Native American Discoveries

Fourth Grade - Social Studies Curriculum

Focus: Children's Literature Weslandia by Paul Fleischman

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Social Studies Literature Lesson on

Weslandia by Paul Fleischman

Rationale:

            Literature based instruction in all content areas across the curriculum provide an impressive academic outlook that is different from the mundane “read out of the textbook” instruction that so many students are used too. Children’s books are significant entertaining tools for effective instruction. Implementing children’s literature within the social studies curriculum revels a unique approach to reaching lesson objectives that will not only be motivating for the students but that can also be the key in turning a normal history topic into something they can visualize or experience in an artistic manner.

I chose Weslandia by Paul Fleischman to incorporate into my fourth grade children’s literature social studies lesson. When reading this book I knew it was an outstanding story for any child of any age to experience. However I felt that fourth graders would be able to appreciate the Native American significance throughout the book more than the grades below. Weslandia is filled with immense opportunity for numerous lessons in a variety of content areas that seamlessly connect to an exciting week long unit. Weslandia reveals many aspects of how historic civilizations established and provided our world with ideas and discoveries that enhance our lifestyle today.

For the literature to serve as a framework for social studies instruction it must successfully meet most of the ten thematic strands of social studies. With Weslandia as my literature support I developed a lesson based on Native American ideas and discoveries. The thematic strands within the lesson include “Culture” in which the teacher and students together discuss and discover Native American traditions, “Time and Change”, in which the students explain and point out innovative Native American ideas and discoveries, people and places, and environments in which the students compare and contrast Native American lifestyles in relation to geographical factors and environment.

Native American Ideas and Discoveries

Children Literature Lesson

TEKS:

(4.9) Geography: The student understands how people adapt to and modify their environment. The student is expected to:

            (A) Describe ways people have adapted to and modified their environment in Texas, past and present;

            (B)Identify reasons why people have adapted to and modified their environment in Texas, past and present, such as the use of natural resources to meet basic needs

(4.10) Economics: The student understands the basic economic patterns of early societies in Texas and the Western Hemisphere. The student is expected to

            (A) Explain the economic patterns of various early Native-American groups in Texas and the Western Hemisphere

(4.20) Culture: The student understands the contributions of people of various racial, ethnic, and religious groups to Texas. The student is expected to:

            (C) Summarize the contributions of people of various racial, ethnic, and religious groups in the development of Texas

(4.3) Historical / Cultural Heritage: The student demonstrates an understanding of art history and culture as records of human achievement.

            (A) Identify simple main ideas expressed in art

Objectives: Levels of learning (Blooms Taxonomy)

 The student will…

1.      Identify and discuss with the teacher, many noticeable characteristics within the book that resemble Native American culture and innovations. The class will create a list of information they do know about Native Americans. (KWL chart)

2.      Discover many innovative Native American ideas and discoveries that have affected our world today through a fun and interactive power point presentation.

3.      Make connections between past ideas to the new development of today with a class chart establishing how Native Americans have influenced our way of life in Texas. The Indians did many things that we still do today; The Indians knew how to use what they found around them to benefit their survival.

4.      Create their own ideal civilization and own language just like the character in the book Weslandia, in which the students write a rebus of their own first names. A rebus is pictures that represent words. Just as the Native American used symbols as writing on walls and stones, the students will be providing sample Indian writing pictures to create their own style of writing.

Multiple Intelligences:

Verbal—Linguistic: The students will read and listen to the information provided from the power point presentation.

Spatial: The students draw pictures that reflect the text as well as organize information on a class KWL chart. The students also have the opportunity to design a rebus (or picture language) for their first name.

Interpersonal: The students will work in groups of two or three when decorating and preparing for their presentation on Native American ideas and discoveries.

The students also have the choice to come up with a picture language together or individually.

Activities and Procedures:

1. Read aloud Weslandia by Paul Fleischman
2. Discuss many noticeable characteristics within the book that resemble Native American culture and innovations.
3. Together as a group discuss what the class knows about Native American on a KWL chart on the chalk board.
4. The students watch an entertaining power point presentation on Innovative Native American Ideas and discoveries that have made an impact on how we live today. For example the Native Americans discovered how to make smoke signals to communicated long distances. Today we have more sophisticated ways of communicating, but the Native Americans succeed with all the land and the environment had to offer.
5. The last activity is to have each student create a new language. The students will develop a rebus (pictures instead of words) for their first name. The students now know that the Native Americans such picture graphs (rebus) as a written language. In the book Weslandia the main character creates his own civilization and creates an entire new 80 letter alphabet.

Evaluation:

            With the use of constant observation and jottings throughout the entire lesson I will provide my students an excellent source of guidance and extended academic opportunities if necessary. I also provided a simple summary of expected behaviors towards lesson participation and cooperation in which this type of progress of development is a recognizable and efficient assessment. A social studies checklist is also a method of assessment for the lesson dealing with compression levels, creativity and reflection. As an active facilitator in the classroom I would also apply student assessment through many student opportunities of exploration and decision making in reference to constant questions in relation to Blooms Taxonomy of higher level thinking.

Evaluation: Checklist

Name:

Date:

                                                        Score: Yes or No                                 Comments

Related Books and References:

Maestro, Betsy. The New Americans Colonial Times + 1620 – 1869. New York:

            Lee and Shepard Books, 1998.

Hakim, Joy. The First Americans: Prehistory – 1600. New York: Oxford University

            Press, 1993.

Shemie, Bonnie. Houses of Bark. Montreal: Tundra Books, 1990.

Katz, Jane. We Rode the Wind. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications Company,

            1975.

Pine, Tillie. The Indians Knew. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 57-

            6405: 1957.

Ross, Pamela. The Pueblo Indians. Mankato, Minnesota: Bridgestone Books,

            1999.

Covert, Kim. The Powhatan People. Mankato, Minnesota: Bridgestone Books,

            1999.

Lund, Bill. The Comanche Indians. Mankato, Minnesota: Bridgestone Books,

            1999.

Lund, Bill. The Ojibwa Indians. Mankato, Minnesota: Bridgestone Books, 1999.

Lund, Bill. The Cherokee Indians. Mankato, Minnesota: Bridgestone Brooks,

            1999.

Nath, Janice. Becoming an EC-4 Teacher in Texas. Canada, Wadsworth: 2003,

Blooms Taxonomy pgs 55-58.

Nath, Janice. Becoming an EC-4 Teacher in Texas. Canada, Wadsworth: 2003,

Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences.