Curated OER
Sundials: Keeping Time Like Native Americans
Learners explore the use of sundials. They observe the shadows cast by the sun and record the times at various points throughout the day. They create sundials and record the location of the shadows and the time of day. They view a...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Kennewick Man: Science and Sacred Rights
"Have respect for the dead!" Scholars investigate how science and religion often clash. As they look into the laws of science and the laws of religion, the legal ramifications at the federal level of both play into an argument they...
Annenberg Foundation
Native Voices
The Navajo people build their dwellings with the doors facing the rising sun in the east to welcome wealth and fortune. Pupils learn about the traditions of the Navajo people in the first part of a 16-part unit. They explore American...
DocsTeach
Lewis and Clark's Expedition to the Complex West
Lewis and Clark's famous expedition is a prime example of the United States' westward expansion. Aspiring historians examine maps from Lewis and Clark's journey, as well as discuss their interactions with Native American tribes. The...
Pace University
The Iroquois
During the early 1500s, parts of modern-day New York were inhabited by Eastern Woodland Native Americans. To learn about the daily life, value, and traditions of these tribes, fourth graders research the Iroquois. Groups select projects...
K20 LEARN
Allotment in Indian Territory: Land Openings in Indian Territory
To understand how the allotment policy embedded in the Dawes Act, passed by the U.S. government in 1887, affected the tribal sovereignty of Native Americans, young historians examine various maps and documents and Supreme Court cases...
Smithsonian Institution
Western Indian Wars
Why do many Native Americans live on reservations? An interactive resource teaches about how reservations came to be and the tragic history behind Native Americans moving from their lands. Teenagers read passages, view images, and click...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Hopi Poetry
The Hopi refer to corn as their children, demonstrating its importance to the Native American group. Class members consider the role of literal and figurative language by examining poetry from this indigenous group. The resource includes...
Curated OER
Indigenous Peoples’ Day
A activity looks closely at the history and importance of Indigenous Peoples' Day. Scholars view an engaging video, then create a book that celebrates Native Americans. Thoughtful discussion and research highlight their contributions.
K20 LEARN
Show and Tell Museum - Investigating Primary Sources: Read and Interpret Primary Sources
Scholars become detectives in a lesson that focuses on primary sources. Learners practice their observational skills by examining the teacher's artifact and visiting the Show and Tell Museum that highlihgts items from peers and learning...
Smithsonian Institution
The Music of the Mardi Gras Indians
The traditions, costumes, and the music of the Mardi Gras Indians, African-Americans and those with African American or Native American Heritage are the focus of a unit that introduces class members to a little-known group that plays a...
Curated OER
Changemakers Lesson Plans
An astronaut, a fashion designer, a Secretary of the Interior, an actor, and an Olympic Gold Medal winner! Teens and tweens have an opportunity to be changemakers as they research modern Native Americans and their many accomplishments...
Constitutional Rights Foundation
History of Immigration From the 1850s to the Present
The Statue of Liberty may embrace the huddled masses of the world, but has American society always joined in? After young historians read a passage about the history of American immigration in the 19th and 20th centuries, focusing on...
Curated OER
3rd grade social studies
In this social studies activity, 3rd graders complete multiple choice questions about Native Americans, sequencing history, geography, and more. Students complete 20 questions.
Curated OER
American Indians
Students research early Indian adaptations in this lesson. They research the different American Indian tribes. They also research and compare the tribes' rituals, daily lives, and their impact on the Europeans who came later to the...
Curated OER
American Indian Art
Students complete a unit of study about Native American visual art. In this visual art lesson, students complete five lessons to study Native American art.
Curated OER
What Should a House Do?
Students complete a unit of lessons on the similarities and differences between Native American homes and European settlement houses. They explore websites, read stories, design a dream house, and construct wigwam models.
Curated OER
My Important Place
The story of Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce Indians of Oregon is told here. Pupils are shown pictures of the ancestral lands of the Nez Perce, and they learn about how they were forced to leave it. Students complete an essay which...
Independence Hall Association
American History: From Pre-Columbian to the New Millennium
Need an online resource to supplement the paper textbook in your classroom? An all-encompassing website covers historical events throughout the last half of the second millenium, leading right up to the third. From the pre-Columbian...
DocsTeach
Patent Analysis: Joseph Glidden's Barbed Wire
Barbed wire may have made cattle farming easier, but it brought to an end the free-roaming days of the plains. No longer could Native American groups continue their nomadic lifestyle, and the days of cowboys herding large groups of...
Curated OER
Navajo Pottery: Beautiful Objects
Young potters make their very own version of the classic Navajo Pottery. With helpful worksheets and applicable cross-curricular activities, the lesson is an enriching way to mold both your clay and the multicultural acceptance of your...
Curated OER
Native Americans During the 19th and 20th Centuries
Students explore major events in Native American history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In this American history lesson plan, students listen to lectures, examine photographs, and analyze music regarding Native American...
Curated OER
Go Native!
Students explore the five Native American regions. They compare and contrast the dwellings, clothing, and tools of the Native American groups. Students research one group of Native Americans. They build totem poles, pueblos, weave...
Curated OER
Lesson plan: History Underfoot
Students study Native Americans of Virginia. In this Virginia history lesson, students take on the role of archaeologists as they analyze a site and its artifacts. Students use the information to draw conclusions about the natives who...