First Americans of North Carolina and the United States

This lesson will use shared reading, center time, hands-on projects, and journal writing to help learners discover facts about first Americans, particularly those in the region that is today North Carolina, while at the same time developing their English language skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

A lesson plan for grade K English Language Development and Social Studies

By Adriane Moser

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Related topics

• Learn more about American Indians, English language learners, North Carolina, United States, history, language arts, read-alouds, and social studies.

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Learning outcomes

Students will:

• experience customs of first American families.
• understand how first American communities have changed.
• connect first American customs to their own experience.
• develop their English listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

2 months

Materials/resources

Journal-writing/Assessment:

• A writing journal for each student (teacher-created with writing paper and comb binder or staples). A cover is provided.
• Write from the Beginning Kindergarten narrative rubric.
• Kindergarten Social Studies Rubric
• Pencils.
• Crayons.

Shared Reading and Reading Center:

• Many Nations: An Alphabet of Native America by Joseph Bruchac.
• The Cherokee: Native Basket Weavers by Therese DeAngelis.
• 10-20 additional books selected from the Oyate catalog.
• Chart paper.
• Markers.

Listening Center:

• Books with cassettes:
  • The Winter People by Joseph Bruchac.
  • First Woman and the Strawberry: A Cherokee Legend by Terri Cohlene.
  • Naya Nuki: Girl Who Ran by Kenneth Thomasma.
  • Princess Scargo and the Birthday Pumpkin: The Native American Legend by Eric Metaxas and Karen Barbour.

Writing Center:

• The Oxford Picture Dictionary for the Content Areas by Dorothy Kauffman and Gary Apple.
• Printout of Native American Picture Writing.
• Individual white boards with markers.
• Lined paper.
• Flash cards.
• Writing strips.
• Link Letters.

Hands-on Activity – Making Pottery:

• Activity Sheets from Pottery Traditions.
• Demonstration pottery.
• Clay.
• Paper towels.
• Zip-closure plastic bags.
• Pottery sequencing cards.
• Yarn, onion bags, burlap scraps, corn cobs
• Earth-filled wading pool

Hands-on Activity – Corn Cakes:

• Butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, raisins.
• Nonstick cooking spray, baking sheet, mixing bowl, wooden spoon, measuring cups, measuring spoons, hot mitts, oven.

Set-up:

• Table for group work.
• Story circle marked on the carpeted floor.
• Designated areas for reading, writing, and listening centers.
• Outdoor area for earth-filled wading pool.
• Access to kitchen.

Technology resources

• Cassette player and 3 sets of headphones.
• Computer with internet connection, web browser, and printer. Required for teacher preparation only.

Pre-activities

Students should have learned or reviewed words for family members (siblings, parents, children, grandparents).

Students should have participated in a discussion about where they (or their parents or ancestors) lived before they came to North Carolina.

Activities

Introduction

1. The teacher explains that the class will learn about the first people who lived in America.
2. The teacher reads the book Many Nations: An Alphabet of Native America by Joseph Bruchac.
3. The teacher asks, “What did you learn about first Americans?” and leads a class discussion, eliciting responses from each student. Non-verbal students can participate by being asked, “Which was your favorite part of the book? What did you like best?” and pointing to illustrations in the book.
4. Journals are distributed to the students. They write their name on the cover and complete the first page, using writing and drawing to answer the question, “What did you learn about first Americans today?”
5. The teacher introduces the centers: reading center, listening center, writing center, computer center.
6. After the Introduction activity, the teacher will designate each class meeting for center time, shared reading, or a hands-on activity. Each class concludes with journal writing.

Reading Center

This center contains books selected from the Oyate catalog for students to choose from. In the Reading Center, students may choose to read independently, read with a buddy, or practice reading behaviors.

Listening Center

This center contains books and cassettes for students to choose from. Students in the Listening Center will agree on a book to listen to.

Writing Center

This center contains examples of first American picture writing from the Native American Picture Writing website. Also available is the Oxford Picture Dictionary for the Content Areas with a bookmark at Topic 19: The Native Americans.

• Students can choose from a variety of writing materials, including white board and markers, lined paper, flash cards, writing strips, and Link Letters.
• Students may choose to write words about the first Americans, create their own stories, or experiment with native American picture writing.

Shared Reading:

• Students take turns choosing a book from the class collection, selected from the Oyate catalog.
• The entire class sits in the story circle.
• The teacher uses the book to review the title, author’s name, setting, and characters.
• The teacher reads the book.
• The student who chose the book writes it on the class reading log on chart paper and evaluates the book using a three-point Likert scale (happy face, so-so face, sad face).

Journal Writing

Students use writing and drawing to answer the question, “What did you learn about first Americans today?”

Hands-on Activity – Making Pottery

First Session:

• Using North Carolina Pottery for reference, the teacher makes demonstration pottery pieces before the class. The teacher explains that these are “copies,” and emphasizes that original artifacts need to be carefully preserved.
• The teacher uses example pottery to demonstrate the concepts in Pottery Surface Treatments.
• Brainstorm with the students how the first Americans used pottery. Elicit “storing food and water and cooking.”
• Demonstrate with example pottery and an unlit stick “fire” how cooking pots were deep to be placed on the fire, and shallower bowls were used for serving food.

Second Session:

• Review the concepts above and begin teaching about pottery making. Show students a completed example pot.
• Give students a copy of checklist based on Pottery-Making Tips. The checklist may be pictoral. Students check off when they have completed each step of the process.
• Students begin to make their own pottery pieces and check off the steps on their checklists. Wrap student pieces in damp paper towels and sealed plastic bags.

Third Session:

• Students complete a sequencing activity, made from the pictures at Pottery Making Tips, cut out and glued on index cards. Students put cards in order.
• Teacher introduces surface treatments so that students who complete their pots can give them a treatment. Show the students the tools necessary for making each treatment (cord-marking, incising, and net, fabric, and corn cob impressing,) and an example of each treatment. Ask students to match the treatment to the finished pottery. Ask students who are beyond the novice stages in speaking to tell me how they matched the items.
• Students work on their own pottery.
• Students who finish early can work in their journals.

Fourth Session:

• Teacher takes several items of example pottery, breaks them into a few pieces and buries them in an earth-filled wading pool.
• Students find the pot shards and put them together.
• Ask students what they can tell about the people who made these pieces of pottery.

Hands-on Activity: Corn Cakes

• Teacher tells students, “We will make food from the Cherokee of North Carolina.”
• Follow recipe on page 19 of The Cherokee: Native Basket Weavers by Therese DeAngelis.

Assessment

• 5-10 minutes before the end of each class, students return to the table with their journals. The teacher asks, “What did you learn about first Americans today?” Students write and/or draw their responses.
• The teacher chooses two of these responses and evaluates them using the Write from the Beginning Kindergarten narrative rubric and the Kindergarten Social Studies Rubric.
• The teacher uses the digital camera and anecdotal commentary to document students’ participation in hands-on activities to demonstrate the speaking and listening skills of each student.
• These assessments can be included in each student’s ESL Portfolio.

Supplemental information

Modifications

These activities are designed to meet the needs of English language learners. Students at novice low language levels should be encouraged to respond by pointing to pictures and drawing. All students should be encouraged to work in centers with a classroom buddy.

Alternative assessments

The assessments in this lesson plan are designed for English language learners.

Students should be encouraged to write or draw in their journal depending on their level of writing development.

Critical vocabulary

first Americans, native Americans, American Indians, Cherokee, ordinal numbers and sequencing language (first, second, then, next, etc.), simple past tense, present tense

Comments

This lesson plan was created for the LEARN NC class, Teaching North Carolina History: American Indians in North Carolina — Past, Present, and Future.