by Native authors.
• Don't refer to indigenous people only in the past tense. While you may be teaching history, it's important to let students know that there are more than 9 million Native American and Alaska Native people living in the United States today.
• Do incorporate Native primary sources whenever possible when teaching about their history or culture.
• Do use terms like “pre-contact” or “pre-European settlement" when referring to the history of indigenous people in North America, rather than terms like "pre-historic."
• Don't use assignments that involve students dressing up like Native American people.

Native American Vocabulary for Teachers

Another important aspect of teaching your class the history of the indigenous people of the US in a sensitive and respectful manner is to be mindful of the different vocabulary terms you are using.

As the creators of the  Elements of Indigenous Style  point out, the language that is used around Native peoples is constantly evolving, so it's important to stay up-to-date on the terminology to ensure your students are also using the correct terms.

Here are some of the more common vocabulary words that crop up in social studies lesson plans, along with definitions that are appropriate to use with kids.

This adjective can be used to refer to the original inhabitants of a particular region or land. Native American peoples are considered indigenous to the Americas.

This type of communal dwelling made of adobe (sun-dried clay bricks) or stone is commonly found in the southwestern United States. Pueblos were traditionally built by the members of some Native American people, such as the Hopi and Zuni.

While some Native Americans lived in pueblos, many who lived in conical tents called teepees. These structures were most common in the plains in the midwestern part of the US.

Another housing type lived in by some Native American people was the wigwam, a dome-shaped shelter typically constructed using wooden poles covered with bark or mats.

This long, narrow dwelling made of poles and covered with bark or mats, was used as a home by many Native Americans in the northeastern part of North America. Longhouses were often communal dwellings where  multiple families would live together.

This term is often used to describe a group of people who share a common ancestry, culture and language. Be aware, however, that not all Native Americans use the term tribe in how they identify themselves.

Reservation

Over the course of American history, many Native Americans were forced onto areas of land called reservations by the United States government. These sections of the country still exist today and are home to millions of Native Americans.

Sovereign Nation

The many Native American nations are legally recognized by the United States Constitution as sovereign nations. This means that these nations have their own recognized governments, just like Mexico or the United Kingdom, and they are not subject to the rules of the US government on reservation land.

Native American Tribes in Texas for Kids

Are you a teacher in Texas? In addition to Common Core-aligned activities in this collection, we have resources aligned directly to the TEKS Social Studies Standards for 4th grade and 5th grade.  We can help you teach your students about the Jumano, Karankawa, and Caddo Native American tribes that formed the foundation of Texas' history.

Print your own Texas Native American mini-book, or print a set of reading comprehension passages about the different tribal groups.

• Teaching Resource 15
• Mini Book 7
• Worksheets 2
• Templates 2
• Sorting Activities 1
• Task Cards 1
• Interactive Games 1
• Word Walls 1
• Graphic Organizers 1
• 1st Grade 1
• 2nd Grade 2
• 3rd Grade 10
• 4th Grade 15
• 5th Grade 12
• 6th Grade 1

availability

File formats.

• Printable PDF 14
• Google Slides 13
• Google Sheets 1
• Teach Starter Publishing 15

Native American Regions of North America - Indigenous Groups Interactive

Review learning objectives related to the indigenous tribes of North America with a self-checking interactive activity.

Printable Map of Native American Tribes of North America

Print and use a detailed map showing the regions of native American tribes.

Texas History - Native American Tribes Word Wall Cards

Teach your Texas social studies standards with a pack of illustrated vocabulary cards about the Native American tribes in Texas.

Native American Regions of North America Workbook

Explore the rich history and traditions of the Native American cultural regions of North America with a printable workbook.

North American Indigenous People - Fact Sorting Worksheet

Review information learned about the indigenous people in the different regions of North America with a cut-and-paste worksheet.

Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest Mini Book

Explore the rich history and traditions of the Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest printable mini-book.

Native Americans in Texas Mini-Book

Blend reading and social studies standards with a printable comprehension and activity book about the Native American tribes in Texas.

Native American Tribes in Texas - Reading Passage Worksheets

Blend reading and social studies standards with a pack of reading passages and comprehension activities about the Native American tribes in Texas.

North American Indigenous People Task Cards

Review information learned about the indigenous people in the different regions of North America with a set of task cards.

Native Americans of the Southeast Mini Book

Explore the rich history and traditions of the Southeast Native American tribes with a printable mini-book.

Native Americans of the Arctic Mini Book

Explore the rich history and traditions of the Arctic Native American tribes with a printable mini-book.

Native Americans of the Northeast Woodlands Mini Book

Discover life in a Northeast Woodland Native American tribe with a printable mini-book.

Native Americans of the Plains Mini Book

Explore the rich history and traditions of the Native American tribes of the Plains with a printable mini-book.

Native American Tribes in Texas - Venn Diagrams

Compare and contrast Native American tribes in Texas with a set of Venn diagram graphic organizers.

Native Americans of the Southwest Mini Book

Explore the rich history and traditions of the Southwest Native American tribes with a printable mini-book.

• Native American Studies for 4th Grade
• Native American Studies for 5th Grade

11 Meaningful Texts about Native American History and Heritage

Allie Liotta

Check out this diverse collection of texts for grades 3–12 about Indigenous cultures and experiences across the United States.

Studying Native American history and heritage in the classroom is a great way to teach students about the traditions and cultures of Indigenous peoples across the United States. Reading a variety of texts about Native experiences helps expose students to different perspectives and opens doors to other cultures.

This diverse collection of texts for grades 3–12 includes short stories by Native American authors, primary sources, informational texts, and more.

“ The Basket Weaver ” by Jacque Summers (3rd Grade)

In this short story, a shy Chumash girl named Yo’ee learns a new way to share her voice with her community. The Chumash people, from what is now California’s southern coast, are known for making tightly woven baskets. In the story, Yo’ee learns to tell stories through her intricate weaving. Reading this text is a great way to start a conversation about the value of different talents.

“ Fun and Games ” by Kelsie Ingham (4th Grade)

In this informational text, Kelsie Ingham discusses the different games that Native American children played in the past. Sports like shinny and tug-of-war taught important life skills, like hunting and teamwork. Many popular games today come from traditional Native American sports. Elementary students will love learning about Native American children’s games and can compare and contrast them to the games they play at recess or at the park.

“ Heartbeat of Mother Earth ” by CR Willing McManis (5th Grade)

In this informational text, CR Willing McManis describes the origins of pow wows and what takes place during modern ceremonies. Today, pow wows can be small or large, but all include drumming, dancing, crafts, and food. Students will enjoy learning about the details of these celebrations and can discuss how the ceremonies strengthen Native American communities.

“ I Am Offering This Poem ” by Jimmy Santiago Baca (6th Grade)

In this poem by Jimmy Santiago Baca, an award-winning writer of Apache and Chicano descent, the speaker offers his words to the reader as a token of his love. The warm imagery in this poem draws on Baca’s cultural heritage. This text can be used to start a meaningful conversation with students about the ways love changes people.

“ Army Code Talkers ” by the United States Government (6th Grade)

In this article, the author discusses the contributions of Native American “code talkers” during World War I and World War II. The United States military used American Indian languages to transmit secure messages related to troop movements and tactical plans. This text provides students with an interesting opportunity to discuss Native American contributions during wartime and the government’s treatment of Native Americans at different points in history.

“ The Medicine Bag ” by Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve (7th Grade)

In this short story by Sioux author Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve, Martin’s dying grandpa visits with the intention of passing down a traditional medicine bag. Martin is embarrassed by his grandpa’s appearance and the dirty medicine bag. By the end of the story, he comes to understand the importance of the history and culture they share. Middle school students will relate to Martin’s desire for belonging and how it leads to complicated feelings about his family.

“ Chief Powhatan’s Address to Captain John Smith ” by Chief Powhatan (8th Grade)

In this speech, Chief Powhatan of the Powhatan tribe addresses Captain John Smith, a leader of Jamestown, Virginia. Chief Powhatan seeks to curb the violence and promote peace between the English settlers and his tribe. This primary source provides a powerful opportunity for students to analyze the relationships between Indigenous peoples and colonists in the 1600s.

“ How Native Students Can Succeed in College: ‘Be As Tough As The Land That Made You’ ” by Claudio Sanchez (8th Grade)

In this informational text, Claudio Sanchez examines the challenges that Native American teenagers face when seeking higher education and how a program called College Horizons helps prepare them to overcome obstacles. College Horizons holds retreats to help Native American students connect to their cultures and get ready for college life. Middle school students will relate to the Native students’ exploration of their identities and desire for belonging.

“ American Indian School a Far Cry from the Past ” by Charla Bear (9th Grade)

In this informational text, Charla Bear discusses an off-reservation boarding school, Sherman Indian High School, and the various opinions people have about it. Some students feel confined within Sherman’s rigorous structure, while others value the chance to learn about other Indigenous cultures and escape the challenges that face their families on reservations. This text provides an interesting opportunity for students to examine the modern ramifications of Native American removal and assimilation.

“ Red Cloud’s Speech after Wounded Knee ” by Chief Red Cloud (10th Grade)

In this speech, given after the Wounded Knee Massacre, Chief Red Cloud of the Oglala Lakota tribe sheds light on the plight of Native American peoples living on reservations. Red Cloud was a lifelong proponent of peace. In this speech, he argues that those who were killed at Wounded Knee were not violent, but rather wanted to communicate their suffering and get help. This text would be a great primary source to integrate into a history lesson or a unit on persuasive speeches.

“ UN Explores Native American Rights in U.S. ” by Michel Martin (11th Grade)

In this text, Michel Martin interviews S. James Anaya about the report he wrote for the United Nations regarding the rights of Native Americans. Anaya’s Apache and Purepecha ancestry inspired him to dedicate his law career to the issues facing Indigenous peoples. In the interview, Anaya suggests ways the government can better support Native communities. Students will be moved by Anaya’s dedication to uplifting Indigenous peoples in the United States.

To read more engaging texts about Native American history and heritage, you can explore our Native American History and Authors text set !

If you’re interested in learning all about CommonLit’s free digital literacy program, join one of our upcoming webinars !

Chat with CommonLit

CommonLit’s team will reach out with more information on our school and district partnerships.

Native American History

Native American History introduces students to major historical figures and influential events in the history of the American Indian peoples. Students will learn about many different tribes, including the Sioux, the Shoshone, the Apache, and the Shawnee tribes. Throughout the lesson, they will discover many cool facts and some very sad ones surrounding American Indian history.

There are several suggestions listed in the “Options for Lesson” section that you can use as alternatives or additions to your lesson. For example, you can assign students a famous Native American or event to further research and later present to the class. You can also invite a Native American or expert in that culture to speak with your students. It may also be a great opportunity to study words and place names that have Native American roots, such as many of the state names.

Description

Additional information, what our native american history lesson plan includes.

Lesson Objectives and Overview: Native American History discusses some key figures and important events related to the indigenous people who used to, and still do, live in what is now the United States. At the end of the lesson, students will be able to recap these events and figures and explain their influence on America. This lesson is for students in the 5th grade and 6th grade.

Classroom Procedure

Every lesson plan provides you with a classroom procedure page that outlines a step-by-step guide to follow. You do not have to follow the guide exactly. The guide helps you organize the lesson and details when to hand out worksheets. It also lists information in the yellow box that you might find useful. You will find the lesson objectives, state standards, and number of class sessions the lesson should take to complete in this area. In addition, it describes the supplies you will need as well as what and how you need to prepare beforehand. For this lesson, the only supplies you will need are the content pages and handouts.

Options for Lesson

Included with this lesson is an “Options for Lesson” section that lists a number of suggestions for activities to add to the lesson or substitutions for the ones already in the lesson. For this lesson, some of these options include letting students work alone or in the groups for the acrostic poem activity, having students do their own research on a famous Native American or event that they then present to the class, or having students create a timeline that includes pictures or illustrations related to the events included on the timeline. You can also plan a Native American Day, where you bring in traditional Native American foods. A Native American person or historian can also be invited to speak to your class. Additional options for this lesson can be found on the Classroom Procedure page.

Teacher Notes

The Teacher Notes page includes a paragraph with additional guidelines and things to think about as you begin to plan your lesson. It notes that while many students are likely familiar with Native Americans, they likely do not know many specific people or important events. This page also includes lines that you can use to add your own notes as you’re preparing for this lesson.

NATIVE AMERICAN HISTORY LESSON PLAN CONTENT PAGES

Native americans.

This lesson includes four content pages. The first page of the lesson provides an overview of the Native American people, who are the indigenous people of the land now known as the United States. Students will learn that there used to be hundreds of tribes living here, most of whom lived in peace with one another. Native American history goes back at least 14,000 years but everything changed when Christopher Columbus landed in the Caribbean in 1492, setting off a long chain of events and the displacement of these people from their land. Students will learn about the timeline of European settlers coming to the Americas and what impact that had on the indigenous populations.

Native American People and Events

This section of the lesson contains a list of famous and significant Native American people and a timeline of important event in the history of the Native Americans. Some of the famous Native Americans that this lesson describes are Pocahontas, Squanto, Sacajawea, and Sitting Bull. Students will learn that the story they likely know about Pocahontas is actually part myth! Pocahontas helped the English colonists settle and eventually married an English tobacco planter named John Rolfe, with whom she had one child.

Students will also learn that Squanto was key in establishing a treaty between the local Native Americans and the Pilgrims. He had learned English as a teenager, traveled to England with the settlers, and was later sold as a slave. He was instrumental in helping the English survive in America, teaching them how to catch fish, grow crops, and survive the winter. Other important figures who are mentioned in this section are Geronimo, Crazy Horse, and Jim Thorpe.

The next part of this lesson contains a timeline of events. Some of the events on this timeline include 1513, when Juan Ponce de Leon originally explored what is now Florida and made contact with the Native Americans there; 1754, when the French & Indian War began; 1824, when the United Stated established the Office of Indian Affairs; 1838, when the Trail of Tears happened and more than 4,000 Cherokee people died while being forced to march from North Carolina to Oklahoma; and 1969, when all Native Americans were declared citizens of the United States. Students will learn a lot about the history of the Native American people as a whole during this section.

NATIVE AMERICAN HISTORY LESSON PLAN WORKSHEETS

The Native American History lesson plan includes three worksheets: an activity worksheet, a practice worksheet, and a homework assignment. You can refer to the guide on the classroom procedure page to determine when to hand out each worksheet.

ACROSTIC POEM ACTIVITY

For the activity, students will work with a partner to complete the worksheet. They will create an acrostic using the letters in “Native Americans.” They will write a total of 15 facts about the American Indians or their history. Each fact must start with the proper letter. Students are encouraged to be creative and use what they learned from the lesson to complete this activity. You can also have students work alone or in groups for this activity.

MATCH THE TERMS PRACTICE WORKSHEET

The practice worksheet lists 20 facts and a word bank containing the names of people, significant events, and more. Some of these terms included “Battle of Little Bighorn” and “Ponce de Leon”. Students will match the terms in the word bank to the correct statement.

NATIVE AMERICAN HISTORY HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT

The homework worksheet lists a total of 16 statements and questions. Students must answer each question to complete the assignment. This homework assignment will test their knowledge of the lesson material.

Worksheet Answer Keys

This lesson plan includes answer keys for the practice worksheet and the homework assignment. No answer key is provided for the activity worksheet because each pair of students’ acrostic poem will be different depending on the words that they chose. If you choose to administer the lesson pages to your students via PDF, you will need to save a new file that omits these pages. Otherwise, you can simply print out the applicable pages and keep these as reference for yourself when grading assignments.

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Cherokee, Eastern Band of Cherokee, Kickapoo, Muscogee, Potawatomi, Seminole, Shawnee

U.S. History, Civics, Geography

Removal, Indian Removal, American Indian Removal, Osceola, Andrew Jackson, Treaties, treaty, Trail of Tears, John Ross, Menominee, Catahecassa, Black Hoof

East, Midwest, Southeast

essential understandings

Interactions with Europeans and Americans brought accelerated and often devastating changes to American Indian cultures.

American Indian history is not singular or timeless. American Indian cultures have always adapted and changed in response to environmental, economic, social, and other factors. American Indian cultures and people are fully engaged in the modern world.

Hearing and understanding American Indian history from Indian perspectives provides an important point of view to the discussions of history and cultures in the Americas. Indian perspectives expand the social, political, and economic dialogue.

Throughout their histories, Native groups have relocated and successfully adapted to new places and environments.

External educational, governmental, and religious institutions have exerted major influences on American Indian individuals, groups, and institutions. Native people have fought to counter these pressures and have adapted to them when necessary. Many Native institutions today are mixtures of Native and Western constructs, reflecting external influence and Native adaptation.

A variety of political, economic, legal, military, and social policies were used by Europeans and Americans to remove and relocate American Indians and to destroy their cultures. U.S. policies regarding American Indians were the result of major national debate. Many of these policies had a devastating effect on established American Indian governing principles and systems. Other policies sought to strengthen and restore tribal self-government.

A variety of historical policy periods have had a major impact on American Indian peoples' abilities to self-govern.

academic standards

George Catlin, Os-ce-o-lá , 1838. Smithsonian American Art Museum, 1985.66.301. Thomas Sully, Andrew Jackson, 1845. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1942.8.34.

Indian Removal Act of 1830.

President Andrew Jackson to Congress, On Indian Removal , December 6, 1830. National Archives, Washington, D.C., Record Group 46.

Intrusions of land-hungry settlers, treaties with the U.S., and the Indian Removal Act (1830) resulted in the forced removal and migration of many eastern Indian nations to lands west of the Mississippi.

Native Nations Removed West, 1817–58. Map by Gene Thorp/Cartographic Concepts, Inc. © Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of the American Indian.

hear from the historian:

American Indian Removal

President Thomas Jefferson was one of the first advocates for Indian removal. The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 gave the United States the opportunity to explore and buy vast lands west of the Mississippi River from American Indian Nations that owned them. President Jefferson then hoped to persuade the eastern Indian Nations to sign treaties and exchange their lands for territory west of the Mississippi.

Land-hungry Americans saw economic opportunity in American Indian lands, and the pressure to remove Indians grew. Americans tried to justify their actions by saying that Indians were uncivilized people who made little use of their vast tribal lands. They believed that the United States somehow had a "manifest destiny" to occupy the entire continent from coast to coast. Most American Indian Nations flatly rejected the idea of removal, and they tried every strategy they could imagine to avoid it.

Indians were not alone in opposing removal. The country was deeply divided about the idea. Thousands of citizens signed petitions against it. Newspaper articles depicted removal as a threat to the American value of justice. Some lawmakers denounced removal as an immoral violation of the government's previous treaty promises to Indian Nations. Even Chief Justice John Marshall wrote an opinion in an 1832 legal case, Worcester v. Georgia , finding that the state of Georgia had violated the Cherokee Nation's rights to self-government.

Eventually, the pro-removal forces won, and in 1830 Congress passed the Indian Removal Act by a slim margin. The legislation granted the president authority to negotiate Indian removal treaties, and American Indian removal was now an official U.S. policy.

American Indians continued the fight to keep their lands. But from about 1830 to 1850, the U.S. government used treaties, fraud, intimidation, and violence to remove about 100,000 American Indians west of the Mississippi. Thousands of Native men, women, and children died on the difficult trek to a strange new land that became known as Indian Territory (modern-day Oklahoma).

The tragedy and darkness of American Indian removal should not hide the remarkable story that followed. After resettling in Indian Territory, Native Peoples rebuilt their lives and cultures, and continued their struggle for self-government under their own laws on their new lands in the West.

But that is another story. For now, we hope this lesson shines a spotlight on the ways Native Peoples faced the crisis of removal. Their thoughts and actions reveal much about human strength in the face of adversity—a universal issue that is as relevant today as it was in the 1800s.

Kevin Gover (Pawnee). Director, NMAI

Project Manager, Lead Writer and Developer

Edwin Schupman (Muscogee), NMAI

Additional Writers/Lesson Developers

Colleen Call Smith, NMAI

Andy Paparella, Kenmore Middle School, Arlington, VA

Tammy Elser (Ed.D.), Insight Educational Services, Inc.

Stacey Mann

Renee Gokey (Shawnee), NMAI

Paraphrasing

Leslie O'Flahavan, E-Write

Researchers

Mark Hirsch (Ph.D), NMAI

Erin Beasley, NMAI

Maia Truesdale-Scott, NMAI

Suzanne Davis, NMAI

Lindy Trolan, NMAI

Clare Cuddy, NMAI

Daniel Fischer, NMAI

Michelle Nelin-Maruani, NMAI Teacher-in-Residence (Rapid City, SD)

Christopher Robinson, NMAI Teacher-in-Residence (Eastern Kentucky University)

Vilma Ortiz-Sanchez, NMAI

Johanna Gorelick, NMAI

Alexandra Harris, NMAI

Kathy Swan (Ph.D.), University of Kentucky

Justin Giles, Muscogee (Creek) Nation

Interviews and voice talent

7th Grade Students of Kenmore Middle School, Arlington, VA

Dan Davis, NMAI

Doug McMains, NMAI

Gussie Lehman, NMAI

Mark Christal, NMAI

Cheryl Wilson, NMAI

Laurie Swindull, NMAI

Deanna Wood, NMAI

David Chang, Informated Software Solutions

Interactivity Design

Informated Software Solutions

Interface Media Group

C&G Partners

Gene Thorp, Cartographic Concepts

Faith Marchevecchio

Martha Davidson

Anne Litchfield

Rights and Permissions

Wendy Hurlock-Baker, NMAI

Brett Finlayson

Robert Alexander (Comanche), NMAI

Contracts management

Pam Woodis (Apache), NMAI

Special thanks to:

The Trail of Tears: A Story of Cherokee Removal is organized in partnership with the Cherokee Nation. The case study and its related programming are generously supported by the Cherokee Nation and Cherokee Nation Businesses.

Mvto (thank you) to George Tiger, Principal Chief (former), Justin Giles, and other members of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma for their support and participation in this project.

We deeply appreciate the numerous educators who participated in formative testing of this product in Oklahoma, Montana, Kentucky, New York, Washington DC, Maryland, and Virginia.

• American Indian Removal Introduction
• Removal: Does It Make Sense?
• Muscogee Nation's Experience with Removal
• Cherokee Nation's Resistance with Removal
• Six Native Nations Try to Avoid Removal
• Reflecting on Removal
• What Does "Removal" Look Like Today?
• Related Resources

Burnside: GSTR 410 (Spring 2024)

Step 1: understand some of the recent chronology of native america.

• Step 2: Choose an Indigenous Group (Native American Nations Listed Below)

Step 3: Consider the assignment

Step 4 :choose a social fact, step 5: look for 3 sources, readings from dr. burnside.

• Find Articles
• Streaming Video
• Need more help?
• Digital Presentations and Creative Projects
• Native American Sovereignty from CQ Researcher

Not sure where to start? Below is a list of just a few Native American Nations. 

International Indigenous Groups

• Indigenous Peoples There are 476 million Indigenous people around the world and spread across more than 90 countries. They belong to more than 5,000 different Indigenous peoples and speak more than 4,000 languages. Indigenous people represent about 5% of the world’s population. The vast majority of them – 70% – live in Asia.
• Indigenous Peoples: Respect not Dehuminazation United Nations

GSTR 410-D :  Humor and resistance: ‘Weapons of the Weak’ Spring 2024

Instructor:  Dr. Burnside; Reference Librarians: Ms. Amanda Peach and Mr. Angel Rivera        

Documented Research Homework :   Due: January 31st_________

Humor of Indigenous Cultures :  Selected Social Facts

Purpose :  This exercise , supported by our library work-session, is designed to provide opportunity to develop these student learning outcomes (SLO):

• Apply humanistic and scientific concepts and theories to understand complex problems and the functions of humor, when present.
• Become acquainted with a variety of types of humor evident in various cultures.

Instructions :  Select one Native American tribal nation, or another indigenous group, to research using Hutchins library resources, to discover social facts* .  These can include social conditions of their societies and cultural elements, such as humor, in your selected tribal nations’ experiences.

Write a reflective essay to share your chosen social facts (large or small) and relate uses of humor by members. Use in-text citations with Works Cited list of three sources (minimum) ; typed, word count = 750-800.  Along with a Peer Review completed form, submit your essay on paper, due January 31 st .  In class, your brief oral presentation (four to six minutes ) can include visuals, such as power point slides (three to five).

* French sociologist Emile Durkheim developed the concept of social facts to include values, cultural norms, as elements of society that can be measured, often using empirical means, so we can observe and study these facts' influences on individuals and groups thoughts, attitudes and behaviors.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781405165518.wbeoss151.pub2

 accessed January 22, 2024. 

Look at this site for tips about which terms to use for various race and ethnic groups:

https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/bias-free-language/racial-ethnic-minorities

accessed January 22, 2024.

Rubric for Grading with a rating scale: (Very Good = 20-18; Good = 17-16; Fair = 15-14.

 Insufficient quality = 13-12: Poor = 11-0).

An emphasis will focus on quality of key details about your group (e.g. social facts and folklore), application of concepts, theoretical perspectives and your ideas.  A few points will be detracted if grammar and mechanics interfere with readability, so remember to proofread and use in-text citation (include page numbers, if available) with your Works Cited list.  Use a Peer to Review strategy and submit a completed form or other confirmation of your Review with your work.

_________   Title and introduction announces subject in memorable way.

_________   Selected important points about facts are clearly presented, and explanations show

                     good comprehension .

_________   Concepts provide relevant aspects that clearly support each fact & lead

                      to thoughtful interpretations .

_________   Sentences flow smoothly from one to another & are clearly linked to each

                      other.  The reader can follow the line of reasoning.

_________  Writing mechanics (grammar, punctuation, spelling, citations):  The

                     writing is free or almost free of errors and has proper word count.

__________  Quality and quantity of sources satisfactory; and appropriate citations style (APA, MLA,

            Chicago) for in-text and Works Cited list;

__________  Writing was peer reviewed (e.g. form attached or other evidence).

__________ Grade: _____________________________________________________________

Source Type # 1: ARTICLES 

Ethnic Newswatch is a great place to search because it includes  newspapers, magazines, and scholarly journal articles written by the actual Native American tribes you are researching.

• Ethnic NewsWatch This link opens in a new window Ethnic NewsWatch™, the current file, covers 1990 to present and includes newspapers, magazines, and journals of the ethnic and minority press, providing researchers access to essential, often overlooked perspectives. The publications offer both national and regional coverage. Ethnic NewsWatch™ is the only current database devoted to presenting multi-ethnic and multi-cultural publications in one resource. Coverage begins in 1990 and is updated daily with new content. Many of the titles are not found in any other aggregated resource.
• Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window Academic Search Complete is the world's most valuable and comprehensive scholarly, multi-disciplinary full-text database, with more than 8,500 full-text periodicals, including more than 7,300 peer-reviewed journals. In addition to full text, this database offers indexing and abstracts for more than 12,500 journals and a total of more than 13,200 publications including monographs, reports, conference proceedings, etc. The database features PDF content going back as far as 1887, with the majority of full text titles in native (searchable) PDF format. Searchable cited references are provided for more than 1,400 journals.
• JSTOR Collections This link opens in a new window JSTOR offers high-quality, interdisciplinary content to support scholarship and teaching. It includes over one thousand leading academic journals and thousands of e-books across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences, as well as select monographs and other materials valuable for academic work.

Source Type # 2: background information:

We also have an online database of electronic encyclopedias, called Gale Virtual Reference, which you can search, as well as an anthropology database.

• Gale Virtual Reference Library This link opens in a new window Gale Virtual Reference Library offers a wide variety of full-text interdisciplinary content on virtually any subject area to support assignments, papers, projects, and presentations. Includes the Scribner Writers Series.

We have print encyclopedias, listed below, which you can find in the Reference Area on the main floor of Hutchins. 

Source Type # 3: BOOKS

We have many print books, including children's books, related to Native American culture:

• Conceptualizing Resistance
• The Museum of the Plains White Person
• Next: Find Books >>
• Last Updated: Feb 13, 2024 12:07 PM
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Native American History

Director of libraries.

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Grades 9-12 Provides access to more than 12 million academic journal articles, books, and primary sources in 75 disciplines.

• Last Updated: Sep 10, 2024 12:57 PM
• URL: https://parish.libguides.com/nahistory

ENCYCLOPEDIC ENTRY

Native americans in colonial america.

Native Americans resisted the efforts of the Europeans to gain more land and control during the colonial period, but they struggled to do so against a sea of problems, including new diseases, the slave trade, and an ever-growing European population.

Geography, Human Geography, Social Studies, U.S. History

Diplomacy between Cheyenne and Settlers

Whether through diplomacy, war, or even alliances, Native American efforts to resist European encroachment further into their lands were often unsuccessful in the colonial era.

Photograph of woodcut by North Wind Picture Archives

During the colonial period, Native Americans had a complicated relationship with European settlers. They resisted the efforts of the Europeans to gain more of their land and control through both warfare and diplomacy . But problems arose for the Native Americans, which held them back from their goal, including new diseases, the slave trade , and the ever-growing European population in North America. In the 17th century, as European nations scrambled to claim the already occupied land in the “New World,” some leaders formed alliances with Native American nations to fight foreign powers. Some famous alliances were formed during the French and Indian War of 1754–1763. The English allied with the Iroquois Confederacy, while the Algonquian-speaking tribes joined forces with the French and the Spanish. The English won the war, and claimed all of the land east of the Mississippi River. The English-allied Native Americans were given part of that land, which they hoped would end European expansion —but unfortunately only delayed it. Europeans continued to enter the country following the French and Indian War, and they continued their aggression against Native Americans. Another consequence of allying with Europeans was that Native Americans were often fighting neighboring tribes. This caused rifts that kept some Native American tribes from working together to stop European takeover. Native Americans were also vulnerable during the colonial era because they had never been exposed to European diseases, like smallpox , so they didn’t have any immunity to the disease, as some Europeans did. European settlers brought these new diseases with them when they settled, and the illnesses decimated the Native Americans—by some estimates killing as much as 90 percent of their population. Though many epidemics happened prior to the colonial era in the 1500s, several large epidemics occurred in the 17th and 18th centuries among various Native American populations. With the population sick and decreasing, it became more and more difficult to mount an opposition to European expansion. Another aspect of the colonial era that made the Native Americans vulnerable was the slave trade. As a result of the wars between the European nations, Native Americans allied with the losing side were often indentured or enslaved. There were even Native Americans shipped out of colonies like South Carolina into slavery in other places, like Canada. These problems that arose for the Native Americans would only get worse in the 19th century, leading to greater confinement and the extermination of Native people. Unfortunately, the colonial era was neither the start nor the end of the long, dark history of treatment of Native Americans in the United States.

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