To the Native American people living on the plains, the buffalo represented culture, art, sustenance, and survival. Explore the history of the buffalo with a social studies lesson, in which learners create a buffalo hide painting in the...

The Iron Horse encroached upon the land while conflicts escalated between Native Americans and the settlers. Sophomores study the print, American Progress then discuss how American progress affected Native Americans. They will study the...

Students explore Native American cultures. In this cultural comparisons lesson, students participate in several activities that compare and contrast the culture of the Hopi and Comanche Tribes.

Students create a "legend" about an animal.  In this Native American legends instructional activity, students define the purpose and importance of Native American legends.  Students read "Why the Possum's Tail is Bare" and...

Students complete a unit of study about Native American visual art. In this visual art lesson, students complete five lessons to study Native American art.

Students examine Native American oral traditions. For this Georgia history lesson, students discuss Native American oral traditions and research stories of migration. Students create their own oral history projects that feature their...

Learners explore the history of Montana's Native Americans by reading James Welch's Fools Crow. Set shortly after the Civil War, the novel focuses on a young Blackfoot Indian and his tribe. Over the course of several weeks, class members...

Learners make an Indian craft. In this Native American culture lesson, students view pictures of tepees and then create a tepee of their own. Learners learn about buckskin paper and use it to make an Indian craft.

Learners examine the Kansas state quarter and the Buffalo nickel and look for clue to help them identify why the bison was so important to the Native American. They perform "freeze frames" depicting Native American use of the bison.

Students explore methods of written communication. In this Plains Indian lesson, students create pictographs representing everyday modern life after observing the pictographs used by the Plains Indians. Pictograph stories are written on...

Fifth graders investigate the significance of buffalo in Native American society. In this Native American history lesson, 5th graders discuss construct a survey to identify what should be learned about buffalo and buffalo ranching....

Seventh graders examine how the Plains Indians vied with white commercial buffalo hunters for the millions of Great Plains buffalo. They create an illustrated broadside supporting the interests of either the Indians or the commercial...

Students study about the Native American practice of writing stories on buffalo skins. They study about pictographs and use symbols to write their own stories using "buffalo hides" they have created.

Fifth graders identify common Native American writing symbols. They create paper bag "buffalo skins" and on the back, they write stories about Indian life.

Students research historic and contemporary information about the cultures of Native American Plains Indians such as Sioux or Blackfoot. They investigate patterns used on parfleches or rawhide. They choose a pattern to duplicate. They...

Students read and discuss an article about Native American cooking practices before 1500. In small groups they recreate a recipe for pemmican and sample the results. They discuss how food preparation and ingredients differ from modern...

Students examine importance of buffalo in culture of Blackfeet Indians, and explore types of technology used by Indians to kill large numbers of buffalo. Students research transition of Blackfeet from subsistence economy to capitalist...

Student complete a month-long unit on the symbolic and practical reasons for American Indian artwork. They explore websites, discuss elements of design, create an Indian backpack, Kachina Doll, weaving, sand painting, and totem pole.

Students discover the importance of the bison within the prairie ecosystem and Native American culture, and explain the importance of habitat and place to living organisms.

Students create a folktale after finding out the importance of folktales in different cultures.  In this folktales lesson, students determine the definition of a folktale and read a "The Storytelling Stone."  Students then...

High schoolers view a documentary on the treatment of the buffalo. In groups, they create a website using ideas and solutions they developed. They must include graphics or animation and a multi-level webpage. They share their pages...

Students research the traditional Lakota tipi (teepee) and compare types of homes used in the past with those used today. They design and construct an accurate model of a tipi.

Students read," The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush" by Tomie dePaola and discuss the way legends are passed down orally. They then create their own legend and illustrate it on a simulated "Buffalo Skin" made from brown paper.

Students discover how bison were hunted by the Native Americans and compare it to the buffalo. Using construction paper, they trace a bison outline given to them and use coffee grounds to fill in the space where the fur would be. They...