CKHG Unit 2: Native Americans
Focus:
This unit students learn about early Native Americans through the eyes of three representative children from the past, who live in three different North American cultural regions.
Students first spend the day with Little Rabbit, a boy in the Eastern Woodlands. They see the longhouse he lives in and the wild game his family hunts, and they watch him catch a large trout as his mother collects a basket of water from the river. Students next travel to the American Southwest, where they meet Una, a girl of the Ancestral Pueblo, and her cousin Len. Students witness Una and Len in their different roles as they gather firewood, tell each other stories, plant and harvest corn, chase birds and small animals from the fields, hunt, and listen to Kokopelli’s flute in the wind. Then in the Pacific Northwest, students meet Hilki, a boy who goes fishing with his father and brothers in a canoe looking for king salmon. Finally, students observe a potlatch, a celebration around a new totem pole that Hilki paints.
The unit consists of seven chapters that explore different aspects of life for the three Native American protagonists.
Number of Lessons: 7
Instruction Time:
We have intentionally left the pacing and timing needed to teach the content presented in the Teacher Guide and Student Book very flexible. Teachers can choose how much they read aloud and discuss in a single instructional period, as well as how often each week they use the CKHG materials.
Additional Search Terms:
social studies • geography • nonfiction • informational text • Eastern Woodlands • longhouse • canoe • brook trout • Ancestral Pueblo • kiva • Chaco Canyon • Kokopelli • yucca • the three sisters • Pacific Northwest • red cedar • king salmon • totem pole • potlatch
