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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Eagle Boy: A Pacific Northwest Native Tale

For Teachers 5th - 6th
Students read the story of the Eagle Boy. In this Native American Tale lesson, students discover the respect a boy has for wildlife. Students discuss eagles and what they symbolize. Students create  song lyrics for the story and describe...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Navajo Sand Paintings

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Research the use of sand paintings in the Navajo tribe. Your students work together to design their own sand painting. They share their creation with the class describing what the symbols mean.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Where, Oh Where

For Teachers 1st - 2nd
Students use maps to explore several traditional regions of Native Americans. They research information on the regions' climate, resources, landforms, flora and fauna.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Making Treaties and Weaving Wampum

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students are exposed to the cultural and artistic importance of wampum belts and the importance of the belts in American history as markers of relations between the Native Americans and European settlers.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Plains Indians Pictographs

For Teachers 1st - 3rd
Students explore methods of written communication. In this Plains Indian lesson, students create pictographs representing everyday modern life after observing the pictographs used by the Plains Indians. Pictograph stories are written on...
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Lesson Plan
Indian Land Tenure Foundation

Relationships to Places

For Teachers K - 2nd
Young historians take a look at how the Indian tribes of California promoted a mindful relationship between people and the land. They begin to understand how the Indians were champions of conservation, and at preserving the natural...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Designing Clay

For Teachers K - 5th
Maria and Juliana are two of the most famous Pueblo pottery makers of the modern era. The class will learn about pueblo pottery design and the ways that Maria and Julian use traditional designs in a new and innovative way. They will...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Math and Native Americans

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Pupils explore how math is relevant to Native Americans. Students investigate Indian culture through geometry. They describe and create geometric polygons and patterns. Pupils problem solve with tangram patterns to make Indian symbols...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Study of the Main Tribal Nations of North Dakota

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders compare the tribal nations of North Dakota. In this tribal life lesson plan, 4th graders explore the many different tribes native to North Dakota. By the end of their study, students should be able to explain how the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Rock Art and Ritual

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students explore, examine and determine what kinds of rock art motifs are likely the product of ancient ritual descent. They identify connections between rock art symbolism and Native American ritual practices. Each student also views a...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Why Not Fabric?

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Young scholars investigate art from Native American culture by creating fabric. For this native art analysis lesson, students identify the art of Plains Indians and discuss how it is represented in their fabrics, beads and decorations....
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Artistic Symbols

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students compare and contrast symbols used in African and Plains Indian art. In this visual arts lesson, students compare symbols of 2 cultural groups found in their art. Students write a description of what items might have been left...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Do You Dare to Dream?

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders discover the meaning behind dream catchers. In this themes and symbols in art lesson, 3rd graders discuss the meaning of Native American dream catchers. Students use paper plates, beads, and feathers to make the dream catcher.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Coil Vessels with Symbols

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders explore symbolism in Renaissance art, use ceramics vocabulary, and demonstrate craftsmanship in working with clay.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Indian "Buffalo Skin" Writing

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders identify common Native American writing symbols. They create paper bag "buffalo skins" and on the back, they write stories about Indian life.
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Lesson Plan
American Documentary

American Aloha: Hula Beyond Hawai'i

For Teachers 9th - 12th
In this lesson, learners 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, links to...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Numbers in Art

For Teachers K - 3rd
Learners choose a number from one to twelve and tell a number story about it. They listen to the teacher read "Numbers in Art" by Lucy Micklethwait. Students choose three numbers from one to twelve and view works of art while looking for...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Imagery: Symbolic/realistic

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students recognize and use the visual arts as a form of communication. They use the computer as a visual arts tool to gather images for a story they are telling. They discuss related stories that differ in their realistic images. They...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Seminoles

For Teachers 1st - 2nd
Students explore the Southeast Woodland region and culture of the Seminole Indians using video, art projects, books, maps and discussion.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Tin Relief

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students create a sun tin relief sculpture. In this Mexican art lesson, students incorporate line and form into a relief sculpture that they create of the sun.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Cut Outs: Shapes and Symbols

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students create collages based on Juan Quick-to-See Smith's "Ode to Chief Seattle." In this shapes, symbols and Native American lesson, students examine the "Ode to Chief Seattle" and Henri Matisse's cutout work. Students design their...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Indians of the Plains

For Teachers 2nd
Second graders, in groups, explore the Plains Indians and explore how the physical climate of the Plains region affected their lives.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lakota Signs & Symbols

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students discuss and identify the signs, symbol, and sacred animals associated with traditional Lakota objects of the past. They then design and create a two-dimensional piece of art that incorporates one of these signs or symbols.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Learning By Looking: Pueblo Indian Ceremonial Dances

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students investigate the uses of ceremonial dance in the Pueblo Indian culture by viewing videos of native dances. They listen to folk tales that explain the dances and compare the traditions of the Pueblo culture to their own culture....