American Indians, lesson 7: Native Americans, part 1: Northeastern Indians
American Indians, lesson 7: Native Americans, part 1: Northeastern Indians
- Read about the Indians of this cultural area. List the tribes on the large map you created.
- Draw pictures of artifacts, tools, clothes and houses unique to this area.
- Study the houses used in this area. Observe the materials that are used in this area. You could make a model of a wigwam or longhouse out of similar materials you can gather outside.
- What is the weather like in the Northeast? How did this affect what houses the Northeastern Indians lived in? What did they eat?
Investigating Artifacts
- Natural Collecting and Sorting Have your student walk through the neighborhood and collect natural objects. After he has collected a number of objects, he can sort the objects in different ways. What does this tell you about your neighborhood?
- Making Masks and Inferences After looking at pictures of masks Native Americans have created or ways in which they have painted their faces to look like masks (or actually seeing them in a museum), have your student tell you what he has learned from them. Next, give him the opportunity to use the objects he collected on his walk to create his own mask. If you have more than one student doing this, they can discuss their impressions of the other student's masks in terms of drawing conclusions about how the masks may be used (to simulate what anthropologists do when studying ancient Native American cultures).
- Creating Myths After listening to several Native American myths, ask your student to create his own myth based on the mask he has made, drawing a picture that will help him share his myth with others.
- Sharing Myths At the end of the week the student can share the myth he created, using the pictures they created and his masks for dramatic effect. Then you will read a myth and discuss the ways in which anthropologists form ideas about the past from Native American’s myths, and what future anthropologists would conclude about the myths the students had created.
The Northeast Indians lived in an area of cold winters and warm summers. Their houses protected them from the cold winter weather. Long houses held many people. The long house was divided into many small living spaces for related family groups. Several long houses formed a community. Some of the Northeast Indians were farmers, while others relied on hunting, fishing and gathering. Maple sugar was plentiful in the Northeast.
- Read about the Iroquois' sachems. Women could not become sachems but they could remove a sachem if he did not perform up tho their expectations. Discuss their method of decision making.
- Read about the importance of religion in the lives of the Northeastern Indians. Read about their beliefs and their practices. Compare their religions with Christianity.
- The Iroquois played lacrosse. What are the similarities and differences between their form of lacrosse and our own?
- The Northeastern Indians were some of the first to meet European settlers. Read about Squanto, a Patuxet Indian, who helped the settlers. Discuss what happened between the Indians and the early settlers that caused them to become hostile toward each other.
Sources and resources:
- Incans, Aztecs and Mayans, John Holzmann
- The World of Columbus and Sons, Genevieve Foster
- The Kingfisher World History Encyclopedia
- Homeschool Curriculum, Grade 6
