ND Curriculum Initiative

Subject & Standards

Understandings & Goals

Enduring Understanding: The students will understand that the Indians were the first inhabitants of North America and that their cultures developed over time depending upon the area of the country in which they lived. Goal(s): Students will engage in activities that will help them begin to understand the settling of Indians across North America and the cultural characteristics tht made them unique.

Questions Answered

Essential questions:essential questions will guide and focus teaching and learning on this unit? Who lived in North Amercia before Christopher Columbus came to explore and before the Pilgrims came to settle? What were the cultural differences between groups of Indians living in different areas of North America: Northwestern, Southwestern, Eastern Woodlands and Plains? Who lived in North Amercia before Christopher Columbus came to explore and before the Pilgrims came to settle? What were the cultural differences between groups of Indians living in different areas of North America: Northwestern, Southwestern, Eastern Woodlands and Plains? Objectives: Students will be able to locate on a North American map the general area of the four groups of Indians studied:Northwestern, Southwestern, Eastern Woodlands, and Plains. Students will be able to identify one or more major characteristics of the culture of each of the four groups of North American Indians studied. Students will be able to discuss ways in which Indian culture has changed over time.

Assessment

What quiz and test items (e.g. simple content-focused questions that require a single, best answer) will provide evidence of understanding?  Whole class oral brainstorming to review concepts studied. What academic prompts (e.g. open-ended questions or problems that require students to think critically and then to prepare a response / product / performance) will provide evidence of understanding? Anticipatory set of probing questions at the beginning of each unit section. What performance tasks and projects (e.g. complex challenges that are authentic, mirror the real world and require a performance or product) will you include that will provide evidence of student understanding?  Creative art activities and projects indicative of each of the North American Indian groups studied. What other evidence (e.g. observations, work samples, dialogues, student self-assessment) of understanding will you collect? Creation by students of a book culminating the Indian unit and a student produced newletter to parents.

Instructional Strategies

Students will use a combination of inquiry-based and project-based strategies to understand the unique characteristics of the four Indian groups studied.By immersing themselves in various hands on activities they will be able to understand the storytelling and communication of the Indian cultures studied. The completed book and newsletter and art projects give the first grader tangible evidence of what he/she has learned.