National Museum of the American Indian
To Honor & Comfort Native Quilting Traditions
"Native American history leaps boldly off the colorful quilts and patchwork designs." Learners discuss Native American identity and symbolism by reading about a variety of Native quilters and their unique art process, and participate in...
Global Oneness Project
Cultural Heritage: Recording a Native Language Dictionary
How do you rebuild a language that has been banned for years? A short video introduces high schoolers to Marie Wilcox, A Wukchumni Native American from Central California who, for over 20 years, worked on comprising a dictionary of the...
Curated OER
Native Americans
Students are be able to examine primary sources for evidence of Native American culture. They identify what culture is and discuss the difficulty of stereotypes. Students are given examples of different cultures.
Curated OER
Understanding Native American Culture
Ninth graders explore Native American culture. In this early Americans lesson, 9th graders will visit several stations around the room and examine native American artifacts then draw comparisons to other cultures. Students will then...
Curated OER
Buffalo Hide Paintings
To the Native American people living on the plains, the buffalo represented culture, art, sustenance, and survival. Explore the history of the buffalo with a social studies activity, in which learners create a buffalo hide painting in...
Smithsonian Institution
A Life in Beads: The Stories a Plains Dress Can Tell
Young learners discover how the Sioux and Assiniboine tribes preserved native culture through the making of traditional dresses, identifying the resources used to make the dresses and discussing behind the meaning behind some...
Curated OER
Sharing Their Stories: Native American Literature and Culture in 19th Century America
Young scholars investigate Native American culture reading and writing about early Native American authors. They listen to an expert to extend their understanding of the culture.
Curated OER
Native American Culture
Students examine the links between culture and geography. In this Native American cultures lesson, students research the cultural traditions of selected Native American groups. Students compare and contrast their findings.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Empire and Identity in the American Colonies
The American Revolution was born out of a European conflict that spilled over into North America—and the documents prove it! Using primary sources from the era of the French and Indian War, including British plans to try to unite its...
Curated OER
Totem Poles
Students create outdoor totem poles by creating masks and designing an outdoor painting in the woods. In this totem poles lesson plan, students study Native American culture.
Curated OER
BEGINNER LEVEL LESSON PLAN
Students are be able to analyze primary sources (photographs) for evidence of Native American culture and construct a cultural symbol. They are explained what the stars and stripes stand for on the American flag. Students work as...
Curated OER
Native American Cultures
Students investigate the Native American Heritage and explore their customs cultures. They discover characteristics of the Native Americans through the study of their art, artifacts, stories and symbols.
Curated OER
Symbols of Power in Native American Clothing
Learners create power shirts that were highly important in the culture of many Native Americans.
Global Oneness Project
Indigenous Language Revitalization in California
A film showcases a Native American woman and her hard work to create a dictionary detailing her tribe's language. While viewing, scholars reflect upon and discuss the importance of language and sustaining cultural identity.
Curated OER
The American Wilderness? How 19th Century American Artists Viewed the Separation of Civilization and Nature
The attitudes of European settlers toward the American wilderness, as reflected in art and literature, is the focus of this resource packet designed for teachers. Included in the unit overview you will find lists or paintings and...
Curated OER
Discovering American Identity through Writings and Paintings, 1800-1845
Tenth graders view paintings to determine the identity of the United States in a specific time period. As a class, they listen to their teacher give the title of the painting and they write a prediction about what the painting might be....
Curated OER
How Perceptions of Cultures Influences Perceptions and Historical Outcomes
Students research different ethnic groups that lived in the United States. They compare and contrast Spanish, African American and Native American cultures and how American culture interacted with them. They present their findings...
Global Oneness Project
Recording a Dying Langauge
Is there value in preserving indigenous languages that are almost extinct? That's the question posed to viewers of a short film about the attempt of one Native American woman who is creating a dictionary for Wakchumni, the language of...
Curated OER
Imagen e ldentidad/Image and Identity: Multiple Voices, Violations and Victories
High schoolers spend a year involved in a project researching the diversity of Native Americans.
Curated OER
The Treaty Trail: U.S. - Clothing That Talks: Meaning and Material Culture
Students investigate the cultures of Native Americans and Euro-Americans through their clothing. In this photograph analysis lesson, students observe historic photographs and analyze the style of clothes people wore and how it...
American Documentary
American Aloha: Hula Beyond Hawai'i
In this lesson, high schoolers will examine Hawaii's issues of colonization, authority, authenticity and cultural identity, and understand the distinction between native and non-native Hawaiians. This lesson includes links to videos,...
Anti-Defamation League
Viewing History from Multiple Perspectives
Celebration or protest song? The full text of Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land" opens a study of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the Louisiana Purchase, and Western Expansion from various perspectives. Middle schoolers examine...
Curated OER
Talking Rocks
Third graders explain the difference between Petroglyphs and Pictographs from Ancient Native American peoples. They create symbols that are representative of a story about their world.
Curated OER
Aboriginal Statistics
Fourth graders analyze statistics of Native Americans by creating graphs. In this data analysis lesson, 4th graders define different statistical terms and practice finding those statistics from groups of numerical information about...