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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Native American Clay Pots

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students explore world culture by conducting an art project in class. In this Native American culture instructional activity, students identify the types of materials American Indians utilized in their artistic endeavors, specifically...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Totem Poles - Storytellers of Long Ago

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders should enjoy these fabulous lessons on Totem Poles created by Native Americans of the Northwest. Learners investigate what totems are, the meaning of their symbols and figures, and how they were made by the Native...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Native Design Coil Vase: Ceramics Lesson

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
After a quick study of Native American art, symbolism, and pattern design children make a ceramic vase. They read about the use, production, and design of Native American vases or pots, then use clay to create one of their own. Tip:...
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Lesson Plan
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National Museum of the American Indian

To Honor & Comfort Native Quilting Traditions

For Teachers 4th - 8th Standards
"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...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Taming the Frontier

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students examine paintings by Thomas Cole and Jasper Francis Cropsey as windows into American frontier life. They consider the pioneer's relationship with nature and the role of Native Americans in the pioneer's lives and settlements.
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Lesson Plan
Sargent Art

Glass Jar Sand Art: Inspired by Navajo Sand Painting

For Teachers 2nd
Sand has been used as an artistic medium for centuries and can be found in cultures across the globe. The class examines sand art created by the Navajo people. They mix tempera paint and sand to create their colors, and then fill jars,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Northwest Native American Art

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders first study the art of the U.S. Northwestern Coast Native American peoples. They select an image or make their own and make a drawing and then make a 6-inch linoleum block print.
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Lesson Plan
Sargent Art

Rainsticks

For Teachers 5th - 8th
This rainstick lesson isn't just about making art; it's about understanding Native American symbols and culture. Kids read about the use of rainsticks and why specific symbols were used to decorate them. They then make their own...
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Curated OER

Buffalo Hide Paintings

For Teachers 6th
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 instructional activity, in which learners create a buffalo hide...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Painted Lodges

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students explore lodge construction as a representation of culture. In this cultural diversity and Native American history lesson plan, students listen to a narrative explaining the origin of Native American painted lodges. Students...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Native American Symbol Stories

For Teachers 2nd - 5th
Students investigate Native American history by creating traditional style vests.  In this language arts instructional activity, students analyze the symbols from different tribes and define them in English.  Students create a story with...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Native American Basket Making

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students design a unique basket plaque incorporating at least one symbol from their chosen tribe. They also identify, share, and give rationales for the symbols in basket plaques. Whole class discussion jig-saws their discoveries.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Power Totem

For Teachers K - 3rd
Students investigate the important symbols to Native cultures by writing a poem.  In this animal totem lesson, students discuss animal spirits and their relation to the Native American lifestyle. Students write a cinquain poem about a...
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Power To The People: Bill Of Rights Art

For Teachers 11th - 12th
The works of Juane Quick-to-see Smith are featured in a lesson that asks pupils to consider the role artists play in bringing about social and political change. Scholars examine protest art by Smith and several street artists and...
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Lesson Plan
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Curated OER

Navajo Code Talkers

For Teachers 4th - 8th
An engaging lesson focuses on the contributions of the Navajo people during World War II. Learners read the book Navajo Code Talkers by Andrew Santella, answer a series of comprehension questions about the text, and write a letter as a...
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Lesson Plan
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Smithsonian Institution

A Life in Beads: The Stories a Plains Dress Can Tell

For Teachers 4th - 6th Standards
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 American...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Native Americans of the USA

For Teachers 1st - 3rd
Students, in cooperative groups, research a variety of Native American tribes on the Internet and complete corresponding activities. They participate in a play about Native Americans by Sandra Widener.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Native American and Greek Myths

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders identify seven different constellations and explain a myth that accompanies it. As a class, they listen to myths associated with the Greek and Native American cultures. To end the lesson, they write their own myth related...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Native American Legend

For Teachers K - 2nd
Students compare the Native American version of Cinderella to the more popular version they know. They compare legends with fairy tales and explore character traits and discuss the meaning of good character. They write a fairy tale of...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Be An Expert

For Teachers 3rd - 4th
Part of a series of lessons about bring Native American stories into the classroom, this plan suggests having kids research and take notes on one group of Native Americans and then complete a project that they present to the class. Pull...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Children's Literature Across the Curriculum Ideas-Dancing With the Indians

For Teachers K - 5th
Students read Dancing With the Indians by Angela Shelf Medearis. They complete a variety of cross-curricular activities surrounding the study of Native American festivals and traditions. Included are reading, art, math, science, writing,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Totem Mask

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders study totems of the Northwest Native Americans and design their own.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Native Americans - Searching for Knowledge and Understanding

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students examine lives of Native Americans in order to become familiar with contributions to and influences on American society particularly, but not exclusively, in the Western region of the United States. Students focus on cultural...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

CULTURAL COMPARISON OF NATIVE AMERICANS AND PILGRIMS

For Teachers 1st
First graders explore the practices and products of the two cultures. They build log cabins and teepees or Hogans, make costumes, use vocabulary and Native American symbols to write stories, create art products such as pinch pots and...