Download Native American Lifestyles

Native American Lifestyles
Corn Squash and Beans
Objectives:
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Promote inquiry skills
Enlighten interest
Encourage sustainability
Group dynamics
Problem solving techniques
Materials:
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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
None
More than
One
Activity:
Corn
Squash
Beans
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 [email protected]
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 socioeconomics as well as lifestyles and fitness.
Objectives
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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
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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.