Native American Lifestyles

Corn Squash and Beans

Objectives:

  • Promote inquiry skills
  • Enlighten interest
  • Encourage sustainability
  • Group dynamics
  • Problem solving techniques

Materials:

  • Dried Corn
  • Dried Beans
  • Gourds/dry or not
  • 20 cards per group (It is easier if you distinguish by color for easy separating, if you plan to use them more than once, laminating is suggested)
  • Bread, soup, jewelry, mask, hat, basket, moccasin, bait, pillow filling, seeds, bowl, spoon, cup, mat, vest, rattle, doll, clothesline, flour, water container

Activity:

If you have the time, space or skills you can fashion some of the materials that are up above, you can also create a power point with photos if the technologies are in the classroom. During the review it is important to get the student view. It is also important to open up ideas to new realities. There was no plastic, containers were fragile, they could rot or be eaten by insects or other animals. There was not true storage.

Background information about gardening and the idea of sisters working together, with early childhood students you can “build” a garden. The garden exercise encourages students to understand individual strengths and weaknesses.

Sister corn is strong but kind of needy; she requires a lot of extra nutrients.

Sister beans needs support but is very generous, she puts nitrogen from the air into the soil so that sister corn can use it, in return sister corn gives her strength and someone to “lean on” grow on. Sister squash is a protector she has big leaves that cover the earth and keep the water from evaporating and helps to stop unwanted plants from growing in the garden. Three sisters gardens were not neat and tidy they were different from the farms we know today that are planted in rows.

For more information please contact MaryLynne Malone

What would a Native American Do?

If you have access to outdoor space that is more than just a playground you can try another activity. Ask students to find one thing they believe a Native American could have used and then have them describe the use they have come up with.

Rock- hammer

Berries- food

Rock- projectile points

Nuts (acorns) – food

Bark- covering a home

Sticks- to create beds

Vines- roping

Each student should get the opportunity to express ideas, to enforce the activity try to back it up with some historic truth.

Native American Web of Life

This is based on PLT web of life and is a great way to explain the sustainable lifestyles that early people practiced. This can lead to many discussions about what makes modern life convenient, how we have become a consumer based society that has lots of “stuff” and where that “stuff” goes when we no longer want it. It can lead to anthropologic or socio-economics as well as lifestyles and fitness.

Objectives

  • Encompass all of the materials shared so far to make physical connections.
  • Encourage a more sustainable lifestyle
  • Make connections between people and the world they live in.

Materials

  • Ball of yarn or string
  • 3x5” index cards listing, food items, water, shelter, the things that make up these valuable resources, plants, animals, rocks, rain, streams, ponds, soil, the sun. These should be laminated and if possible have pictures to help students identify with the materials used.

Activity

Have students sit in a circle, explain each of the cards and how they can be interrelated. Beginning with the sun the yarn is strung around the students’ fingers until a web is made. Once the web is complete, the student holding the card “Native American” should give a tug and see how many things are affected. (This could be everything) Ask students who are holding plant cards to give a tug and see how many things are affected. Explain that everything has an effect on its surrounding in some way. If the group has been sitting on outside on the grass, have them get up and see if they have had an impact. Oftentimes the grass will have an indent where they were or there may be tracks from the instructor from student to student as the web was being formed.

Give a brief explanation of how important it is for them to think about the impact everyday life has, is it long term? Short term? A good example is walking across a lawn. On a dry day the grass may bend a bit and then go back to its upright state, if the soil is wet then you may make permanent imprints in the soil imbedding the grass into it and making a larger impact.