Native Americans and the American West

Throughout the month of February my students began working on their Famous Americans Expedition. Now that we've learned all about how humans influence the environment around us, its time to look at how humans influence other humans. We became historians, studying the creation of our country, beginning with Native Americans.

Because young children often gain their knowledge of Native Americans through very stereotypical portrayals found in television, toys, Halloween costumes, and Thanksgiving legends,  I designed my instruction to put these misconceptions to rest through integration of literacy sequencing standards, and an introduction to elementary research. 

I began by reading two Native American stories aloud. Students were asked to sequence these two stories through the use of story time statues and a storyboard graphic organizer. We then learned about how sequencing is important not just in understanding history but also in fully understanding literature.

Following these stories, we reflected in our journals on a visual image and I asked them to determine whether or not all Native Americans are the same. Connecting their prior knowledge to the varying depictions of Native Americans from the two stories and the image, we learned that Native Americans are a broad group of people made up by many different nations. 

Students then spent time researching different Native American nations. They created group posters and presented their understanding to the class. Finally we ended by discussing how white settlement affected all Native Americans. 

Below is an image of the five posters my students created this year. I'm always extremely impressed at how engaged my students are during this study. They go above and beyond their grade level to delve deep into the material and truly learn. 

If you're interested in seeing exactly how I taught this lesson, check out the entire plan, complete with materials, on the Western History Association's website here. I submitted this lesson through one of their contests last year and was awarded the Charles Redd Center Teaching Western History Award for excellent lesson planning in social studies.