Lesson Plan
Channel Islands Film

Telling Your Own Story

For Students 4th - 6th Standards
After watching and discussing a video on the Voyage of Cabrillo, individuals craft their own origin story and design and build an artifact they feel best represents their history.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Looking at Ritual and Ceremony

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Students explore Edward Curtis' photos of a Native American ritual and practice documenting their own religious rituals. For this photography analysis lesson, students analyze an Native American ritual in Curtis' photo. Students discuss...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Indian Heroes And Role Models

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders investigate the concept of heroes and role models within the Native American community. They use primary and secondary resources to answer specific questions intended to bring the students to a definition of Native...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Parts of Art

For Teachers K - 3rd
Young scholars define and use new vocabulary associated with the elements of art. As a class, they brainstorm different ways in which we communicate with one another. In groups, they view different pieces of art from the Native American...
Worksheet
Curated OER

Uncovering Evidence About Objects: When Clay Sings

For Students 5th - 6th
In this uncovering evidence about objects worksheet, learners read When Clay Sings, then use the data retrieval sheet to record their own research data and write a short summary.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Pottery-making Methods

For Teachers 3rd - 12th
Students become experimental archaeologists using three methods of pottery making before the invention of the pottery wheel.
Worksheet
2
2
K12 Reader

What is a Tribal Government?

For Students 6th - 8th
How are tribal governments similar to local or state governments? After reading a short article on tribal governments, individuals draw evidence from the provided article to respond to this reading comprehension question.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Understanding Treaties: Students Explore the Lives of Yakama People Before and After Treaties

For Teachers 1st - 5th
Students role play positions in the Walla Walla treaty negotiations. They identify the significance of the Sacred Circle and other beliefs of the Native Americans. They discover the complications the tribes faced after the treaties...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Artwork of World Cultures

For Teachers 7th
Seventh graders research a culture and art produced by the people of that culture. They create a PowerPoint presentation to explain their findings. Students make a sand painting depicting the art of that era.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Letters from the Japanese American Internment

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students make deductions about life in an internment camp by reading and comparing letters written to Clara Breed. Along the way, they consider the advantages of looking at a historical event from the multiple points of view of...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Foreign Miners

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Young scholars examine primary source documents from miners who went to California in the search of gold. They compare and contrast the letters they read and discuss what types of discrimination still exists today.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Oregon Trail Art

For Teachers K - 6th
Pupils describe events that happened on the Oregon Trail and in the daily lives of Native Americans by writing a narrative essay of a family traveling through Nebraska based on Thomas Hart Benton's paintings.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Benjamin Franklin: Goods and Services in Colonial America

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders examine the impact of Benjamin Franklin's ideas on the goods and services available in Colonial America as well as analyze the importance of Franklin to modern society. While listening to "How Ben Franklin Stole the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

California Gold Rush

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students discover the people who lived in California before and after the gold rush. They use primary source documents to identify how the finding of gold changed the area. They also discover the discrimation that was present during the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Northwest Coast Indian Raven Mask Lesson Plan

For Teachers 5th - 11th
Students create raven masks. In this Northwest Coast Native American lesson, students design and create Kwakiutl-style hats that feature the shapes, animals, and colors used by the Northwest Native Americans.
Website
American Museum of Natural History

Up Close With a Zapotec Urn

For Students 6th - 9th
If a Zapotec urn, buried for over a thousand years in a temple in the lost city of Xoxocotlan in the Valley of Oaxaca in the mountains of southern Mexico could talk image the stories it could tell. That's the set up in a clever resource...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Role of the Bison

For Teachers 5th - 9th
Students explore the role of the bison in the lives of the Plains Indians during the past two centuries and the hunting techniques of the Plains Indians.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Creating a Neighborhood Timeline

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students research information about their neighborhoods. Uncovering facts about geology and Native Americans, they examine how the neighborhood has evolved over time. They work together to create a timeline of specific events.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

City Animals

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students identify some of the most important native and introduced species of animals in the United States. They describe how animals populations of cities have changed over time, outline the benefits and problems associated with...
Lesson Planet Article
Curated OER

The Life and Work of Jacob Lawrence

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Black History Month provides a time to talk about the accomplishments of African Americans like Jacob Lawrence.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Living History

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students analyze how historians are trying to keep history alive and preserve it for generations to come. They view some schools trying to save an entire culture and language from extinction. Students participate in history preservation...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Abenakis Before Contact: Different Worlds Meet

For Teachers 3rd - 4th
Students study the lives of the Abenaki before contact with Europeans and how their lives changed after contact with the Europeans.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Climate and Cultures of Africa

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students gain an understanding of the relationship between climate and culture in the sub- Saharan Africa. Students will complete short exercises pertaining to the various cultures of Africa and the climate in which they live....
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Raleigh Bound!! A Virtual Tour

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders navigate a DPI web site to answer questions as they preview the Capitol, Legislative Building, and Museum of Natural Sciences before an actual trip to Raleigh.